When you manage a production facility or even a repair shop that requires metal and other parts to be cut, you may wonder if you should invest in a laser cutter, welding equipment, metal saw, or a water jet cutter instead. You may also need to choose which of these processes will work when you send materials out to be cut. While each has advantages, note why water jet cutting is often a better choice for many types of materials and why you may prefer it over other forms of cutting.

1. Heat

Laser cutting does not necessarily produce heat on its own, but cutting metal with saws and other such tools will produce heat. This can mean bending the metal and causing it to distort along the edges and even causing damage. The heat can also be dangerous for your production facility; it means more safety gear is needed for workers and may also put other materials at risk if they should not be exposed to heat. Sparks can ignite other materials that are nearby and also raise the temperature of your production facility; you may need to run the air conditioner of the facility more often. This doesn't happen with water cutting, and the water itself can keep metals cool.

2. Finish

When you use water for cutting, this can leave material with a smooth, sandblasted finish. Water cutting can leave material smoother than welding and laser cutting. Water cutting removes burrs and imperfections of materials as it cuts so that you don't need to finish materials after it's been cut. This can mean less work after cutting the materials so that you finish them quicker and with less labor after the fact; in turn, this can be a more affordable way of cutting.

3. Ventilation

Water cutting does not require ventilation the way that laser cutting and welding does; you don't need to run fans and keep windows open and such when you use water cutting. Running fans in a production facility can be expensive and noisy and also means having to adjust the temperature inside the production facility throughout the day. To provide proper ventilation in your facility you may need to keep the furnace running or keep the air conditioner on more often than you would otherwise. Water cutting can then be less costly overall then other forms of cutting metals.

For more information about using water cutting, contact a local supplier like Intracut.