[FireFghtr]

I would really like a cnc laser but the $$$ and dangers scare me. All I need to cut is 1/64" - 1/8" plywood. Has anyone ever done a diy cnc waterjet? I have a 5hp pressure washer. I had a friend make a tip with a .05 hole and it just made a 1/4" path of destruction in balsa! ugly!

What would it take to do this? how much power would I need?

[Geof]

This topic has been discussed in previous threads. I did a search using these words;

"home built water jet"

to get these three threads.

http://www.cnczone.com/forums/showthread.php?t=16526

http://www.cnczone.com/forums/showthread.php?t=27852

http://www.cnczone.com/forums/showthread.php?t=20624

Have a look at these and I think you will be able to answer your own questions.

[harryn]

Water jet cutting can work for wood, but usually, it is used for very hard materials (glass / stone) or very soft (foam for shoes, etc). Wood certainly will cut with water, but it is quite challenging to make the cut look nice, at least using my limited experiences.

Lasers are a great choice for special hard to cut materials, but the power levels needed are quite dangerous, esp. if you have children to deal with. Certainly, it should be entirely enclosed.

If your real need is thin sheet wood / plastics, I would seriously consider staying with a router type approach, with some good acoustic / dust containment.

BTW, have you ever been in a building with a water jet cutter - REAL LOUD.

Not to try to talk you out of building, DIY but there are some suppliers on this forum that offer some pretty reasonable prices for hobby / serious hobby class work units. Not too many people talk about how much $s they have saved after they built / fixed their own - the build is really the hobby, not a $ savings, at least that is what it looks like from here.

[bearwen]

Im with Harryn if your cutting wood or plastic stay with a router the bits are cheap and safety is easy. I have a Jgro and currently building a modified Joe 2006 I built my boards they are Pminmo 3977 and his 4 Axis interface I bought 260 oz/in motors and all the materials to build the Jgro I think total I have between $450 - $550 total investment I did not buy a computer for the workshop I had one and I am using EMC2 with linux to control the cnc (its free and can do a lot but requires a little bit of research to set up but its not hard the people on the forum for linuxcnc.org are pretty good at helping you out) and the bulk is reusable on my Joe might be a little slower then some others but hey 55 ipm on the Jgro isnt bad so the Joe should be the same or better but definetly more accurate.

[Geof]

Water jets can cut wood. Indeed it was to cut wood that water jet technology was first worked on. They can also do cuts that are pretty much impossible by any other method.

Here are some links:

http://www.flowcorp.com/waterjet-resources.cfm?id=335

http://www.waterjets.org/waterjet_pictures_10.html

http://www.pimkey.com/~toilemet/cl/sculpt/jetdo_a.htm

It is just impractical to build a DIY water jet because the equipment is very specialized. As an example a high quality pressure washer may develop 2500 to 3000 psi; water jets cutting needs ten times this pressure.