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Unread 20-11-2012, 08:27
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Re: Bearings in Sheet Metal

Quote:
Originally Posted by DampRobot View Post
Last summer, I was trying to cut some 1 module (metric) gears with a waterjet in about .4" thick material. Unfortunately, the kerf that yo mentioned prevented the gears from meshing properly.

Could you elaborate as to the methods used to help eliminate kerf? We tried cutting extra slow, but it didn't seem to help much. If you can cut propper bearing press fit holes with a waterjet using proper methods, to seems like cutting gears of at relatively large module would be trivial.
No idea how he reduces the kerf so effectively and I've never asked. I assume it's a trade secret of his so that we'll keep sending work to his shop.

He uses a pretty old 3-axis machine with no fancy features.

If I had to guess it's that he adjusts the pressure of the jet in conjunction with travel rate to reduce the kerf, but that's pure speculation.
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