Page 32 - MetalForming January 2020

FABRICATION
Waterjet Cutting–
Predictive Maintenance Cuts Costs, Downtime
Worried about pumps and seals? Technology offers options to better plan maintenance and replacement.
BY LOUIS A. KREN, SENIOR EDITOR
Machinery uptime is critical to staying productive and meet- ing internal and external cus- tomer demands for on-time delivery. Operational hiccups on key manufac- turing equipment affects production lines and bottom lines. Waterjet cutting machines are no exception. Large auto- motive Tier Ones, job shops and tool- build houses all rely on waterjet cutting either to feed other processes or cus- tomers hungry for parts and tools.
But ensuring uptime in waterjet cut- ting machines is tricky business. Cour- tesy of two technology experts, Jay Kobzik, OEM sales manager with Hypertherm, Inc. (www.hypertherm.com), and his colleague David Dumas, water- jet application engineer, MetalForming takes a closer look at assessing the health of waterjet machine pumps, and the ramifications of good and not-so- good maintenance practices.
New pump technology for waterjet cutting, including this pump unit on display at FABTECH 2019, enables users to better schedule maintenance and downtime, thus ensuring productivity without time, money and late-delivery headaches.
30 MetalForming/January 2020
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Pumps Are Part and Parcel of Waterjet Performance
Most importantly, waterjet pumps are responsible for delivering consis- tent water flow when cutting a part— the 60,000 psi or whatever pressure amount that’s needed. Without that
high pressure, delivered consistently, part-cut quality suffers, or part cutting stops altogether. The correct nozzle and orifice combination together with pump capability to deliver consistent pressure result in an effective system and good results.