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Information courtesy of JetEdge.com

How a Water Jet Machine Works

How a Water Jet Cutting Machine Works

Waterjet cutting machines cut with a supersonic stream of water that is so powerful it can cut through materials in one pass without shredding or crushing them. The Jet Edge water jet is created by pressurizing water up to 50,000 psi (3,400 bar) with a Jet Edge waterjet intensifier pump. The waterjet cutting action takes place as a result of the ultra-high pressure (UHP) water being forced through a pre-mounted orifice as small as .005 inches. In many applications, an abrasive material such as garnet is added to the waterjet to create an abrasive waterjet (also known as an abrasivejet) that can cut cleanly through virtually any material.

Abrasive Waterjet System

Jet Edge waterjet system

The Waterjet Intensifier Pump - Power Made Simple

The intensifier pump acts as an amplifier as it converts the energy from the low-pressure hydraulic fluid into ultra-high pressure water. The hydraulic system provides fluid power to a reciprocating piston in the intensifier center section. A limit switch, located at each end of the piston travel, signals the electronic controls to shift the directional control valve and reverse the piston direction.

The intensifier assembly, with a plunger on each side of the piston, generates pressure in both directions. As one side of the intensifier is in the inlet stroke, the opposite side is generating ultra-high pressure output. During the plunger inlet stroke, filtered water enters the high pressure cylinder through the check value assembly. After the plunger reverses direction, the water is compressed and exits as ultra-high pressure water and then enters the pressure vessel (attenuator). The attenuator smoothes pressure fluctuations from the intensifier and delivers a constant and steady stream of ultra-high pressure water to the cutting or cleaning tool.

Waterjet Intensifier Pump Animation

intensifier pump animation

Frequently Asked Questions

What is the difference between waterjet and abrasive waterjet (abrasivejet)?

Waterjet cuts with ultra-high pressure water alone. Abrasivejet cuts with an abrasive material (usually garnet) that has been added to the water stream.

What can be cut with Jet Edge abrasivejet/waterjet?

Jet Edge abrasivejets can cut virtually any material, including metals, stone, composites, glass and much more. Jet Edge waterjets cut softer materials such as food, foam, paper and rubber.

How is cutting motion controlled?

Jet Edge waterjet/abrasivejet cutting systems are controlled by PC-based motion control systems that can accept any CAD files.

What tolerances can Jet Edge hold?

Jet Edge waterjets/abrasivejets can hold an accuracy of 0.010 inch with a repeatability of 0.001 inch over the entire work envelope.

How thick of material will abrasivejet cut?

Abrasivejets have been known to cut metals as thick as 20 inches.

How much water does a Jet Edge system use?

Jet Edge waterjet/abrasivejet systems use a half gallon to approximately one gallon of water per minute depending on the cutting head orifice size. The water can be recycled using a closed-looped system. Waste water usually is clean enough to filter and dispose of down a drain.

Is water treatment necessary?

Before installing your Jet Edge system, we recommend that you have a water quality analysis performed by a commercial company that specializes in water conditioning equipment. They can recommend the most suitable equipment for your specific water conditions. Inlet water should be treated for either the removal of hardness or the reduction in Total Disolved Solids (TDS). A water treatment producing TDS content of less than 0.5 ppm is not recommended since the aggressiveness of the purified water may damage the intensifier pump components. Treated water must have a pH value of 6 to 8.

  • If your water has low TDS (<100 ppm), it can be treated by softening alone.
  • If your water has moderate TDS (100-200 ppm), it can be treated by softening, deionizing (DI) or reverse osmosis (RO) equipment.
  • If your water has high TDS (>200 ppm), water quality is considered poor and should be treated with DI or RO equipment.
  • If your water has high silica concentration (>15 ppm), dual strong-base DI is recommended.

How much garnet does abrasive waterjet (abrasivejet) use?

Abrasivejets use approximately 0.5 to 1 pound (0.25 to 0.5Kg) of abrasive per minute. 

What do you do with used garnet?

Garnet is a non-toxic natural substance that can be recycled for repeated use using a Jet Edge Abrasive Recycling System.  Spent garnet usually can be disposed of in a landfill.

What Can be Cut with Jet Edge Waterjet/Abrasivejet?

Virtually anything can be cut with Jet Edge waterjet or abrasivejet! Here are a just a few examples of what you can cut with your Jet Edge waterjet/abrasivejet cutting system.


Water Jet Cutting 6.5" titanium

Soft Rubber
Hard Rubber
Soft Gasket Material
Paper and Cardboard
Carbon Fiber
Reflective Metals
Hardened Tool Steel
Mild Steel
Stainless Steel
Exotic Materials
Food Products
Much, Much more

Water Jet Cutting Titanium


Why should I use waterjet or abrasive waterjet versus conventional cutting methods?

Cut Without Heat
Jet Edge waterjet technology is ideal for cutting heat sensitive material. Costs due to thermal distortion of machine parts are eliminated. Risk of fatigue failure resulting from process induced thermal stressing and associated material structural change is minimized.

Accurate Cutting
Jet Edge waterjets can hold an accuracy of 0.010 inch with a repeatability of 0.001 inch over the entire work envelope.

No Sharpening Required
Unlike conventional cutting tools, waterjets cut with a supersonic stream of water that never dulls. With waterjet, you will never need to shut down to sharpen or clean blades.

Minimize Dust and Toxic Fumes
The practical elimination of airborne dust particles, smoke, fumes, and contaminates from cutting materials such as asbestos and fiberglass greatly improves the work environment and reduces problems arising from operator exposure.

No Finishing Operation Required
Selection of appropriate cutting parameters such as operating pressure, material feed rate, abrasive particle size, and flow rate can eliminate the need for secondary operations. Jet Edge systems also reduce machining time and production costs.

Non-Contact Cutting and Cleanliness
USDA approved equipment designs promote the use of ultra-high pressure waterjet streams in the sanitary cutting of food products. Using UHP waterjet results in higher cutting speeds and the elimination of associated downtime incurred for cleaning and resharpening delicate blades. One of the biggest advantages is that fixturing associated with other machining methods is minimized.

Near Zero Lateral Cutting Force
Jet Edge systems reduce fixturing costs plus avoid excessive stress to finished parts. Also, minimal lateral force simplifies material handling and allows cutting close to material edges.

Minimum Waste Material
With typical orifice diameters in the range of 0.003 – 0.045 inches, waterjet kerf width is kept to a minimum, thus maximizing material utilization.

Omni-Directional Cutting
Waterjet cut profiles are not confined to straight-line geometries. Part complexity is limited only by the motion control system specified and traditional start holes are eliminated.

Environmentally Friendly
Waterjets produce no hazardous waste, reducing waste disposal costs.  They can cut off large pieces of reusable scrap material that might have been lost using traditional cutting methods.  Parts can be closely nested to maximize material use, and the waterjet saves material by creating very little kerf.  Waterjets use very little water (a half gallon to approximately one gallon per minute depending on cutting head orifice size), and the water that is used can be recycled using a closed-looped system.  Waste water usually is clean enough to filter and dispose of down a drain.  The garnet abrasive is a non-toxic natural substance that can be recycled for repeated use.  Garnet usually can be disposed of in a landfill.