Water cutter Question

S

shakie

Guest
I have a billet of Todd Fischer damascus that I have been holding for a few yrs and now I'm thinking of splitting it. The dementions are 18" by 1 1/2" by 5/16" + could a water cutter split it into 2 pieces 18"by 1 1/2" by 1/8" . If so could someone point me in the right direction. Thanks Roy..
 
If you've never dealt with anything that has been waterjet cut.... the cut will not be dead straight. Meaning that one edge of something cut lengthwise will be thicker than the other (the trailing edge of the cut). That is just the nature of cutting with a waterjet. If you divide .3125 (5/16") by 2 you get: .3125/2= .156

The question to ask whomever does the cutting is "How big is the kerf of a cut?" If the kerf is say .030" then your down to .126 on each piece (at least on one edge), and then you have to take into consideration that your going to have to clean up the piece, so by the time everything is done, your likely going to be down to about .100" or so on each piece.

A waterjet machine has the choice of several "quality of cut" settings. This refers to how fast the nozzle travels, with dictates how clean and straight the cut is.....general the higher the quality of cut, the more it costs.
Just to give you an idea, I have a waterjet outfit locally that cuts "slices" for me from Mosaic damascus loaves. On the lowest quality of cut, on 1 1/2" thick loaves, they charge $15 per cut. The slices are generally .020-.025" thicker on one edge than the other. The kerf on their nozzle is .035. So, for every four slices of steel I get, one is lost to the kerf on .125 cuts. When I want to end up with .125 thick pieces after cutting, I always have them cut it to .140" thick.
If the billet you have is dead straight and true, it can work, but don't be surprised if you get charged a pretty good setup fee.....trying to line up and hold a 5/16" bar so it cuts straight is a chore.

If I were you, and have a small metal cutting bandsaw, I would set up some kind of "rip fence" and cut it with myself.
 
Thanks Ed. It sounds alot like a plasma cut where one edge ends up at 90 degrees and the other 10+ degrees different. But that is an easy fix, just hold the gun so its at a 90 degree position instead of draging it down your cut line. You gave me a world of knowledge thanks again! And I do have a metal cutting band saw but its a harbor fright, I mean freight. You know what I mean
 
EdCaffreyMS said:
If you've never dealt with anything that has been waterjet cut.... the cut will not be dead straight. Meaning that one edge of something cut lengthwise will be thicker than the other (the trailing edge of the cut). That is just the nature of cutting with a waterjet. If you divide .3125 (5/16") by 2 you get: .3125/2= .156

The question to ask whomever does the cutting is "How big is the kerf of a cut?" If the kerf is say .030" then your down to .126 on each piece (at least on one edge), and then you have to take into consideration that your going to have to clean up the piece, so by the time everything is done, your likely going to be down to about .100" or so on each piece.

A waterjet machine has the choice of several "quality of cut" settings. This refers to how fast the nozzle travels, with dictates how clean and straight the cut is.....general the higher the quality of cut, the more it costs.
Just to give you an idea, I have a waterjet outfit locally that cuts "slices" for me from Mosaic damascus loaves. On the lowest quality of cut, on 1 1/2" thick loaves, they charge $15 per cut. The slices are generally .020-.025" thicker on one edge than the other. The kerf on their nozzle is .035. So, for every four slices of steel I get, one is lost to the kerf on .125 cuts. When I want to end up with .125 thick pieces after cutting, I always have them cut it to .140" thick.
If the billet you have is dead straight and true, it can work, but don't be surprised if you get charged a pretty good setup fee.....trying to line up and hold a 5/16" bar so it cuts straight is a chore.

If I were you, and have a small metal cutting bandsaw, I would set up some kind of "rip fence" and cut it with myself.
Click to expand...



Ed,
I'm curios to know why you don't use the bandsaw yourself, for horizontal cuts 1.5" is not that much of a chore, and from what I know of waterjet, you wouldn't have to deal with the tapered kerf.
Thanks,
 
Hi Delbert,

The reason I don't, is because my small saw won't handle it. Most of the loaves are my "Fossil" damascus, and are generally about 14" long X 6-8" wide X 1 1/4-1 1/2" thick. I did try sawing a smaller loaf once.....after going through three blades and 2 1/2 hours of my time, with only three slices to show for it, I took it to the waterjet folks. :)

I've also tried cutting them on my 7x12 saw, but I loose just as much in the kerf with it, and it's a major pain to set the saw up to hold the work. I have managed to cut a few slices, but considering the cost per saw blade is about $30 on that saw, and it's anywhere from 10-15 mins per cut on a loaf the size I mentioned, it's proven more economical to have the waterjet do the cutting.

If I have small stuff like Shakie mentioned, I do cut it on my small saw.
 
The reason I ask is because I went through the same dilemma about 12 years ago and after weighing all the options I decided to go with the saw. Its clear to me we have different approaches, because I routinely cut billets just a bit smaller than yours and it takes about 10 min to setup and about 2 min between each cut and I let the saw do the work. I can cut a billets worth in an hour or two, and I just have to adjust the saw between cuts. I get about 3 billets worth out of a single bimetal blade and even then they still cut well, just not as fast. I still send the cut stuff off for grinding, but its thinner than the forged stock and the sawcut steel is often clean enough to use as is, I will do that on occasion, if I need that pattern right away. Thats another thing that persuaded me, virtually no down time, I finish a billet one day and after annealing overnight I can have barstock in hand the next. Handy sometimes.
Thanks,
 
I agree, in many cases it's advantageous to be able to do it yourself....and there are times that I wish I had taken the time and effort to setup my big saw....but for whatever reason it's one of those thing that I've just never gotten around to doing. Maybe if things slow down over the winter, it might be a good project to put on the "To Do" list. :) I'll still have to overcome wearing out the blades so quickly to make it more economical for me, but it would be good for situations like you mentioned (needing it now).
 
Ed,
Maybe I missed it, but I didn't see any of the Fossil damascus you mentioned, would you mind posting a pic of that pattern?
If you decide to set up with the saw I can give you some tips, believe me, all has not gone smooth and I have some experience solving problems in that area.

Shakie,
Sorry for hijacking your thread, I think that waterjet would not be a practical soulution, but EDM might be, less kerf and it winds up real clean, however it might cost more than the steel is worth. You also might have it rolled thinner, but that way might distort the pattern too much and you might only get 50% more, because you would have to clean it up again.
Thanks,
 
000_0759-1.jpgLet me start at the beginning. I met Todd at a florida knifemakers assn picnic where he brought one of his monster dagger/short swords to show off and I fell in love (with the dag not Todd) We were comparing filework and I couldn't resist so I bought a billet to make my own monster dag/short sword. long story short I never intended to sell it but I got an offer I couldn't refuse and have regreted selling it ever since. Then a year or so later I meet Todd again at a show so I dug deep and got another billet. The only diff being the first was just under 1/4" and the second over 5/16" So now the master plan is instead of using an 8" wheel like I did on the first (which gave me a nice hollow). On this one I'll use a 3" wheel and make a super DEEP hollow. IMHO this pattern says dagger dagger dagger. You guys have made me see the light and swag my idea of splitting this beauty. picture of first one "Vampire Slayer"
 
Man that is a nice blade! I'm curious what the OAL is? Is the handle material mammoth?

Thanks
 
opiy said:
Man that is a nice blade! I'm curious what the OAL is? Is the handle material mammoth?

Thanks
Click to expand...

I believe it was 11" to the guard. 16" end to end. Yes the handle is mammoth + it breaks down competely. everything is drilled and tapped
 
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