TMC are without doubt one of the UK’s premier waterjet cutting companies. We’re specialists in abrasive and non-abrasive cutting of resistant materials, superior quality 2D & 3D parts production using both Dynamic and Dynamic XD water jet cutting technology.
If you’re new to waterjet cutting or wondering if water jet cutting is right for you? Read “Water Jet Cutting Explained“. For those familiar with waterjet cutting, we’ve listed some of the services and benefits TMC has to offer.
We have the ability to cut almost any resistant material. If you have any questions about a material you’re trying to cut, please give us a call or use our contact form. These are some of the materials we frequently cut:
Water jet cutting uses a computer controlled machine capable of cutting any sheet or plate material. The abrasive water jet cutting process uses an exceptionally high, 87,000 psi, jet of water which is mixed with garnet as an abrasive to form a fluid cutting tool. The pressurised mixture is forced through a tungsten carbide tube with an orifice of 0.75mm diameter. Within the Mohs scale of mineral hardness, the abrasive has a rating of 8 where talc is 1 and diamond is 10. The resultant stream can cut detailed parts in materials from foam and plastics through to metals, carbon fibre, ceramics and even armour plate. It can best be described as accelerated erosion.
The major advantage of water jet lies in the fact that the process is cold, there is no heat affected zone. Traditional mechanical cutting methods such as cropping and welding destroy the structural integrity of such materials. Likewise, existing thermal processes such as laser or plasma cutting deform the edges of cut composites – and can also create stress, microfissures and structural changes. Water jet cutting doesn’t exhibit these effects. Additionally, the micro fine water jet not only avoids direct surface pressure on the material but is the most effective way of cutting complex shapes to the highest tolerances. Either as a standalone production tool or as part of other machining processes, water jet cutting is now the fastest growing precision profile production method.
Not only have TMC invested in the very latest water jet cutting machinery this has been further enhanced by the ability to deliver 87,000 psi to the cutting head. The water jet beam is moving at Mach 4; simply put we can cut faster, thicker and to a tighter tolerance to produce a lower cost, better part than any conventional water jet machine.
TMC are the first subcontractor in the UK to introduce XD Water jet cutting which offers all the advantages of dynamic abrasive cutting but with the ability to produce complex 3D parts by automatically tilting the cutting head both sideways and forwards during the cutting cycle to produce a higher quality part both dimensionally and visually. Historically parts such as these would have involved expensive secondary machining. TMC can now offer finished parts, dramatically saving our customers both time and money. Dynamic and XD water jet cutting are the future; see what this process can do for your business.