Notice I didn’t say cheap. Although this is cheap compared to industrial models Anyway. Does anybody have any experience with ProtoMAXwater jets?
It’s built by OMAX so it probably is decent.
But $19,000 for a 12x12 cutting area? You could get a fully loaded Tormach that will rip through plate and do much more.
From looking at the website they’re in pre-order status, so not very likely anyone can tell you anything about them.
The accuracy and repeatability specs also kind of suck (±.005" and ±.003" respectively).
I was thinking that $20,000 will get a really nice router with tooling.
Another thought (that it seems like not enough teams consider) is what is the cost of just paying industry to do it?
$1000 a year can get a pretty serious amount of waterjetting down per season (with ZERO responsibility for maintenance, wear & tear, etc…)
$20k (with made up investment returns) is enough money to fund $1k in waterjetting annually indefinitely.
Unsure if how many teams are currently operating with endowments… but it’s an interesting model we’ll start to see how I imagine (especially as more and more alumni become incredibly successful).
Anyone considering investing in waterjet would want to be sure to understand the ongoing operational costs. There are consumable costs in the abrasives and nozzles, as well as maintenance of the high pressure equipment. Your costs, compared to buying the service, would not be zero.