Quote:
Originally Posted by Cory
At the risk of being rude, if you're asking this question you probably aren't ready for (and probably can't afford) a waterjet.
Do a lot of research before deciding that's the right way to go. Waterjets are by far the most expensive machine in a shop to run. Everyone says to expect an actual run cost of $45/hour (consumables, garnet, power, maintenance, etc). They're also very loud and very messy. They most certainly are not a classroom type tool.
That being said there are really only two major players. Flow and Omax. Jet Edge is probably a distant third. Omax sells a "low" (hah) cost Maxiem line. I have no idea what the quality is like, but expect it to cost just as much to run and I doubt you can get a 5'x5' machine for less than $100,000.
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You're right on about the consumables, garnet, power and maintenance. Omax is a major sponsor of 1983 and helped us secure a Maxiem 1515 when the final campus for Raisbeck Aviation High School was constructed.
Previous to us having a machine in house, Omax provided machine time to our team on Friday nights during build. Since we no longer require their machine time, they now support us by providing garnet and matinence assistance. Without their support, having a machine in house would be difficult to sustain, at least for our team.
As for cut quality with the Maxiem line, we could not be happier for high school robotics applications.