#HTE

Holy Cow: An Affordable Desktop Waterjet Cutter

We live in incredible times for fabrication, where everything from CNC mills to 3D printers to laser cutters have been shrunk to desktop size and made affordable. But one machine I never expected to see added to this category was waterjet cutters.

Well, here it is: The Wazer. Now you can cut steel, stone, glass, ceramics, carbon fiber and other hard materials with something that fits on a workbench:

The reason that abrasive waterjet cutters are expensive is because of the five-figure high-pressure pumps required. The secret sauce that inventor Nisan Lerea and his team of engineers have figured out is how to get good cutting quality at a much lower pressure (i.e. with a cheaper pump). In doing so, they’ve effectively created an entire waterjet cutter that’s cheaper than the pumps alone that you’d see in an industrial model.

The Wazer’s expected retail price will be $5,999, but at press time there were still some $3,999 early-bird specials left on their Kickstarter campaign. Funding has been successful; the developers were seeking $100,000, and are currently at $522,382 in pledges.

On their campaign page you’ll find answers to a lot of the questions you probably have (i.e. material thicknesses, abrasive costs, amount of water required, et cetera).

http://www.core77.com/posts/56193/Holy-Cow-An-Affordable-Desktop-Waterjet-Cutter