Waterjet, a family-owned company based in Aarwangen, is the forerunner of waterjet micro-cutting in Switzerland. It designs its own machines but only offers subcontracting services on Swiss territory. It is active in many precision industries, including watchmaking.
Waterjet’s technology is based on the cold cutting principle. The material thus does not undergo any alteration, preserving its structure and its resistance. The required power is obtained by water pressure in a pressure pump of about 350 to 6200 bar. The water is then straightened in a collimation tube controlled by a needle valve and fed to a specially developed water nozzle to transform the pressure into a speed of about 900 meters per second. The company has patented the AWJmm (Abrasiv Water jet micro machining) technology that distributes pressure and speed in the water jet to ensure high energy density and optimum acceleration of the abrasive grain for a clean and accurate cutting.
Based on this process, three cutting methods are used. For soft materials such as plastic, rubber or foam, the company favours pure water jet cutting. Its AWJmm technology produces a very dense and focused jet that ensures sufficient precision. For work on hard materials, the water jet is loaded with abrasives and comes into contact with the workpiece at a speed of 500 to 700 metres per second. The company distinguishes two types of cutting that fall under this category: the macro-cutting where the jet is set to the optimum acceleration of the abrasive particles for a high and precise cutting power and the micro-cutting using a round jet in which the abrasive particles adopt this shape and are accelerated in order to obtain maximum precision and an extremely fine cut. The third method is the suspension jet method. It uses a mixture of functional particles and liquid under pressure and is used to structure, densify and modify the surface of materials.The medical industry often uses this method, particularly to structure the surface of implants to improve their adhesion. To be able to deliver to this industry, Waterjet naturally had to pass the ISO 13485 certification.
Supplier for the watch industry With a jet diameter of 0.24 mm, the Waterjet technology is very precise and can compete with wire erosion and micro-milling for certain operations. This precision makes the company a major supplier of watch casings, carbon or ceramic dials and gear wheels in brass, carbon or steel. The production of many bracelet elements is also part of the company’s services as well as several cutting operations in the jewellery sector. In addition to teh accuracy, this technology is also interesting for small series since it allows to renounce the development of specific tools.
Numerous applications... The technology developed by Waterjet also allows ablation in very hard materials such as vitroceramics. It is also regularly used for sharpening blades, for example for vegetable peels. The electrical industry, the fields of design and arcihtecture or packaging specialists also call on the company’s skills.
... in all types of materials Pure or abrasive waterjet cutting can be applied to almost all materials. Nonferrous metals, alloys, multi-layer materials, steels, composite materials, carbon, wood, stone, mother-of-pearl, rubber etc. are no problem.
Ongoing development The company premises house a competence centre for water jet cutting technology. Three engineers develop and improve the components and software of the installations. In particular, they work on the regular improvement of the cutting head, a key element of water jet micro-cutting. The optimization and development of the components contribute to the improvement and miniaturization of the system.
General contractor The company, which will celebrate its 30th anniversary next year, currently employs around fifty people and offers its services in the field of cutting but also in the realization of complete solutions including milling, drilling, boring, grinding and trovalization. It also purchases materials, processes and manufactures them, including welding and assembly. It is now in the expansion phase. The existing machine park will be completed by four new cutting machines to which some finishing machines will be added . This will enable the company to deliver finished parts.
