Feature: Carl Olsen’s Waterjets.org
By Chuck Cage
Though abrasivejets are much more reasonably priced than they have been in the past, they’re still quite expensive. The smallest general-purpose unit OMAX sells starts at around $80,000 with a 2′ x 2′ table. OMAX’s most popular units feature 4′ x 8′ tables, and sell for closer to the $190,000 mark. Much larger units are available as well, and some used abrasivejets are available, though Carl recommended avoiding them or at least only purchasing used units from the original manufacturer.
He also indicated that the difference between lower and higher priced new units will commonly show up in the unit’s accuracy. Inexpensive (relatively speaking) units often operate to a tolerance of +/- .003″ while high-end ‘jets can cut to within .001″. Skilled users can often extract tighter tolerances from a cheaper unit, but one can’t depend on tighening tolerances in a production environment.
Even considering the relatively high initial investment cost, Carl says that many of OMAX’s new customers do quite well in terms of selling abrasivejet services. From waterjets.org:
I have seen shops charging a minimum of $100.00 per hour, I have never seen a shop lose money with this equipment, and I have personally visited at least 40 different shops. EVERY shop I have had experience with is making good money from their equipment! $80.00 per hour is about the very cheapest I have ever seen it, $120-$135 is fairly normal, and $150.00 and up can be charged for exceptional service. The highest I have ever seen was $2000.00 per hour, but that was a special case that is not normal.
This kind of opportunity has convinced many people to finance abrasivejets and hang out their abrasivejet shingle. Besides the aviation and automotive precision work you’ve likely seen on the Discovery Channel, abrasivejets have found their way into the hands of artists, schools, and even some wealthy hobbyists. (Carl reports that OMAX has indeed sold to individuals for hobby use. Wow!)
Click on the images below for larger versions. All the photos in this post are from waterjets.org and are courtesy of Carl Olsen and/or OMAX Corp.
We could go on telling you about Carl and his waterjets.org site, but why not take a look yourself? Carl’s put some serious time and effort into waterjets.org, and it shows. For every tidbit of information we’ve referenced here, he provides lots more information as well as links to additional sources. It’s your one-stop-shop for information about waterjet technology.
One last bit of advice Carl gave us on buying a waterjet: “Don’t believe anything the salespeople tell you. There’s often a huge difference between their claims and the machines themselves. Have a part made while you watch and check it for yourself.” Check out waterjets.org for an entire waterjet buying guide and much, much more.
Thanks, Carl!
Waterjet Web Reference [waterjets.org]
OMAX Corp. [Corporate Website]
Pages: 1 2
August 29th, 2006 at 3:02 pm
I contacted OMAX once for some research related to a university class. They were very friendly and helpful.
September 12th, 2006 at 1:55 pm
[…] “Carl Olsen’s Waterjets.org” […]
December 21st, 2006 at 12:18 pm
[…] The latest in 360 cooling! Seriously, though, our friend Carl Olsen (who spoke with us about waterjets a while back and maintains waterjets.org — the single best source for waterjet info on the web), got hold of a few prototype X-Boxes (X-Boxen?) scheduled for destruction and made (as you can see) a few quite collectable items. […]
May 13th, 2008 at 9:58 am
If you are totally new to the industry, where do you go to learn how to use and program these machines?