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Companies Find Diversity Through Water Jet : Pacific Metal Cutting knows saws, but learns to love waterjet and the new business it brings!

Pacific Metal Cutting of Placentia, CA was not struggling when it bought its first waterjet in May 2004; however, after purchasing a water jet two years ago their new business has grown dramatically. The company's owner Mark McWhirter used to say that his favorite sound was of the high-pitched wail of his many horizontal and vertical band saws cutting edges on huge billets and bars inside the 20,000-square-foot facility.

But McWhirter has learned to appreciate a new sound. It's the sound of new customers calling him and booking time on his two waterjets. For example, as 2005 came to a close, one customer had committed to 100 hours of waterjet cutting jobs per week. McWhirter is finding out his business decision to invest in waterjets is proving to be quite sound.

Winning With Waterjets

Now his company can offer cutting jobs with tolerances as tight as 0.005 in., and on jobs that didn't require such precision, the cutting time is faster and better in many instances.

He pointed to a part with a straight bottom and sides and an arched top to illustrate the efficiency achieved with the waterjet. To fabricate 120 such parts, an operator would need three days on a band saw to cut all of the contours.

"Now I take three of these 3/8-inch plates, stack them up, turn on the machine, run the program, and walk away. Four hours later, I'm taking them off the table," McWhirter said.

Pacific Metal Cutting enhanced its cutting capabilities with the addition of a second table-a Flow International Integrated Flying Bridge 6-ft. by 12-ft. table with patented Dynamic Waterjet® and Active Tolerance Control™-installed in November 2005.
Dynamic Action

The new control technology on the Dynamic Waterjet guides a small, articulated wrist attached to the cutting head. The wrist tilts the cutting head during the cutting process so that taper is eliminated. More traditional waterjets that rely on straight-ahead cutting heads struggle with taper, especially as speeds are increased.

The new waterjet also has Flow International's Dynamic Contour Follower™ that ensures a consistent standoff distance between the mixing tube tip and the material being cut. Sensors transmit height variations in cutting material and feed the changes in the X and Y plane to the Z-axis control, which makes immediate adjustments in the standoff height.
McWhirter said the Dynamic Contour Follower comes in handy because Pacific Metal Cutting often deals with less-than-perfect material.

Love at First Cut

McWhirter is loving his waterjets. As of late 2005 the waterjet accounted for 15 percent of his total sales. Pacific Metal Cutting has balled three older vertical band saws that had been used for contour cutting. The waterjets now handle most of those cutting chores.

McWhirter said one of the biggest advantages of the waterjet is that it doesn't need a full-time operator. He estimated that the one full-time operator spends about 60 percent of his time tending to both machines.