[How-To] Cleaning up a torched edge

[DavidR8]

You may have already, but be sure that you discuss the quality of the edge from the cut that you are expecting. Water Jetting is as variable as anything. The more time they spend, slower the cut, the better the finish, but the more the cost. I would ask them for a picture of the edge they will leave you with. It won't be a machined edge but they can make them pretty good if you want to spend the cash.

At Boeing where I work we get a lot of plate water cut. Some are as smooth as you could hope for, but others depending on the next stage look more like a torch cut.

Thanks, I did ask about the cut quality. They said it would be very clean and smooth. So here's hoping

 

[lis2323]

Don’t forget to think about 5/8” holes or clamping slots.
You would be hard-pressed to achieve the level of precision for layout they can provide.

 

[Flyinfool]

At least you will not have to worry about the edge being hardened if you wish to square it up further.

The other thing to consider is that the water jet does expand as it is cutting. So unless they compensate the cut edge will not be square to the top surface.

 

[graham-xrf]

Yup the 3, 4, 5 rule.

OK - any combination x^2 +y^2 = r^2, which is why 5,12,13 is OK.
Here I allow that talking about 3, 4, 5(s) was madly off-topic, but humor me..

Mis-quoting Samuel L Jackson (Jackie Brown 1997)..
"3, 4, 5, the very best there is! When you absolutely, positively, got to get yo' square past every *********** on the place, accept no substitutes"! Break out Biggest Ass Square.



The "graduations" have faded some, but B'A'Sq sees new life to help lay out the outhouse/shed/man-cave/"new-shop-to-be out there. Originally used clamped up vertical to force what would have been inept raising of block corners while waving a spirit level, into something satisfyingly precision (for a building), it turns out it still works OK when laid onto it's side!

 

[DavidR8]

I picked up the new top this morning.
Very impressed with the quality of the cut. I will definitely go back to them if I need complex shapes cut.
The price was $166 plus tax.
Island Plate was 133.36. So for an additional $33 I got the exact size and quality I wanted.

Dead on 90 degrees.

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[pontiac428]

Ooo-wee, that is a nice edge. A heck of a lot better than jigging a grinder or setting up a Rube Goldberg fixture on your mill.

 

[DavidR8]

Ooo-wee, that is a nice edge. A heck of a lot better than jigging a grinder or setting up a Rube Goldberg fixture on your mill.

I was expecting something similar to a plasma cut edge.
There are striations that are barely visible. I’m seriously impressed.


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[tjb]

I picked up the new top this morning.
Very impressed with the quality of the cut. I will definitely go back to them if I need complex shapes cut.
The price was $166 plus tax.
Island Plate was 133.36. So for an additional $33 I got the exact size and quality I wanted.

Dead on 90 degrees.

Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk

That's beautiful. Any idea what you paid just for the cut? Curious.

Regards

 

[DavidR8]

It’s hard to actually say.
The cut price from Island Plate was $133. I think they quoted $86 for just the plate. So $38 for cutting.
This piece was $166 on a quote of $150 depending on cut time.
It’s 10 linear feet of cutting plus some setup time. Using the Island Plate cost for the steel I’d guesstimate the cutting at about $60?

What’s interesting is that all four edges have the same cut marks so they didn’t cut the corner off a sheet.
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[Flyinfool]

Even if your sheet came from a corner they would offset it about 1/8 to 1/4 inch to give you the clean edge you ordered.

I can see where if a customer ordered and paid for water jet cutting they would not be happy with 2 sheared edges. Sheared edges are real ugly compared to WJ cutting.