Waterjet cutter is extremely versatile and useful when compared to its counterparts like flame, plasma & laser cutting. Waterjet and abrasive jet cutting produce zero heat affected zone, meaning you don’t have to worry about hardened cut edges as they cut metals, plastics and other materials without distorting, melting or warping the material. The only problem; they are huge machines that cost equally huge costs!
But Adam Libert from University of Pennsylvania has designed a solution that promises to bring the contraption to every hobbyist for a retail price of less than $5000!
Adam was the lead mechanical designer on the project, and along with his team he has designed the fully waterproof XY gantry that can withstand the abrasive and water pressure from the cutter. The entire machine measures 2″ x 2″ and is 5″ tall, which makes it very portable and simple to move through doorways and small passageways. Using 120VAC and shop air it can cut through up to 1/4″ aluminum and 1/8″ steel sheets at a working area of 12″ x 14″ with tolerance of 0.005″.
Adam has created the first ever small sized, low-cost, and portable waterjet cutter. The project also won the Mechanical Engineering Senior Design competition in 2012 for its creativity and utility. This project has been pitched as WAZER, the world’s first personal waterjet. You can view the Kickstarter campaign here
Watch the video below to watch it in action!
You can also read about the project here.
