digitizing a physical part on waterjet table
If you are a waterjet operator, you have had a customer present a physical part for you to cut but they had no drawing or electronic file. This leads to tedious and time consuming measuring and inputting of data.
Now you can use the digitizing capability of a WARDJet waterjet to reverse engineer these types of parts. Also, if these parts are large, it may be easier to lay the part on the waterjet table and use the waterjet to memorize the part profile than using a tape measure.
With our X-Series controller you can use the waterjet cutting head, or a laser alignment guide mounted near the cutting head, to record the X, Y and even the Z coordinates of a part. Simply click “Teach new part” on the controller screen to start mapping the part geometry. Both lines and arcs can be easily taught. If further clean up is needed, the CNC file can be brought into a CAD/CAM program. Within minutes, you can go from part to electronic file.
Using the built-in “Teach” mode, the machine can be used as a digitizer the size of the waterjet table. Just use the controller’s jog controls to “trace” your template, point by point, to create CNC files right at the controller! Drawing curves and lines are fast and simple - no need to use CAD/CAM software.
Photo:
http://www.prlog.org/
