Flow Five-Axis Waterjet Cutter
The cutting power of a focused stream of water running at a very high speed is pretty amazing. Sunnybrook Research Institute (SRI) recently installed a Flow Mach 3b five-axis waterjet cutter in the advanced machine shop on M7, in the heart of SRI's Centre for Research in Image-Guided Therapeutics (CeRIGT).
"Anything you can think of will be cut on here," says Michael Pozzobon, who manages the shop. "Normally we cut aluminium, brass, plastics and stainless steel. Typically it would be something flat, but it will cut the form of any shape you want."
The system's five-axis controller does three-dimensional cutting. It can cut any material, thick or thin, hard or soft—from cheeseburgers to diamonds—precisely, without heating or warping the material being cut. The mobile console allows users to draw, import or scan the part they need; once the material's specifications have been entered, the software calculates the right speed and angles to produce the part.
The machine delivers up to 60,000 pounds of pressure per square inch and can etch ultra-fine details in stone, metal and glass. A water tank below the cutter disperses the energy of the stream. In operation, the machine uses seven-and-a-half litres of water per minute and has a direct plumbing line. The system weighs over two tonnes and was set up on the strongest part of the workshop floor, which was designed to support heavy machinery.
"When I met the delivery guys at the elevator and saw this, my jaw dropped. I had no idea it was that big," says Pozzobon, who notes that delivery and set up took a week.
The waterjet cutter is worth $288,000 and was funded by the Canada Foundation for Innovation. It is part of SRI's state-of-the-art device development lab within CeRIGT. The lab also has a clean room and laser machining and microfabrication equipment. Here, researchers and their teams are designing, making and testing medical devices for clinical evaluation and commercialization. Sunnybrook Research Institute is the only hospital-based research institute in Canada with a device development lab. — Alisa Kim
