What is the thickest thing a water jet has cut through?

Water jet cutting is known for its power, we regularly remind readers that a water jet can cut to 10 times the depth of a laser.

This equates to around 25cm of pretty much any substance. However, that is not the maximum of course, depending on the material and the water pressure, the cut can be deeper still.

Theoretically, there is no limit – get a water jet that is focussed enough and it will cut through any material to any depth.

At TMC, we have cut parts to great depths, far exceeding the 25cm we mention. What though is the deepest?

To answer that, we headed to YouTube – where others have used their water jets to check out this test. We tend to be a bit busy with work to randomly cut the thickest metal we can find.

We wanted to include only videos where a dense material is cut through – cutting through paper is not overly impressive.

The first video of interest was cutting 8-inch thick steel – admittedly 8 inches is not even up to the 25cm we mentioned.

However, this video does demonstrate the accuracy of water jet cutting – we should say we want to see accurate cutting, nobody wants a cut part that has little resemblance to the design brief.

Let’s move beyond the 25 cm with a video that shows a water jet cutting through a dense material that is 12 inches thick.

The material in question is Inconel – Inconel is a super expensive super alloy – you can find out more about it here. The video is a genuine cutting job rather than experimenting for the sake of it – you don’t want to be wasting money cutting Inconel needlessly.

The video is below – it’s not the world’s most exciting production, so maybe have a quick look and then move on to our third entry.

Think cutting through eight inches of stainless steel as we saw in the first video is too easy? Well, how about doubling – and then a bit more.

This video shows how with a specialist set-up and a degree of ingenuity you can cut through 18 inches. This is one of the more impressive water jet cutting set-ups we’ve seen – perhaps they are equivalent on the other side of the Atlantic.

This is our final entry – there are undeniably times when thicker materials have been cut but nobody has chosen to post a video with exact measurements. It’s almost as if they’ve been too focussed on the job to create social content.

Here is the video

What we learn from these videos is that while we quote 10 times the depth of laser, 20 times the depth and beyond is entirely possible.

The comparison between laser and water jet cutting has always been a non-contest, but in fact it is a massacre.

If you want a piece cut accurately and efficiently, there really is only one choice.

Please contact us if you need further information about water jet cutting or to arrange an obligation-free quote.

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.