Quote:
Originally Posted by AdamHeard
AFAIK, 359 is the only team that has a production style waterjet in their shop. They'd be good people to ask for this.
Unless you have a pretty full set of other machines, the price that goes into a waterjet is probably better spent on the combined set of; manual mill(s), manual lathe(s), Drill press (etc...), 4x4 or 4x8 Gantry Router, and a VMC.
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We have one in our shop at the Milford Proving Grounds central machine shop. GM uses it during the day and covers operating cost and upkeep, it's shared between 67, 548, and 3707 in the evenings / weekends and occasionally other GM teams during build season. Obviously our perspective on it is a little different than 359's since we're using our sponsors and not covering the costs ourselves, even if it is right in our shop and accessible anytime.
The waterjet is a fantastic time saver. We'd be in trouble if we didn't have the ability to design a part or bracket and have it ready to bend within the hour. It's amazing to be able to have a sensor mount, motor mount, frame brace, or any other sheet metal part you can imagine in your hand within an hour of when you dream it up.
In general we are mostly mentor run on the waterjet due to the cost of replacement parts if you make a mistake, 2 years ago we trained up a student that is able to run it pretty well. The whole process is pretty messy, but the shop has it in it's own room so it isn't too much hassle.