Waterjet Cutting on the West Coast

November 3, 2020

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Never knowing what job may end up coming through the door makes flexibility a must-have for job shops. That’s why Diversified Metal Fabrication Inc., Modesto, CA, chose, late in 2019, to add a waterjet cutting machine to its fabrication stable. Diversified Metal Fabrication is a California-certified woman-owned business with 14 employees and operates out of 25,000-plus sq. ft. of industrial shop space. Sixty to 70 percent of its business involves power-utility projects, with the balance encompassing miscellaneous work for private industry.

“You name it, we can do it,” would be a good motto for Diversified Metal Fabrication, as its associates cut, fabricate and assemble all manner of materials, with inhouse welding and other capabilities at the ready.

“We have customers that required us to cut various types of exotic materials, and our waterjet is the only machine that allows us this versatility,” explains Randy Esenwein, shop manager, describing the company’s decision to purchase and install a waterjet cutting machine. “Another major plus: When cutting steel, it does not introduce heat into the material such as with laser or plasma cutting,”

Adds Jeannette Chimerofsky, company CEO: “There's not much that we won't tackle. The water jet allows us the flexibility for that. If a customer wanted us to cut parts other than ferrous or nonferrous materials, for us that meant outsourcing the cutting down the road to a shop with waterjet cutting capability.”

Flexibility, Insourcing Drive Decision

n 2018, faced with the need to cut an array of materials without detrimental heat effects, and the preference to keep as much work inhouse and under its own control, the company worked with Flow International Corp., Kent, WA, on a waterjet cutting solution.

Enter, in early 2019, the Mach 500 cutting machine from Flow, delivering as much as 94,000-psi waterjet power and with a work table allowing Diversified Metal Fabrication to process 6 by 12-ft. sheets. Featuring swift movement, the machine boasts a maximum traverse speed of 700 in./min. while maintaining linear straightness accuracy of ±0.0015 in./yard and repeatability of ±0.001 in. Compared to legacy systems, the Mach 500 improves acceleration by 200 percent, repeatability by two times and Z-axis travel speed by 50 percent, according to Flow officials.

Adding to machine capabilities, Diversified Metal Fabrication opted for Flow’s Dynamic Waterjet XD cutting head to enable 3D cutting and, reportedly, faster and more accurate bevel cutting. Used in underwater and above-water cutting with or without abrasive, the cutting head, according to Flow officials, uses high-resolution motors to provide closed-loop feedback of velocity and position. Advanced mathematical models compensate automatically for stream-lag and taper cutting errors, and rapid lift and drop capabilities avoid clamp and precut areas without affecting cycle time.

cutting-angle-head “With the waterjet inhouse, we cut sheet metal and all types of other material—wood, acrylic, stone—and we recently cut some bronze,” says Esenwein. “We can cut what we couldn’t with a plasma or laser cutting machine. Speaking to the diversity of work in this shop, we are working on Type 5052 aluminum sheet right now, with Type 1077 structural steel right beside it...switching from sheet metal to structural-steel fabrication. We can cut anything we have in here with the waterjet machine, to 12 in. thick.”
On top of that, to maximize material usage, Diversified Metal Fabrication takes advantage of the machine’s ability to space only 1⁄8 to 3⁄16 in. between cut parts, according to Esenwein, who notes that water usage is minimal as well, totaling only about 8 to 10 gal./min based on the application.

Company officials cite several projects that have benefitted from inclusion of waterjet cutting technology. A complex current project involves replacement of trash rakes for a water-district customer.

cutting-blades “Part of the complexity is custom-building new rake heads,” explains Chimerofsky. “This involves stainless steel and bronze pieces of various sizes and thicknesses. We cut all of those on the waterjet machine and then assemble.”

Adds Esenwein: “The customer sent us drawings and we detailed them out, with the customer requiring very tight tolerances. The waterjet machine really comes into play here because it cuts all of those parts to the tolerances needed, which couldn’t be done on a plasma cutting machine.”

The benefits of waterjet cutting for Diversified Metal Fabrication extend to assembly as well, due to eased fit-up of cut parts.
“The waterjet machine is very precise, which helps us in fabrication and speeds assembly,” Esenwein says. “And, we don’t have to mess with a grinder for the finish. The parts don’t have a burr coming off of the waterjet, so they can move directly to build.”

Knowledge Gained Each Day

Upon installation, to reap the full benefits of this technology, a group from Diversified Metal Fabrication traveled to Flow for training in cutting machine operation and programming and has been gaining knowledge ever since.

“While not intense, there is a learning curve for this technology,” says Esenwein. “Even now we’re learning things on that machine every day. If a customer just sends a photograph of a part, we can cut it on the waterjet. All of the drawing, programming, nesting—it’s all done right here in our one-stop shop. And, if we can’t, Flow provides us with excellent support. We’ll pass it along and Flow will set it up and run it and figure out the problems. Flow runs machines all day and has experience working with different materials, different abrasives and different pressures.”

With its expertise in waterjet cutting increasing day by day, the company has no problem keeping the machine occupied and operating to the company’s stated standards.

“We have a core philosophy at Diversified Metal Fabrication,” concludes Chimerofsky, “where we believe in finding the best tools out there and using them in our shop to achieve the best quality.” MF