Waterjet Cutter

Using the Waterjet Cutter

To use the water jet cutter, you will need to contact the Design Lab technicians with your design file, and schedule a date and time to use the machine. The technicians will respond with any questions, an approximate cost, and availability of when you can use the machine.

Please note that we are not a cut service, but we will help you set up the job then you will monitor it while cutting.

1 – First you will need to create your artwork or design using vector graphics software. We use Adobe Illustrator but you can use InkScape or other free software. You just need to make sure that your file is saved as a .Ai file format. Please make your artwork to scale, not smaller or larger than you intend to make your part/s. See the Training slides or the Canvas induction first so you understand the process. We don’t supply materials so you will need to bring your own materials, (maximum size is 300mm x 300mm and maximum thickness is 25.4mm).

2 – Then you will need to download and install the ProtoMax Layout software. This is where you load your design in and apply ‘tool paths’ such as ‘traverse’, ‘lead in/out lines’ and other things like tabs to hold small pieces to the sheet and prevent them falling into the deep water trough.

You can learn about downloading the software here and there’s a lot of helpful information in the ProtoMax Knowledge base here

3 – Once you have finished and saved your Protomax Layout file version of your work, you can email a copy to us with information about what you want to achieve, we can give you an estimate of time and cost and book a date and time for you to come to the Design Lab and start cutting your part/s.
Cost starts at a minimum of 2kg of cutting Garnet consumable (1kg is the setup cost). The actual cost depends on your design and material and the estimated usage from the Protomax MAKE software should be multiplied by 1.5 for an accurate representation.

For up-to-date prices, please see our Materials page for consumables costs.