Waterject cut blank questions

cbr900son

cbr900son

Joined
Mar 3, 2011
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So i saw recently where soemone had some blanks cut out by waterjet. just curious if this is cost effective for a full time knifemaker. Guess it would depend what they would charge?
 
Yes, it's very cost-effective. Saves a lot of time and effort.
 
If you can draw it on a sheet of steel, it can be cut out. Very cost effective in mass production. As little steel waste as possible.
The huge plus is every blank is 100% identical.
 
Water-jet is a really cool technology. I've only done a couple projects that way, but I found that the cost of waterjet is more than offset by the savings in belts and labor. Be aware that holes and edges won't be perfectly square to the flat of your blank, but it only takes a little effort to straighten things out.
I had one batch done purposely a little oversize, giving me some options for blade length and pattern all from the same order.
bladsmth said:
The huge plus is every blank is 100% identical.
Click to expand...

Yup, and if you want a dozen more six months from now, the WJ guy will still have your file.
 
Everything has a bit of a 'pitch' to it as the entry point of the jet spray sort of get angled so you have this angled cut which is more noticed as the pieces get thicker. This of course depends on the hardness of what is being cut but once you get past how to deal with the parts and how the waterjet cuts you can actually maximize things pretty good by using a service. For my most popular pocket clip blanks a waterjet or laser service can double the yield from each sheet of my ti so it does a lot to reduce waste. No more band saw blades, no more breathing dust and metal particles from cutting, and no more belts to trim off all the burrs created by the blades on the band saw. The initial cost can be quite high depending on who you work with and their pricing.
STR
 
A water jet can actually cut without angling the cuts. They can cut perfectly straight. I have seen a water jet cut honey comb patterns in 5" thick steel and the pattern did not change from one side to the other. It may take slower cut speeds but it's possibly. I am guessing if you are getting angled cut edges, the guy running the water jet is running it fast for time production reasons and is not as concerned about the quality of the cut. A water jet has multiple benefits over most other ways of cutting materials and they can literally cut any material as long as it can get wet.
 
Ive actually worked as a waterjet operator in college (mechanical engineering) just never dealt with what it cost. How much are people paying per blank? I know it will change depending on steel type thickness and knife size but a rough estimate on what yall are paying would be nice. The reason I ask is because I work with the high school kids at my church and alot of the boys have been coming over watching and wanting to make something. Id love to work with them and next year we are doing a trip to alaska with them so thought it would be cool to all make a version fo the same knife with them over the next 6-10 months. Seems liek waterjetting (if the cost is ok) would be the way to go on this one.
 
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i was just on the phone with mark. he said since you are working with kids he would make you a deal. he will make a good deal with anyone working with soldiers, kids, boy scouts or kids groups. in exchange he would like to see works in progress and pictures of the finished results. give him a call at 231 893 2605
 
Water jet profiling is a great deal. It's a big time saver. Hand them a CAD of your profile and pick your blades up in a few days.

IMG_0885_op_768x768.jpg
 
From what I understand all waterjet cut parts have draft unless the operator has a tip that has a 4th axis.
Most of us here do not care about slight draft though, its far easier to remove than cut/sand the whole thing out.
Chris
 
Waterjet is probably the best for cutting out blades. It does not introduce near the heat that other methods do.

A little story: I saw the first metal specific waterjet cutting machine back in '91. Drove up to Seattle Washington to see it. The guy was moving a small plastic piece around the table by hand, getting about a half inch away at times. :eek:
 
Ill have to call him and see then! Let me talk to the kids first and see what type they wanna do so I can know what steel and size we are looking at. Here is a few of the boys working on some knives a few weeks ago. SOOO much fun to be able to do this with them.

IMG_0084.jpg


IMG_0083.jpg
 
Here's what I picked up from my local guy this morning.

66 blades in .170" CPM S35VN

Right at $300
So about $4.50 per folder blade...

And we used just about ALL of that half sheet of steel.

EDIT: I just broke it up, and weighed it.
5 pounds of waste, 17 pounds of parts.

Waterjet1.JPG
 
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Is it generally difficult to go from drawn design to waterjet? I don't have, nor really want, the designing programs I see people design. I draw, then photocopy, then cutout patterns, then make many different versions in cardboard to see what features are best in hand. Drawing to in hand changes quite a bit, so I would want to make blanks from what I have in hand. As I only have die grinder w cutoff disks, 4x36" grinder I think that waterjet could bring me to work on the knife itself rather than hours to cut out a profile.
 
Gentelman,

The waterjet process is a real time saver that eliminates tedious (boring) bandsaw time.
The time savings can be invested on fit & finish or the "real skill building" tasks.
Doing a prototype with the bandsaw method is a great way to prove out your design as pointed out by Chris^^
I do alot of conversion from raster / scanned or photocopied patterns to vector CAD files and it can be a real challange depending on the quality of the sketches. Converting from an actual pattern I can trace is the best way for me if CAD is not available. I can usuallly get close enought for the intended design and customer approval to proceed quickly.

If the OP contacts me at markatleadingedgefab.com and I'd be happy to help you through the process. The young ones your helping will get a real world experience, most are probably professient on computers but are lacking with shop skills. Our society is loosing out on the new generation skill set to manufacturer things so if I can help them in the future they'll have an better apperciation how computers are part of the manufacturing process but nothing can replace hands on skills.

If you want you can turn this thread into a work WIP so others that are not fimilar can get a better idea of how it all works out.

Best Regards,

Mark
 
H2Oknife said:
Gentelman,

The waterjet process is a real time saver that eliminates tedious (boring) bandsaw time.
The time savings can be invested on fit & finish or the "real skill building" tasks.
Doing a prototype with the bandsaw method is a great way to prove out your design as pointed out by Chris^^
I do alot of conversion from raster / scanned or photocopied patterns to vector CAD files and it can be a real challange depending on the quality of the sketches. Converting from an actual pattern I can trace is the best way for me if CAD is not available. I can usuallly get close enought for the intended design and customer approval to proceed quickly.

If the OP contacts me at markatleadingedgefab.com and I'd be happy to help you through the process. The young ones your helping will get a real world experience, most are probably professient on computers but are lacking with shop skills. Our society is loosing out on the new generation skill set to manufacturer things so if I can help them in the future they'll have an better apperciation how computers are part of the manufacturing process but nothing can replace hands on skills.

If you want you can turn this thread into a work WIP so others that are not fimilar can get a better idea of how it all works out.

Best Regards,

Mark
Click to expand...
I agree with you totally! Hmm let me talk to the kids and might be fun to do a WIP with them from design to end.
 
If a maker already has a supply of metal on hand and then decides to have his blades waterjet cut, should he ship his steel to you or is it better if you work from your own steel supplies of whatever alloy the maker wishes?
 
Ahh, good, a Waterjet Man, has stepped in.

He'll answer the questions better than any of us can.

Betcha one of those teens has some computer drawing skills...
If I remember right, one of my vendors was able to use PDF files, or just about anything drawn as vectors and minimize his time converting, and therefore the cost.
 
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