Waterjet cutting produces small or large gaskets in just minutes. There’s no tooling, it’s fast and edge quality is extremely good. Waterjet eliminates the wait for tooling that goes with steel rule die cutting and it avoids the heat and fumes of laser cutting. That’s why we prefer it for many different gasket materials. Here’s how it works and why we’re such fans.
High Intensity
A jet of water from a garden hose can sting the skin. In a waterjet cutting machine that jet is far thinner and traveling at supersonic speeds. The water is powered by an intensifier pump that produces 60,000 psi or more. This forces the water through a 0.006” diameter hole in a piece of sapphire.
With such high pressure and velocity, the jet of water slices through material like a knife. For cutting harder materials, adding an abrasive powder to the water increases cutting speed.
Machine Operation
The cutting head is mounted on a gantry. This spans the machine bed, which is where the material being cut is placed. Here at Hennig Gasket we can handle sheets up to 8′ x 6′. The gantry provides one axis of motion and the sheet moves under the gantry for the second. By interpolating motion between the two it’s possible to cut incredibly intricate shapes.
Waterjet machines are programmed directly from CAD files and there’s no special tooling needed. The programming package helps maximize material utilization by nesting gaskets efficiently. This, plus a very small kerf (the cut width,) helps minimize waste.
Types of Gasket Material
Cutting speed and maximum material thickness depend on hardness. Speeds of up to 500”/minute are possible, but this drops as thickness increases. Sheet EPDM, neoprene, cork and silicone gasket material can be cut quickly and accurately, and maximum thickness can be up to 6”.
Fast Turnaround
Using a waterjet to cut gaskets from sheet material is fast and cost-effective. Perhaps the biggest benefit though is the speed with which we can satisfy an order. Curious how fast that is? Put us to the test.
