Cutting Through the Thin—and Now Thick—of It
Waterjet complements other processes for family-owned fabricator
December 1, 2011
Ontario fabricator keeps more production in house.
Established in 1976, Haas Enterprises, Woodstock, Ont., is a family-owned fabrication shop that has steadily grown in size and capabilities. The recent addition of a waterjet cutting machine has helped it remain on that growth path.
Started in his garage by founder Jim Haas, this small company started out fabricating cages and cage accessories. He grew his business by making quality products on time and at a fair price. From age 11 his son, Ed, helped out when he could, and saw the business expand from the garage to an 1,800-sq.-ft. building beside the family home. The shop later expanded into a 5,400-sq.-ft. space as its reputation spread.
After graduating from college in 1986, Ed Haas took over the production side and was soon joined by his wife, Wilma, who managed the financial aspects of the business. Jim semiretired in 1993 and fully retired in 1998, believing the company was in good hands. And he wasn't wrong.
In 1999 Ed and Wilma made the decision to build a 17,000-sq.-ft. shop in Woodstock's Bysham Industrial Park to house the company's shears, turret presses, press brakes, welding equipment, and eight employees. Seven years later that space had doubled and the company employed 25 people. It then purchased a 2,000-watt laser cutter.
This past year, after many years of outsourcing its painting, Haas Enterprises set up a complete in-house powder painting system to be able to provide completely finished parts to its customers in such diverse industries as telecommunications, water treatment, OEMs, solar, and pharmaceutical.
"We have full design capabilities using the latest CAD software, but normally our customers provide us with their own models or drawings of their finished product, which we fabricate all or a portion of," explained Ed. "Our strength is our flexibility, and our customers particularly like our ability to make to order a small quantity of parts, whether as a prototype to test new ideas or to meet their lean manufacturing goals of not having to inventory a large amount of product."
Process Limitations
The 2,000-W laser can cut up to ½-in.steel but excels at cutting thinner gauges up to ¼ in. thick quickly and accurately.
"But our customers' demands increased, and we saw an increase in cutting thicker materials," said Haas. "Our laser has its limits."
For example, the company's fabricators encountered challenges, especially when cutting small holes with diameters less than the plate's thickness, so they often outsourced that work. But that, too, had its problems. Time, cost, and quality can all be issues when outsourcing, so bringing that capability in-house was important.
The company considered a more powerful laser, but the capital expenditure was a concern, especially after coming out of a recession. In addition, the consumable costs would be a significant expense. It also considered a machining center, but the table size would limit the size of the material that could be worked. A plasma table would solve the material size issue, but would not provide the edge finish quality that customers had grown to expect.
Why Waterjet?
Over the years Haas had seen some of his work go to a waterjet shop and he liked the fact that this type of equipment could cut virtually any material. He also had spent some time on the Internet to learn more about waterjet's capabilities. He then visited the Canadian Manufacturing Technology Show to see the latest machine tools that would help him take his company forward.
"I was impressed with Flow," said Haas. "They had a system that could cut accurately and quickly. I later attended an open house at Westway Machinery to see the products they had available. When we saw the [waterjet] again, and had sample parts cut, I knew this was the system for us."
Haas Enterprises purchased a Flow Mach 3 waterjet with a HyperJet® pump rated at 94,000 PSI and a Dynamic Waterjet® system to eliminate taper.
Waterjet cutting systems pressurize water for consistent cutting of soft or hard materials. In abrasive cutting, water is forced through a tiny opening cut into a ruby or diamond and abrasive is then drawn into the stream to cut very hard materials with a very small kerf. Garnet sand is commonly used as the abrasive because it provides a good balance of hardness and toughness and is also neutral to the environment. Because the waterjet cuts without heat, there is no need to grind off hardened, heat-treated material before bending it to its final shape.
However, as the power of the water stream dissipates, a V-shaped taper naturally occurs in the kerf edge. The faster the cut speed, the greater the kerf taper error—as much as 0.01 in. per side. The traditional way to reduce this taper has been to slow down the cutting speed, but that increases the cost per part and can make customers wait.
"Sure, we could grind down that taper or slow down our waterjet to make a perfect cut, but that takes extra time. Flow developed a system to eliminate taper so we could get parts that were accurate and fast," explained Haas.
This Dynamic Waterjet cutting system combines mathematical models with a precision cutting head and articulated wrist to achieve part tolerances of ±0.001 in. The cutting head automatically pivots along its five axes to help reduce kerf taper.
"It's great when you quickly get confirmation that your choices are right," said Haas. "Projects with a lot of tapped hole requirements that used to take six hours now take one and a half hours because the waterjet[-cut] holes are the correct tap drill size so they can be tapped immediately. Waterjet-cut edges are also very clean, and there is no need to grind away oxidation, which a laser leaves behind. It's helped us optimize how we use each of our machines."
The waterjet's software, FlowMaster®, also allows the fabricator to nest parts to make the most of expensive material.
"The software is designed to be easy to use," said Haas. "You load a drawing, tell it the material, thickness, and edge quality you want, and it does the rest."
The company can cut nearly any thick material, from acrylics and rubber to steel plate up to 14 in. thick.
"Because it cuts with either abrasive or plain water, we can meet even more of our customers' needs," said Haas. "Our [waterjet] has really enhanced our abilities, and we are excited to see what new doors may open. We can now tell our customers to just give us the drawing, tell us the material, and we'll take it from there. Oh, you need it tomorrow? No problem."
Related Company Showrooms:
Haas Automation Inc.
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