Understanding How CNC Waterjet Cutting Works

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By Jim Pickeringson

When you start a manufacturing process, you need everything to go smoothly. Of course, the ultimate goal is to have your product produced quickly, efficiently and consistently. However, today's modern companies also are concerned about their environmental impact. It can often be hard to reconcile those competing factors, but cnc waterjet cutting makes it easier than you might think.

Before you hung around much, you may have not even realized the amazing things that could be accomplished with modern tools. While CNC waterjet cutting isn't exactly brand new, it is still capable of some amazing shows in the shop. By understanding how this tool works and what it is capable of, you can unlock it's potential in your machine shop.

A waterjet cutter also uses surprisingly little water, only about 1/2 to 1 gallon per minute. The abrasive components can also be recycled and reused. To top that all off, if you are cutting a potentially hazardous material, such as asbestos or fiberglass, you will drastically cut down on dust and toxic particles using this method.

Many people who regularly work with metal are quite familiar with waterjet cutting. However, the technology is widely used throughout manufacturing and is suitable for many applications. CNC waterjet cutting is used on stone, tile, foam, metal, plastic, rubber, composite materials, paper and even food. Each product has unique properties that make them difficult to work with when using normal techniques. Luckily, the cutters can be calibrated to work perfectly with each material, even when the properties are vastly different.

If you have ever seen artistic metal work, CNC waterjet cutting is often the tool of choice to accomplish those amazing and intricate results. However, it is also used to create speciality tools, machine parts and much more. Also, unlike most tools, the cutter isn't really hindered by thickness of the material. It can easily handle thicknesses of 18 inches or more! If you cut metal as a part of your work, a waterjet can do the job for you.

While it is true that you want to create a great product every time you turn on your shop, it's also true that you care about the environment.

You want your employees to enjoy a safe workplace and you also want to ensure that you reduce your carbon footprint. By using cnc waterjet cutting, you can accomplish both those goals, offering consistency and accuracy in your cutting and cutting back on the common byproducts of producing a product.

About the Author:

Jim Pickeringson has been working with WaterJet Cutting machines for 20 years. He also has extensive experience with CNC Water Jet Cutting

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Keeping The Pressure Out!!-Pressure Cleaners

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By Larry Johnson

With the advent of technology and so many developments the need to maintain a hygienic lifestyle has become very important. Even with so many cleaning techniques to choose from pressure cleaning stands out as remarkably exceptional method.

Pressure cleaning can be defined as a technique where water or steam are focused on a surface or any material that requires to be cleaned. Water or steam is let out to the surface from a mechanical device known as a pressure cleaner. The high pressure used in this method is responsible for the cleaning action. For cleansing purposes even chemicals can be used along with the water.

There are various categories of pressure cleaners: electric, petrol, diesel, gas and ultra high pressure. Typically a motor that drives the water pump, a hose and a trigger gun make up a pressure cleaning unit. According to the requirement units are chosen though mostly industrial needs are met by gas units and household needs by electric units.

The uses of pressure cleaning are diverse and numerous. It can be used to clean concrete surfaces like roads, roofs, driveways and walls painted with graffiti. It is also used for airfield rubber removal where it is used to maintain friction on runway strips. Historic places that look dilapidated can be restored back to their natural beauty using this method.

Pressure cleaning can be compartmentalized depending on the magnitude of the water pressure. When using water pressure that is less than 5000 psi (pound per square inch) it is called as low pressure water cleaning, for pressures between 5000-10,000 psi it is known as high pressure water cleaning, pressures between 10,000-25,000 psi it is called as high pressure water jetting and for if the pressure is greater than 25,000 it is called ultra high water pressure jetting. The amount of water that can be dispensed is measured in GPM (Gallons per minute).

