water Jet and hydro-finish

Catchysigns’s vision is to be the premier custom sign company in DC Area ; being unmatched in capability, service, and value.

In keeping with our vision, Catchysigns has purchased a top-of-the-line 5-axis waterjet cutting machine with Hydro finish to better meet your needs. If you are looking for a manufacturer to fabricate high-quality, Products consider choosing Catchysigns.

WHAT IS A WATERJET?

A waterjet is a cutting tool that uses ultra-high pressure water combined with an abrasive such as garnet to cut almost any type of material. Waterjets can cut very intricate and precise parts, and 5-axis waterjets can cut beveled and tapered edges.

 

The waterjet cutting process offers manufacturers flexibility that no other cutting process can offer. A waterjet cutting has a range of applications and can cut irregular shapes from almost any material with exceptional precision and edge quality. Curves, straight cuts, internal holes and lettering once cut by hand can now be cut in a fraction of the time by waterjet. 

Laser Engraving& Cutting Applications

There are five main applications for laser engraving

 

  • Decorative Panels
  • Engineering
  • Art & Custom Design
  • Sign & Display
  • Promotional & Seasonal Items
  • OEM & Industrial
  • Sculpture
  • Stencils

Laser Engraving can work in two different ways - we can Raster Engrave or Vector Engrave

Raster Engraving uses a raster-based image such as a JPG and the laser treats this as one big piece of Art. To recreate this image the laser scans back and forth over the material and fires the power proportionate to the depth of greyscale in the image – black areas receive maximum laser power, white areas do not get engraved, the shades between the two get a varying amount of laser power. This allows us to create photographic images and 3D effects up to a resolution of around 600dpi.

Vector Engraving is very different - it uses a vector-based file such as an Illustrator or Autocad file and the laser in effect follows the lines. The laser power is not variable, it switches on at the start of the line and switches off at the end therefore there is no varying the depth or the effect. The only difference between Vector

Laser Engraving and Laser Cutting is power - if we set the laser power too high when engraving we’ll cut the material; if we set the power too low when cutting we’ll engrave!

How does laser cutting work?

Laser cutting works by melting, burning or vapourising the material, while an assist gas is employed to "clear" the cut zone of the molten / burnt material or the gas vapour. In the early days of laser cutting the setting of the laser to produce the desired effect was very much a manual process and very complex. The latest machines now come with many of the common parameters pre-programmed, allowing much easier setting. However operators still require many hours of training to run a laser safely, efficiently and economically.

Laser cutting is a technology that has been used in industry since the 1970’s. The first common application was for sign-making, mainly cutting acrylic, wood . Since then the process has been adopted and adapted by virtually every industry group, and is now a significant process in every manufacturing economy. Laser cutting is excellent at processing many different materials.

The cutting process is very complex, but basically involves pre-piercing the material outside the area of desired cut, moving the laser beam into the cutting area to apply heat, and finally use an assist gas to remove the heated material and produce the cut. The type of assist gas employed is critical, and is dependent on the material to be laser cut; most commonly used are Oxygen (used predominantly for carbon steels), Nitrogen (used for non-ferrous steels & non-metals) and Argon (used for more exotic materials such as titanium).