ADVANCED MANUFACTURING NOW Dr. John Olsen
Versatility of Abrasive Waterjet is a Game Changer a S
peed is paramount in every phase of bringing a product to market today. Pressure is on engineers and product designers to shorten design times and on manufacturers
to accelerate production cycles. Abrasive waterjet is answering the call by delivering the versatility needed to quickly make parts of all shapes and sizes.
In the design world, use of 3D modeling is growing rapidly. Because 3D modeling increases insight into and control over the ultimate success of parts, engineers and design teams are saving huge amounts of time and money by signifi cantly lower- ing the risk of mistakes and prototyping costs. However, while 3D modeling enables engineers to complete designs faster, the process often slows when they must add the extra step of creat- ing 2D drawings from their 3D models so that manufacturers can create the complicated toolpaths necessary to make the parts. Abrasive waterjet has become a game changer because of its ability to export from 3D models directly to toolpaths. With just one tool—the jet—abrasive waterjets handle the transition from 3D model to toolpath much easier than many other types of machining technologies that require multiple different tools to complete a job.
Using a highly advanced computer-aided manufacturing (CAM) software program called Intelli-CAM, which is free to OMAX JetMachining Center owners, users can easily generate either 2D or 3D toolpaths from 3D models. After importing a 3D fi le from one of many supported fi le types such as CATIA, Solid- Works, 3D DXF, or DWG, the 3D object appears in an interactive window. Users can view it, rotate it and select the face they want to cut. The AutoPath function then automatically creates the toolpath and applies the required attributes for 3D cutting before exporting directly to Intelli-MAX MAKE, the abrasive jet control. As an added bonus, with Intelli-CAM manufacturers do not need to own any 3D software or pay the licensing fees to access the libraries of 3D math and manipulating math because the neces- sary import fi lters are included in the software. Eliminating the need for engineers to create 2D drawings and
reducing programming time is extremely benefi cial for job shops and other manufacturers who want to increase responsiveness
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AdvancedManufacturing.org | November 2015
and productivity. This is especially true when tasked with jobs for which programming consumes a majority of the total production time such as making prototypes or for short runs to meet just-in- time manufacturing.
In addition to eliminating the need for 2D drawings, abrasive waterjet is also helping shorten the time to market with its ability to handle such a wide variety of materials and parts of any size. For example, we are seeing a higher demand for really large ma- chines and have had numerous requests for machines with a Y- axis travel of 160" (4.1 m). Unlike other machines tools, abrasive waterjet machines have little or no tool force, which means we can theoretically make them as large as a manufacturer needs without losing precision or cutting power. These large machines offer manufacturers more fl exibility and the ability to reduce costs by purchasing materials in big sheets. They are being used in industries that make large parts—aerospace, rail and nuclear for example as well as for making nests of smaller parts on a large sheet for material cost reduction.
Abrasive waterjet has become a game changer because of its ability to export from 3D models directly to toolpaths.
At the other extreme are small ultraprecise machines with consistent tolerance ±0.0003" (±0.0076 mm) for producing very small components, such as small electronics and medical instru- ment parts.
Abrasive waterjet machines also allow shops to rough cut
hundreds of near-net-shaped parts from stacked sheets of material in one machine setup. They are capable of cutting virtually any type of workpiece material and thickness and most importantly, they do this much faster and more cost effectively as compared with conventional machining methods. So as everyone throughout the part design and manufacturer cycle continues to look for ways to get products to market faster, abrasive waterjet technology because of its versatility and long list of inherent benefi ts will continue to grow.
Vice President of Operations and Company Co-founder OMAX Corp.
www.omax.com MODERN MANUFACTURING PROCESSES, SOLUTIONS & STRATEGIES
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