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Is Water Jet Cutting Safe?

Recently, we were asked if water jet cutting is safe.

Our answer would be a qualified yes. Yes, it is safe, assuming you know what you are doing and follow safety precautions.

For us, it is safe. We have specialist, top-quality machinery. We have safety protocols, we have engineers who have years of experience using water jet cutting machinery. It goes without saying that we wear protective clothing and goggles.

Equally, water jets are incredibly powerful, especially when mixed with abrasive garnet. One of our water jets can cut through several centimetres of steel, clearly, this is a force you wouldn’t want to direct at body parts. It is no different to asking a builder if an electric saw is safe, or the tree surgeon if the chainsaw is a tool that is safe to use. You wouldn’t typically get someone off the street, in their standard clothes, and send them up a tree with a chainsaw.

Water jet cutting has until very recently been completely specialised. It is, without meaning to sound rude, a job you leave to the experts – it is safe for them because they have set everything up to be safe.

One concern would be the growth of more affordable, smaller-scale water jet cutting machines, the type that are starting to appear in garages and small workshops, especially in the United States. These are nowhere near as powerful as our industrial models, but they can still cut through dense material.

They are also, dare we say it, unlikely to be maintained to the same high standards. Would the owner of a small workshop run stringent tests each and every day to ensure the machinery is running as expected?

The word water can perhaps also lead to a false sense of security. It’s just water, how powerful can it be? Very powerful is the answer to that.

We like to think of it like this – would many people want a laser cutter in their garage? We’d imagine not, that sounds wholly unsuitable. A water jet cutting machine sounds less imposing, and yet it is actually many times more powerful. It is like keeping a tiger instead of a dog because you think the tiger, part of the cat family, can’t be that bad.

Really then there are two answers.

Is water jet cutting safe? Yes, if you use professionals. Send them the job and then do not stress, it will be carried out to the highest of standards in an environment where every safety step is ensured.

Is it safe to set up a water jet cutting machine in your own personal workshop? We would not be recommending this unless you have real experience and know exactly what you are doing.

 

Work with the UK’s leading Water Jet Cutters

At TMC, we are a water jet cutter who serve the whole of the UK and increasingly Europe too, with clients across the content trusting us to work on their projects.

Despite our success, we remain a company that focusses on every client and work on projects of all sizes. If you think water jet cutting might be of use for your project, please do get in touch for an obligation-free chat.

Call us on 01625 610 441 or use our Contact Form.