Why waterjet? Why not OILjet?

Joe OZ thats correct. There are 2 main types of WJ pumps. Intensifier and Direct Drive (piston). We have One company I know of uses a servo driven intensifier which we are actually considering going to but most are hydraulic driven. One issue with the hydraulics is waste heat generated maintaining pressure while not cutting. There are many issues with home brew WJ we have not yet unpacked in this discussion but one at a time lets do it.
 
Thanks for the link.
I read about servo drive intensifiers. Very interesting machines. They sound like a very efficient way of pumping high pressure without generating much waste heat and simplifying the entire mechanical side of the system.
Linear servos are still very expensive, bit I saw one rotary servo driving the pistons with a ballscrew. That seems almost feasible for a DIY pump :)

Cheers
Joe
 
The original design concept for waterjet cutting was a large tube/barrel filled with water. A large extremely heavy piston was then lowered into it.
 
I haven't seen this mentioned yet ... but as I recall from a visit to a commercial machine shop, only pure "virgin" water is fed into the pump of a waterjet cutter. They do NOT recirculate/filter/treat used water. This makes a lot of sense, because the extremely fine clearances in the pumps would require some kind of "ultra" filtration of the water. And in general, the finer the filter, the slower the flow through it, and the more frequently it would clog or require cleaning.

So using any kind of oil or similar substance would not only involve the cost of what's collected in the tank, but also a steady supply of new/clean oil to feed the jet. And as has been pointed out, oil is a lot more expensive than water. So operating costs would become a major consideration.
 
According to the applied science video the cutting head parts were pretty cheap. He talks about the price of the orifice specifically.
Robert
 
Ethylene Glycol is also flammable. Or is that inflammable. Well, it can ignite/burn anyhow. Pulling tractors inject ethylene glycol to increase HP.

Strantor... My brother has been a diesel injector pump specialist for 40 years. If you have specific questions I could run it past him.
 
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