Stone is our bread and butter. As a stone fabricator, we have dedicated our lives to learning about this element. However, there is another element our shop couldn’t function without – Water. These elements couldn’t be more different, but we couldn’t do what we do without both of them. We have always operated as a wet shop, using water to cut and grind our materials as well as keep our shop safe from harmful silica dust. Water jet cutting technology allows us to fabricate things many other shops cannot.
What is Water Jet Cutting?
A waterjet uses an extremely high-pressure water stream to erode a narrow line through the stone. It’s not all that different from rivers eroding away the side of a mountain. It’s just that we’re doing at super speed, cutting through materials in minutes rather than millennia. We can also cut non-tempered glass, rubber, ceramic, porcelain, steel, and plastics.
Using water to cut materials is nothing new. In the 1930s paper companies used low-pressure water jets to efficiently cut their sheets down to size. Those early machines we’re effective at cutting harder materials. After WWII technology improved to create an ultra-high pressure liquid jet that could cut metal, but it wasn’t until the early 1970’s that it was refined enough to be reliable for commercial use. Even then, there were limitations. Engineers knew that adding abrasives to the water stream increased it’s cutting power, but it also tore their nozzles to shreds. Eventually, in the 1980s better nozzles were invented that made commercial abrasive water jet cutting possible.
Today we have advanced motion controls and 3D tools that allow us to take stone fabrication to the next level. We have the ability to create amazing custom inlays and mosaics using CAD layouts. It’s changing how we can use stone residentially and commercially. We’ve even recreated customers’ logos in stone!
If you’re interested in a custom stone installation call us today.
