Waterjet Machining
Waterjet Parts
Project Summary
Three items have been made from aluminum water jet cut pieces. The monogram was designed as the personal piece, the second was a motor retainer for Vega 1 (L1 Build), and the third item was designed as a test piece for bulkhead fabrication, which would allow evaluating the feasibility of using water jet cutting for manufacturing fuel/oxidizer bulkhead in future.
Piece 01
Monogram
Piece 02 — The Test
Bulkhead
Manufacturing
The items were water jet cut on a ProtoMAX, small-format desktop water jet. The monogram was cut and further sandblasted and powder coated as an additional finishing step. The bulkhead was a feasibility test item; the process of its cutting would allow to evaluate if the same process and machine can provide the required tolerance and surface finish for the bulkhead.
Results
Verified PerformanceMonogram - Complete
The monogram was successfully water jet cut, sand blasted and powder coated; thus, all the cutting process and finishing workflow were evaluated through this project.
Bulkhead - Feasibility Confirmed
It was confirmed that water jet cutting would not be viable to use for fabrication of fuel/oxidizer bulkheads due to the roughness of the outer edge of the cut, which would require additional finishing steps to meet the required tolerance and surface finish for a part bearing pressure.
Lessons Learned
"This same piece of equipment, in cutting a monogram, may be used to cut a bulkhead with the required tolerance because the accuracy of the waterjet will not depend on what it is cutting, but rather how it is set up and programmed."