Ok, now I know the first think I will buy after winning the lottery. I need one of these waterjet machines. I have seen them in operation from time to time on American Chopper but I didn’t realize that the machine is so versatile. I am thinking that one could easily make a very profitable business making things out of old circuit boards that would be destined for the landfill anyway. Check out a short video of the steps needed to CAD up a design.
“After cutting, the X-BOX was filled up with gunk (mostly abrasive), so we had to hose it out with fresh water. Above is the resultant cut. Notice how it’s a pretty clean cut near the top, but the air pockets disturbed the jet as it continued cutting, creating a more ragged cut as it continued through. If you were cutting a solid block of steel of this thickness, the results would actually be quite a bit better, because the sides of the steel would keep the jet coherent. One trick for making the jet more coherent for this part might have been to fill it with wax, do the cut, then melt the wax out later. That would help prevent the air from disturbing the jet.”
Via: Make and Neatorama
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3rd picture is great.
Another business idea: start a workshop where people can rent time (and advise) to work with machines like this. (include stuff like board printers/solders, welding tools, lathes, drills, and a computer room with interfaces, CAD etc)