Water Jet Cutting in the Garage?!

It might make parking the car a bit more difficult – but there is a new way to utilise your garage space. Install your own personal water jet cutter!

We were intrigued to learn you’ll soon be able to order your own water jet cutter and so did some digging…

The machine in question is called the Tinijet and at this moment in time, details seem a bit sketchy.

According to reports, the Tinijet started life as a university project, but as of February 2016 was ‘close’ to being ready for sale.

On their own website, details are sketchy, but some of the YouTube videos are interesting.

What Tinijet appears to be is a useful machine for anyone who finds they do a high volume of small cuts to a shallow depth.  According to the specs on their site, it can cut materials to a depth of 5 millimetres, and within a working area of 30 x 30 centimetres.

There is no mention of cost, but it is likely that the cost of the machine, plus any installation isn’t going to be cheap; clearly the machine is unlikely to be a worthwhile investment for anyone who requires such cuts very occasionally.

The depth of cut and working area makes us wonder if it is more of a replacement for some laser cutting jobs than water jet cutting ones.

Laser cutting comes into its own for simple cuts to relatively shallow depths – if you have a shape to be cut into a thin piece of metal or plastic, then laser is often a sensible option.

However, water jet cutting can cut to far greater depths – 25 centimetres in most materials, that’s 50 times greater depth than the Tinijet offers.

Many professional water jet cutting operations can also cut three dimensional shapes via XD cutting – meaning complex cuts can be done in one process, with no expensive, time consuming secondary cutting required.

The high pressure water jets of the professional cuts will also ensure a cleaner, more accurate cut – important when companies such as Boeing and Formula 1 teams are increasingly utilising the benefits of water jet cutting.

However, that’s comparing apples with oranges. For anyone who finds themselves making a high volume of shallow cuts – for example medals out of thin metal- then Tinijet might be worth keeping an eye on.

All of you who have a laser in the garage; you might want to upgrade! Also, we hope you’re not using the laser for evil.

Whatever your requirements are – whether it’s for simple cuts of thin material, or something far more complex, please feel free to get in touch to chat through the options. We love nothing more than talking about water jets!