Re: pic: Team 359 Flow WaterJet Installation
 

I'm excited to see what you will make with such a nice piece of equipment.

Re: pic: Team 359 Flow WaterJet Installation
 

Off the bat, having our own jet will serve 4 purposes:
1. 24-hour access to our own machine, especially during build season which makes it easier on all of us. It should help us fabricate parts much faster than in previous seasons.
2. Allowing other local teams to make some parts for their own robots.
3. Opportunities for our program to earn $$$, working towards sustainability.
4. Most importantly, allows our students to learn and tinker with something new (me included).

Re: pic: Team 359 Flow WaterJet Installation
 

Don't get me wrong, it's awesome that you have it and all the points you raise are totally valid.

I was just talking to the teams that are seeing this and thinking they could never utilize such technology.

Re: pic: Team 359 Flow WaterJet Installation
 

Very cool install, I'm sure the water jet will serve you well!

Out of curiosity, what feature(s) did you consider that lead you to choose a water jet vs a cnc plasma cutter/router table?

Re: pic: Team 359 Flow WaterJet Installation
 

Wow, It's amazing feat in its self you were able to fund it without a major sponsor. The install of our robot arms would of been ludicrously expensive if it wasn't done by the sponsor.

Re: pic: Team 359 Flow WaterJet Installation
 

I can't speak for 359 but you can't hold anywhere near the tolerance of a water jet with plasma.

Re: pic: Team 359 Flow WaterJet Installation
 

We have a cnc plasma cam. It's really disappointing for anything other than outline cuts for welding or decorative pieces. It has a hard time making round concentric holes and requires a lot of set-up and calibration. The heat also warps the metal and heat treats it. Our CNC mill/router is much more useful for robotics purposes.

Re: pic: Team 359 Flow WaterJet Installation
 

This is a really good question.
I cant even recall the exact reason why or how we got the idea to get one since its been so long.
However, we decided to get one independent of anything else.

Our total funding I was able to get was $750,000 for which I used 1/3 towards renovations and the rest for equipment such as our jet, computers, a Sharp minimill, lots of tooling, and our nice big trophy case.:)
I have either been very lucky or very good in creating our business plan and proposals to get funding.

The largest one I got was back in 2005 when we wrote for 1.92 million and actually got it the 2nd time around, failing the year before. That's when we decided to kickstart our FRC program again after giving it up at the end of the 2003 season.

Re: pic: Team 359 Flow WaterJet Installation
 

This is absolutely true.
Our machine will complement a set of mills/lathes (some CNC capable) that we already have.

Re: pic: Team 359 Flow WaterJet Installation
 

Adam,
hope you didnt think I was mad or something?
You are absolutely correct.

We chose this route instead because we are unable to do it the most economical/realistic way that you described.

Re: pic: Team 359 Flow WaterJet Installation
 

Thank you.
I literally kill myself day in and day out dreaming of ways to get funding to support our program.
I'm lucky my wife doesnt tell me to stop already.

Re: pic: Team 359 Flow WaterJet Installation
 

waialua359, that fund raising is quite impressive! How does one even go about securing that level of funding?

That depends on your definition of "anywhere near" I suppose, and the particular machine being used. I see CNC Plasma vendors citing tolerances at least as low as +/- 0.004in (I assume for higher-end systems) and up to +/- 0.030in for 'entry level' systems. I believe water jets fall somewhere on the better end of that scale, generally.

Certainly low-end plasma cutters can't reach the tolerances of a waterjet, but that's comparing a $10k machine to a $100k machine.

It's funny you should say that. Our CNC table requires little or no setup and calibration and doesn't warp metal when we cut it. At least it hasn't warped anything since we started using the proper current/cut rate calculators.

The the plasma arc doesn't 'heat treat' the edge of the cut, it nitride hardens it (and only 0.005-0.006in). A small distinction perhaps, but an important one. The HAZ will certainly degrade any heat-treatment in the parent material though.

We're going to use our CNC plasma table to build more and more parts this pre-season and figure out exactly how close to a finished part it can make. I imagine holes will be cut undersized and drilled to a final dimension.

Re: pic: Team 359 Flow WaterJet Installation
 

Everything I have read about high def plasma says .015-.020

That Flow is rated for .005, if I remember correctly (.001 with the dynamic head).

Re: pic: Team 359 Flow WaterJet Installation
 

http://www.schulermfg.com/cnc-plasma...-services.html

http://www.fsmdirect.com/articles/cu...d-capabilities

One of my contacts at Hypertherm had a high-end table he was testing that was achieving between +/-0.005in and +/-0.010in tolerance.

The tolerance is heavily dependent on the drive table and proper operation and setup of course, with both plasma and water-jet cutting. For work, I routinely get better results from an outside machine shop with an ancient 3-axis water jet than a military prototyping shop with a 5-axis water jet.

Now I'm not saying one is better than the other, they both have good and bad sides, I'm just saying that not all plasma cutting systems are created equally.

Re: pic: Team 359 Flow WaterJet Installation
 

Yeah, me too.

Maybe if I moved to Hawaii, they'd let me tinker too? Maybe, but I couldn't live there, what with all the freezing weather, snow, hurricanes, earthquakes, tornados, and nearly constant rain. Oh, wait: That's New Jersey....:rolleyes: