One of the biggest benefits of water jet cutting in San Francisco, CA is the versatility of the process. Even some extremely difficult materials can be sliced through with abrasive water jet cutting. They can be thick or thin, soft or hard, coated or uncoated, treated, laminated, organic, reflective, heat resistant, heat sensitive or have just about any other property—water jet cutting is appropriate for them all.

Here’s a quick overview of some of the types of materials that can be cut with water jet technology.

Thick or thin—no problem!

You can use water jet cutting to slice through materials of all thicknesses, ranging from extremely thin foils and shim stock all the way up to thick steel plates. In fact, the thicker the material, the more likely it is that water jet cutting will be the preferred cutting method to maintain as much accuracy as possible.

Cutting extremely thin material can be challenging to an extent, as it requires a great deal of control and delicacy to keep the material intact, but water jet cutting is highly precise and avoids many of the negative side effects associated with friction-based cutting practices.

Coated or uncoated metals

There are many different types of coatings that can be applied to a metal substrate, but whether coated or uncoated, water jet cutters are capable of slicing through them. Consider coating methods such as powder coating, chroming, plastic coating, plating, anodizing, UV coating and PVC coating—all of these are extremely common in the manufacturing industry, and none of these coatings will pose any sort of problem for water jet technology. Of course, bare metals can be easily sliced through as well!

Soft or hardened metal

Beyond just the coatings used on metals, the hardness or softness of the metal in question also does not pose any issue for water jet cutting. Therefore, metal materials that are either naturally hard or have been hardened through various industrial processes are not subject to any restrictions with water jet cutting, and neither are naturally softer metals such as platinum, aluminum or lead. Water jet technology works just fine for all of them!

Brittle or flexible materials

Whether you’re dealing with highly flexible materials or materials that are brittle and easy to break, water jet cutting technology will give you reliable cuts that will not compromise the integrity of the surrounding materials. Even particularly brittle materials like stone, glass, acrylic and ceramic can all see great results when being cut using water jet technology. Piercing on top of the material can cause a bit of chipping in these circumstances, but that issue can be prevented by pre-drilling the material rather than piercing with the water jet, by using reduced pressure for the piercing process or by beginning the cut off of the material.

For more information about the great benefits and flexibility of water jet cutting in San Francisco, CA, or to determine whether this approach might be right for your company, contact the team at Mach 1 Waterjet, Inc. today.