Wazer

[JTBoh]

Waterjet Cutter for under 5 grand?

Yes, please.

https://hackaday.com/2016/09/12/wazer-the-waterjet-for-your-garage/

 

[JR's]

cool

 

[Gene@mpls]

We have one preordered- should come to fruition Nov-Dec. I have high hopes for it [not necessarily for the signshop].

 

[JTBoh]

We have one preordered- should come to fruition Nov-Dec. I have high hopes for it [not necessarily for the signshop].

Show some work when it gets there.

A pretty good chunk of our dimensional stuff is small letters/logos - I think it would eventually pay for itself but it'd take a while. Still cool to have around.

 

[James Burke]

I used to work as a design engineer for an AWJ cutting facility, and I've seen plenty of the big machines in action. I'm more than skeptical here.

Read the reviews...there's more than a fair amount of concern...and for good reason.

Waterjet machines basically "eat" themselves to death. And by this very nature, there are very high maintenance costs for just about every component of the machine. That's why industrial AWJ hourly rates run in excess of $100 an hour. This isn't addressed in their video.

Also...who supplies aftermarket parts in the event the company closes its doors?

Water pre-treatment is crucial for long pump life on industrial models. Nowhere did I see anything mentioned about that.

A few other details (slow cut time, excessive garnet usage, etc...) will not make it very economical when compared to using an industrial source to do your cutting. Spent water disposal is not so tidy...it needs to be filtered through a weir system before allowing it to return through your home's pipes or you'll be helping a plumber make his mortgage payments.

Not being a "bubble buster", but I see it more as a time and material consumer than being a useful tool.

Make your money doing what you do best, and hire an AWJ source to do your work.

 

[Gene@mpls]

James- I have no illusions of a desktop machine being a capable production machine. I make a lot of stuff and as I now have time to do things right instead of in a hurry and care about how this look, this will be an good tool to help out my laser and CNC [I hope].

 

[James Burke]

James- I have no illusions of a desktop machine being a capable production machine. I make a lot of stuff and as I now have time to do things right instead of in a hurry and care about how this look, this will be an good tool to help out my laser and CNC [I hope].

I hope it works for you...

In all honesty, I'm left wondering why the Chinese haven't pulled off something like that by now.

Anyway, keep us posted.

 

[Gene@mpls]

I have received the machine and it really surpassed my expectations as far as build. Unfortunately the supplied software is *very* disappointing. Very crude and difficult to use. I have years of experience with CNC and lazer software and designing 3D models and the Chinese software is so much better than 'WAM' [Wazer's proprietary software] that I am embarrassed for them. It is run by a modified Smoothie board code and we have a very bright gentleman who develops software to replace the Chinese software who can easily [according to him] modify his laser software to run this machine. I still have hope for the machine but I am afraid the company is going to founder for want of software that can easily [and cheaply] be bought. Unfortunately I have it plumbed and ready to go, but cannot stand to work with the software and have not used the machine. I am an old man and have worked with software since helping calibrate the Lunar Expeditionary Module hand controls back in the '60s and have better ways to spend my remaining hours.

 

[James Burke]

Unfortunately the supplied software is *very* disappointing. Very crude and difficult to us.

That's too bad. I see a lot of new gadgets coming to market (ie laser cutters such as the Glow Forge), and I'm very skeptical. I've worked as a tool and die maker and CAD designer for a good number of years and these companies are making very little of the fact that it takes a considerable amount of skill, and great software to get usable data into a machine in order to make good parts.

Take a look....it's very disappointing:

Most gadget manufacturers (3D printers included) show the user snapping a photo with their phone, making a few adjustments and then magically dropping the file into the machine. All they do next is push the big green button and wait for the show to happen.

I've been at this almost 40 years and I know better...it doesn't just happen like that.

Profitable one-off and small scale manufacturing takes a lot of skill to execute consistently. Sadly, people are being deceived into thinking that a just a computer can do it all.



JB

 

[James Burke]

Forgot to ask....will it take a DXF file from AutoCAD? If so, I could send you something to try.


JB

 

[JTBoh]

Thanks for the update/review. Can't say I was expecting anything a year later lol, but good to know

 

[Gene@mpls]

JB- yep it will take .dfx files, I can generate them in Flexi or Fusion 360 with no problems. They admit that they are hardware guys not software guys, not that that helps a lot. I expect they will figure it out, they just sent me a questionnaire which I was honest on, and asked if I would be willing to talk to someone, hell yes, I would love that. I am heavily involved in Chicom lazers and a member of our forum has developed very capable software that will run the Ruida brand controllers and it is wonderful to be able to suggest improvements and actually see results.