If I Only Had a Waterjet Machine!

A waterjet machine would have made short, more-accurate work of Derek’s Chevy door panels.

I finally completed the first door panel for my ’55 Chevy. While I was carefully jig-sawing and then sanding its five curved sections of hardboard, all I could think of was: “Man, this would be so simple if I just had some plastic sheet and a waterjet machine…”

The plastic sheet would resist warping in the car better than the hardboard. And I could have had a stack of them to cut a bunch at once (to perfect shape no less). I could easily create different designs, too, and maybe other car nerds might be interested in buying custom panels from me for their rides. Hmmm.

Clearly, advances in waterjet technology extend machining possibilities way past what the machines could do for my silly door panel example. In fact, we’ve covered a number of these technologies in our magazine. For example, this article details software developed to eliminate the natural taper that an abrasive waterjet creates that can be problematic for high-precision jobs.

This one describes how a knee mill or VMC can be converted into a waterjet machine by installing a simple waterjet module to a mill’s table.

Waterjet machining is also being combined with wire EDM, as explained here.

Finally, this amusing video shows a waterjet machine cutting something you might not think it could—a titanium golf club head.

What might you use a waterjet machine to create?