Waterjet Machining Services
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Many unique waterjet-machining technologies that can not
be performed with commercially available tooling are made
available at Ormond through in-house contract machining services.
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Through its engineering staff, Ormond has an intimate knowledge
of all aspects of advanced waterjet machining techniques.
The technologies available at Ormond make it possible to reduce
manufacturing costs in applications employing conventional machining
methods such as CNC milling, electron discharge machining (EDM), and
chem-milling.
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Processes such as precision waterjet cutting, small hole
drilling, thin kerf cutting, grooving, controlled depth
milling and others are offered to cover a wide range of
exotic or conventional materials.
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There are currently more than 400 abrasive waterjet machine shops
performing basic loose tolerance 2-D machining in the US. The
average shop size is $1M and this small size precludes an experienced
engineering staff. Ormond has the ability to engineer advanced waterjet
manufacturing solutions that are tailored to the customers' specific
applications, giving them a substantial advantage over their
competitors. It has been Ormond's experience that this advanced
capability provides gains over not only other waterjet shops, but
other machining techniques as well. For example, waterjets are 10
times faster than EDM machines but conventional waterjets are not as
precise. Ormond's technologies, however, allow us to approach the
precision of the EDM and provide customers with significant cost
savings in many applications.
Precision Waterjet Machining
Although some waterjet systems available elsewhere are capable
of machining to close tolerances, it is very difficult to do so
in the production atmosphere with acceptable scrap levels.
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Special tooling designed at Ormond reliably and economically
enables production quantities numbering in the thousands to be
machined with 2-axis to 5-axis tolerances of as tight as +/-0.001
inches (+/-0.025 mm). This is a significant advancement over the
capabilities at other waterjet machine shops.
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Hole Drilling
Precision holes are machined in a wide range of difficult to
machine materialsincluding glass, ceramics, and hard and brittle
metals. Small diameters, very tight tolerances and long aspect
ratios are possible in many applications to produce holes much
more economically than is possible with the EDM. Heat affected
zones and subsurface flaws are not an issue with the abrasive-waterjet.
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