Material Setting and Edit
Overview
WAZER needs to know the Cut Rate, pierce time, and other parameters for your Material. Rather than relying on the user to calculate and enter this directly for every Cut, we have created a Material Library that holds all this information. You can simply specify your Material and thickness from the available selections, and WAM will set the correct Cut Rate, pierce time, corner compensation, etc.
When you log into WAM, the software will automatically load the most recent Material Library for you to select from. We will constantly be expanding this Material Library.
There may be some instances where a Material is not in the Material Library yet. If this is the case, you will have to manually Add Material, which is done easily through the Add Material menu. Please refer to this page for more information
The organization of Materials is done by Material Type (i.e. metal, plastic, etc.), and then by specific Material (i.e. aluminum, stainless steel, etc.), and finally Material Thickness (i.e. 1.0mm, 1/16”, etc.).
Default Material entries are indicated by a “W“ Icon, while your personal Material entries are indicated by a “User“ Icon.
WAZER currently only supports the selection of one Material per Cut
Material Library Setting
The “Add/Edit Material” tab not only gives you the opportunities to add in a new material setting, but also enables you to adjust the setting on existing materials. The capability of add and edit material setting is only open to “full account” holders. Only personal material entries are open for edit.
For example, steel material comes in different grades and properties. If you find WAZER is under cutting/partial cutting on your steel stock, you may edit the cut speed in this tab.
Another example will be glass cutting. Sometimes you may need thin tabs and long lead-ins to ensure best cut quality of the design.
The steps on how to test cut and key in setting is covered in this page
Example
Let’s take Aluminum 6062 0.5mm as an example. This is a custom material entry made by one of our engineers. The material type is metal; material name and thickness can be adjusted as wish. The important cut parameter are the followings.
Cut Rate:
Cut Rate is the nominal speed in which cutting head/nozzle assembly moves during cutting. It is one of the most important parameter that directly affects cut quality. It is designated in three different levels.
Coarse/Rough – This refers to a rate that gives you the fastest Cut Rate. The Material will barely be cut all the way through, leaving a rough edge, especially towards the backside of the Material.
Medium – This refers to a rate that provides a compromise between Cut Rate and quality. With this Cut Rate, a smooth edge can be expected with minor visible striations.
Fine – This refers to a rate that gives you the highest quality (and takes the longest amount of time). With this Cut Rate, individual striations are not visible, resulting in an almost sandblasted edge finish.
You may increase or decrease the cut speed here. Generally, we would like to use the rough/coarse cutting speed as a benchmark, and the medium speed is -10% of that, and the find speed is -20% of that.
Pierce Time
This field refers to the amount of time the WAZER will sit in a single position at the start of a Cut. WAZER needs to punch through the Material before it starts to follow your Cut Path.
If the Nozzle starts to move before the Material is Pierced through, you should increase the Pierce Time.
However, if the Nozzle doesn’t move for a number of seconds after it has already Pierced through the Material, you should decrease the Pierce Time.
The point at which WAZER has punched through the Material is both audible and visible – you will notice a change in sound and see air bubbles in the Tank once the Jet has Pierced the Material
The following picture displays a typical pierce mark at the start of a linear cut.
Lead
This field refers to the distance away from the intended Cut Path where the cutting should start. Even though the Jet coming out of the Nozzle is consistent, the Pierce Hole will be larger than the Kerf. You therefore want to Pierce away from the Cut Path and then Lead into it.
Additionally, this is a good parameter to modify for Materials that chip easily or are not homogeneous. This will vary between Materials and Material Thicknesses.
In current version of WAM, the lead always starts from a tab.
More information will be covered in this page.
Tab Size
This field refers to the distance that will be left uncut on a Cut Path to hold your Part in place.
If it is difficult to break the individual pieces apart after cutting them, you should decrease this parameter.
If the Tabs are breaking before the Cut completes, you should increase this parameter.
If you are into glass cutting, or would want to cut down the post-processing work, you may set a very thin tab setting and long leads.
You can also set tab width in “Tab and Lead“ step.