Forget the Wazer, we need one of these!
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@AlexRhodes is this the one you were looking at?
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Yeah. I ordered one for work but haven’t received it yet.
I looked at the wazer and compared the two at Maker Fair NYC. The protomax has a smaller cutting area than the wazer but the protomax has more psi so you can cut more material faster. It’s the same pump and inards they use on their 4’x4’ machines. It also has an optional reclimation unit (talk to a rep) so it can run on same water without the need for additional plumbing. Also makes disposing of the swarf easier to do properly. It comes with the software and can be downloaded and used by all.
https://www.protomax.com/software/
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That’s pretty awesome. It seems more accessible than I thought, even with a small cutting area. Higher PSI means less garnet usage. Still might be something DMS would break/abuse?
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Is there anything DMS can’t break/abuse?
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Good point.
If members actually paid for the garnet in bulk it wouldn’t be that bad.
can the dms space build something that it cannot break? *thinker pose
A waterjet in a makerspace is not worth it. Tech Shop had them and they were not worth it.
You need to have dedicated maintenance for it, at least once a week which would have a log of everything that would be checked on the machine. From there you would probably need 4 classes to cover everything just to when someone went to use it they would be able to operate it without any issues. If something does break you need to have someone at the makerspace who knows how to fix it or be willing to spend a lot of money to have a technician come out and just look at the machine. When I say a lot of money it will easily start in the thousands of dollars.
Because of the size of the ProtoMAX the metal shop would probably use it the least. It only has a 12" x 12" x1" work area. The Dynatorch can cut through 1" steel but has a 4’ x 8’ work area. I could see jewelry and glass using this far more than the metal shop. If DMS did get this I could see the laser committee taking control of it.
I doubt there is any plan on getting one but I thought I would throw in my personnel knowledge on this.
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But it looks so fun …
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I understand the problems with waterjets. The pumps have to be rebuilt regularly, fittings leak, feed tubes and orafices are consumables. Water filtration is a big part of it and does require a significant cfm to supply. The garnet can clog in the feed tube, the garnet is expensive without buying in bulk, and it can’t be reclaimed and the water is drained and wasted (protomax has a filtration system at least)
That said it would make cleaner cuts and cut more material thicker than a plasma or laser. It also doesn’t cost much more than our formech vacuum former.
As far as I know, a waterjet could also cut a wider range of materials than a plasma or laser.
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