High Rail Spreader Bars

CNC Water Jet Cutting Machines utilize a Cross Beam Gantry with a Z-Axis Assembly mounted to it. The Z-Axis raises and lowers a cutting head between a cutting position and a non-cutting position (for loading and unloading material). A standard Z-Axis is motorized to raise and lower the cutting head between an upper and lower limit position: a cutting position and material loading/removal position. A Servoed Z-Axis uses servomotors that allows the Z-Axis to be variably positioned along its axis via the program controls. The variable programmed height allows you to raise the cutting head via the program for the cutting of uneven parts or the contoured cutting of parts.

When utilizing a High Rail Waterjet Cutting Machine for 5-Axis cutting, a single water only or abrasive cutting tool is the only option available. However, with 3-Axis High Rail Systems the limitations of a single Z Carriage is overcome with a precision machined Spreader Bar used for multiple cutting head configurations.

Precision machined Spreader Bars allow multiple tools, such as 3-Axis water only cutting heads, 3-Axis abrasive cutting heads, drills, rotary swivel cleaning manifolds, etc. to be mounted to the Z-Axis Assembly. Up to 12 tools can be mixed and positioned along the spreader bar to exact positions manually with a tape measure, manually using a digital readout, or from a CNC program when an automated system is specified. A Spreader Bar with multiple tools is usually deployed when a larger quantity of the identical part is being cut from a single sheet. The Edge X3 High Rail side and cross beam cutting envelope can be increased to accommodate large single sheets or multiple sheets with 12’ x 12’ being a common platform.

Many materials such as foam, rubber, and specialty materials such as those used for gaskets are water jet cut with water only. Composite materials, steel and specialty alloys require abrasive water jet cutting capabilities. The 3-axis waterjet and 3-Axis abrasivejet cutting tools can be combined on the spreader bar to eliminate set up time on material changeovers from water only to abrasive cutting, further enhancing productivity while expanding your product offering. Adding a pneumatic drill or rotary cleaning manifold allows secondary operations to also be performed on the water jet. Productivity, measured by cycle time per part, can be improved by a factor of twelve when a full spreader bar is deployed.