Laser cutting is a highly efficient cutting method that rivals the water jet in many areas.
Advantages of waterjet cutting vs laser cutting.
Haz waterjet cutting does not heat your part.
A laser cutter is more accurate than a water jet in most instances with a cut tolerance as little as 002.
Ultimately it comes down to specifically what you want to cut.
Advantages of waterjet cutting.
All materials can be cut with waterjet cutting.
There is no thermal distortion which can occur with lasers.
Waterjet tables produce no dross or slag and creates a very square cut when your nozzle is clean.
Laser cutters can cut thick materials but a waterjet machine can cut thicker objects the optimal thickness being 0 4 to 2 0 10 to 50 mm while for laser cutting it is 0 12 to 0 4 3 to 10 mm.
Waterjet cutting vs laser.
Very comparable to that made by a waterjet.
Which of these methods is better.
Waterjets can cut reflective materials like copper and aluminum that lasers cannot.
Although laser cutting is often seen as a complementary service to waterjet cutting the latter does have a number of advantages including.
It s hard to say.
The laser also introduces heat into its parts which can lead to melted material and work hardening.
The edge created by laser is square and even.
You may need to do some research into the specific materials you plan to use and investigate how they ll react when cut with a laser cutter compared to how they ll.
It is able to cut with more speed and precision but it is limited as to what it can cut.
Waterjets do not change the properties of the material.
In the end each of these material fabrication methods has its own advantages and disadvantages to understand as you select your preferred method.
Waterjets can cut a wide range of material with no change in setup.
The clear winner in regards to cut quality is the waterjet which produces little to no heat.
Laser tables do produce heat but on thinner materials not enough heat is generated to make a notable amount of dross.
Laser cutting is capable of cutting between 50 2 000 inches per minute depending on speed and material thickness while waterjet cutting is capable of up to 100 inches per minute.
Laser cutters can leave a clean surface finish on cut profiles though it will be striated as thickness and or speed increase.
Laser may be a more effective method for cutting certain thin metals but the benefits and advantages of the water jet remain outmatched due to its broad versatility across applications.
After all things are considered its only costs about 14 00 hr to run a waterjet.
No heat affected zone haz more environmentally friendly.
One of its most prominent attributes if the fact that the cost of running a waterjet machine is cheap.
Can work with more materials.
Sample kit for our laser cutting materials.
Plasma tables produce a lot of het on the material thus creating dross and material splatter.
Can cut materials thickness that is difficult or impossible to be cut with laser.