The spray distance, pressure of the nozzle, spray angle and water flow rate are the elements that determine the efficiency of pressure cleaning. They are chosen after assessing the type of operation for which pressure cleaning is to be used. To consider an example, among the different nozzle types like solid jet, rotating flat jet and rotating solid jet, rotating solid jet is favored due its higher efficiency as compared to the rest .A variation from zero to forty degrees is also possible with respect to the spray angle which is decided according to the requirement.

Hot water is comparatively more used than cold water for pressure cleaning as water at high temperatures tends to clean surfaces better than cold water and in a shorter duration of time. The procedure is different when steam is used for pressure cleaning. Water is heated up to 140-150 degrees centigrade and then the steam is allowed to condense on the surface, thus resulting in clearing of the desired dirt from the surface. Another thing to be kept in mind regarding these is that one has to be extremely careful while using pressure cleaners as being exposed to water at such high pressures can lead to serious injuries.

Like any technology there is a lot of scope to improve as far as features are considered regarding pressure cleaning. Many important factors that influence the efficiency of pressure cleaning like nozzle designs, speed, and nozzle radius are still being studied. So as far as future development is considered, a lot can be expected in this field.

It can be thereby safely concluded that pressure cleaning with its numerous benefits like its effectiveness, affordability and the fact that it requires only minor amounts of water and chemicals makes it a very attractive option as far as cleaning methods are concerned.

About the Author:

Looking for more good tips on pressure cleaning? I found a site the other day that looked like it covered all sorts of pressure cleaning equipment ideas.

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Help Clean Up Pollution As A Consumer

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By Leigh-Ann Lemire

Each person can do their part in cleaning up pollution not only in his immediate area but also on a greater scale by being a smart shopper.

Do a search on google or yahoo to locate factories whose production is done with ecology in mind. You can also search for the companies that you usually buy from to find out if that company is doing anything to curb the pollution or add to it by not doing anything.

A good example of a result of a company that should be applauded for their efforts is one that is making energy to power the plant with the junk in a garbage dump. This is certainly amazing technology however, this company manufactures poisonous household cleansers packaged in non-decomposing plastic containers. Even though the plant is run with methods that recycle, the products created tip the scale to the bad side of the scale.

There are items produced that will never decompose such as plastic foam. Many restaurants still use this product for take out food which means that there are factories producing it. As an individual, you don't have to buy the food if it is going to be served in such a container. It may also be beneficial if you wrote to the factory and restaurant to say you as a consumer are not going to buy the containers or get your food served in such a product because it is not safe for the environment.

Plastic bags and plastic containers don't decompose for decades and some never biodegrade. There is a problem with this that is hardly ever mentioned which is, something that is thrown out in a plastic bag doesn't decompose as rapidly as it could which means that your paper or cardboard items in that trash bag may not degrade for centuries. You can do your part and stock up on canvas bags to use when shopping instead of the usual paper or plastic.

With that said, what does one do with his garbage that is usually thrown away in a plastic bag? Do another search online at google or yahoo to locate companies. One such company is truly working to create a better world with rePETe bags that are totally recycled materials. Other searches regarding the same subject will give you pages of results for products to do the job but do not cost much. You can safely use the garbage bags and know that your garbage will decompose within a matter of months, not centuries.

As a note, when you are searching for companies that produce biodegradable garbage bags, you will turn up results also for a substance called polyethylene. Polyethylene can be recycled and used to make items that need to last a long time - like for centuries. But that sales pitch is being used to sell polyethylene garbage bags. Garbage bags get filled with debris, thrown away and wind up in a dump. It is not going to be recycled from there. Millions of polyethylene bags find their way to the dump daily. The contents in the bag are not going to biodegrade until the bag does and that can take hundreds of years.

Shop smart by doing your research first and eliminate from your list the companies and products that are not survival for the planet. Each individual person can have a huge impact on reducing pollution.

About the Author:

Find out more about the modern day fairy tales written by ILIA and entertaining for kids ages 9-99, visit Winsome Tales. Read Ti Ana and The Giant an original fairy tale dedicated to Mother Earth.

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