Non-Abrasive Waterjet Cutting

FAQ's About Waterjet & Laser Cutting
Glossary of Key Industry Terms

About Water-Only Cutting:

Another method of processing is non-abrasive waterjet cutting, or 'water-only' waterjet. In this process, you have a replication of abrasive waterjet cutting but without the abrasives. This form of waterjet cutting allows for the rapid production of parts from soft materials.

Non-abrasive waterjet is ideal for projects that are generally thin, soft, and/or porous. Since water-only waterjet cutting does not use the usual garnet abrasive to process the material, your parts will not be susceptible to collecting dirt on the surface which is important for parts cut from Teflon, PTFE, cork, silicone rubber/foam, insulation, and more.

Another benefit of using non-abrasive waterjet cutting is having fast lead times. Since most projects require abrasive waterjet to cut through thick, hard material, it's generally less of a hassle to find open time on the water-only waterjet. This is just another reason to consider using non-abrasive waterjet cutting if your next project involves some of the materials listed on this page.

Benefits of Water-Only:
Increased Detail Ability
No Heat Cutting
Fast Processing
Ability to Process Soft Materials
Low Cutting Power
Clean and accurate cuts

Good Materials
For Water-Only
Plastic
Rubber
Foam
Composites
Silicone
Foam
Felt
Cork
Teflon
Neoprene

The process features no heat cutting and starts when the design from the customer goes to our sales team and then to our programmers who produce a CAD/CAM file readable to the waterjet machinery. From this CAD/CAM program, the exact replication of the customer design is then produced via waterjet cutting services.

The advantage of using water-only waterjet is the visible cleanliness presented on the finished product. On porous materials, it's easy for abrasive to get stuck in and on the material and leave a dirty appearance. However, with our water-only machinery, there are no abrasives, thus the parts leave with the customer with a much cleaner finish.

A few features of our water-only waterjet cutting machinery:

CAD/CAM capability
Tolerance up to +/-.003"
Burr-free parts
Cut materials up to 13' x 30'
Can cut soft, flimsy or thin materials
Multiple-head cutting
Tight nesting of parts

Non-abrasive waterjet cutting is an excellent choice for a number of industries and applications. Learn more about the waterjet cutting and laser cutting services that Fedtech offers, or request a quote for your laser job shop needs!