Frequently Asked Questions (FAQ)

This page contains some of most common questions posed by our potential customers. We hope these questions and answers address your questions as well. The questions are divided into categories so that you can quickly access your areas of interest.

We'll start with the most frequently asked question about OMAX:

Q: Why was OMAX started when there were so many other waterjet companies around?
A: Because nobody else made a waterjet that was precise, easy to use, and fast to setup and program. Traditional waterjets have been used for applications such as cutting diapers, but nobody made a machine tool for the machine tool market. The abrasivejets that were available for machine tool work were very low tolerance, and built from a variety of custom configurations. OMAX brought precision, ease of use, and a standard product line to the market.

Materials
Q: Are there special considerations for making glass parts?
Q: What is the thickest material the OMAX can cut?
Q: How is the material fixture?

Pumps
Q: What size pump would be best?
Q: What is the difference between an Intensifier and a Crankshaft pump, and why did the inventor of the modern style Intensifier decide that direct drive pumps are better?
Q: What other differences does a different size pump make?

Software
Q: When I purchase a machine from OMAX, how many licenses of the software do I get, and what does each additional seat cost?
Q: Why would I ever want to upgrade my software? Isn't what came with the machine "good enough"?
Q: Does OMAX Sell Nesting software?
Q: What other software options does OMAX offer?
Q: What are some of the features of OMAX Make (the control software)?
Q: What do software upgrades cost?
Q: What are some of the features of OMAX Layout (The CAD/CAM software)?
Q: What does the nesting built into OMAX do?
Q: How do I program an OMAX?
Q: What software comes for free with the machine?

Systems
Q:Why are OMAX machines so much faster than the others, while at the same time being so much more precise?
Q: How hard is the OMAX to learn?
Q: Can secondary machining operations on an existing part be done?
Q: Why aren't cuts made at even higher pressures?
Q: What is the highest precision obtainable, in terms of the final part's accuracy?
Q: What does it take to maintain an OMAX JetMachining Center?
Q: What does it cost to run?
Q: Why are cuts made under water, and can I cut above water if I like?
Q: What are the limiting factors in getting a precision part?

Nozzles
Q: What is the smallest kerf width that can be cut and what is the smallest a part can be made?

Materials


Q: Are there special considerations for making glass parts?
A: Yes. Dual pressure piercing allows for piercing of glass with minimal risk of cracking. OMAX JetMachining Centers come standard with dual pressure capabilities. OMAX Machines also have a special "brittle mode" that works in conjunction with low-pressure piercing to slowly raise the pump pressure during the pierce to avoid a sudden shock to the material by a rapid change in pressure. Using these techniques reduce the risk of cracking, making glass cutting into a very profitable venture.

Q: What is the thickest material the OMAX JetMachining Center can cut?
A: There is a practical limit, and a physical limit. (The Grand Canyon was essentially created with a natural abrasivejet.) The practical limit for most materials and conditions is about two inches thick. Thicker than that, and tolerances drop while machining times increase. For some special projects, however, it is practical to machine material five or more inches thick. Cutting titanium is one such application where OMAX customers report great profits at these high thicknesses.
The physical limit is the maximum Z-axis travel, which is typically around 8 inches (20 cm) for most OMAX machines. The actual Z-axis travel will vary depending on options installed. Note that it is possible to cut parts that are thicker or taller than the maximum Z-axis travel by removing the slats and submerging the part in the catcher tank.

Q: How is the material fixtured?
A: There are many methods of fixturing the material down. The simplest is simply to place a plate of material on the machine, and anchor it with weights. Handi-grips are also used to secure the plate in the X and Y directions. More advanced fixturing can be employed if needed for specialty applications or secondary machining. (See also waterjet brick.)

Comparison with English units
50 hp intensifier = 30hp at nozzle = 20 hp lost to inefficiencies
30 hp crankshaft pump = 28 hp at nozzle = only 2 hp lost

Comparison with Metric units
37 kW intensifier = 22 kW at nozzle = 15 kW lost to inefficiencies
22 kW crankshaft pump = 21 kW at nozzle = only 1 kW lost

The amount of electricity lost as efficiencies can have a significant effect on operating cost. For example, if electricity costs $0.10 per KWH, and you are wasting 15 KWH per hour, then you are losing $1.50 per hour to heat. In addition, because Intensifiers require additional cooling water, you are losing even more.

See also:
A Comparison Between Intensifier and Crank Drive Pumps
Operating Efficiency of Crankshaft Drive Pumps (PDF)

Q: What is the difference between an intensifier and a crankshaft pump, and why did the inventor of the modern style Intensifier decide that direct drive pumps are better?
A: The two share the same basic pumping principal: a plunger is pushed into a closed chamber to raise pressure and expel fluid through an outlet check valve; as the direction of the plunger is reversed, low pressure fluid enters the chamber through an inlet check valve. The difference between them is only how the plunger is moved. The crank or direct drive pump uses a crank similar to the one in an automobile engine. The intensifier drives the plunger with a hydraulic cylinder usually with oil.

The intensifier pump is not as efficient and is more costly to operate than the direct drive pump. It has pressure ripples and is noisy, but it does have a longer seal life and is more suited to 24-hour operations using multiple independent nozzles. The crank drive pump is quieter, uses less water and power and is more straightforward to maintain. It is the better option for environments where operating costs and profitability are important.

See also:
A Comparison Between Intensifier and Crank Drive Pumps
Operating Efficiency of Crankshaft Drive Pumps (PDF)

Q: What other differences does a different size pump make?
A: The more horsepower that makes it to the nozzle, the faster you can cut. The trade-off with a higher horsepower pump is cost, effeciency, a larger kerf width, and sometimes a slight loss in precision. However, a high horsepower pump can almost always be run at lower pressures to reduce the operating cost and maintenance, and then run at higher pressures for special jobs that would otherwise try your patience.

Q: When I purchase a machine from OMAX, how many licenses of the software do I get, and what does each additional seat (license for a computer) cost?
A: You get as many licenses as you need for use within your own company, and they are free. For maximum productivity, you will most likely want several seats of software in the office, one for home, and one on the machine. The money you save by unlimited licensing can be huge.
Upgrades to standard OMAX Software products are also free, as long as you own the machine.

Q: Why would I ever want to upgrade my software? Isn't what came with the machine "good enough"?
A: The software you get with your machine will knock the socks off of the competition. OMAX wants to insure that the software you use each day will remain the best available for years to come. Therefore, OMAX is constantly adding new features and enhancements to the software to improve the speed, precision, and capability of the machine.

See Intelli-Max^® Facts for an example of a past free software upgrade.

Q: Does OMAX sell Nesting software?
A: OMAX includes advanced single part nesting capabilities built right into OMAX Layout, and also built right into OMAX Make. This is free to all OMAX customers. We could sell it, but we don't.

OMAX also works hard to support third party software vendors to help make their software support OMAX equipment. As a result, nearly all major third party nesting software vendors support the OMAX file formats, should you need features beyond those included in the OMAX software.

Precision optical locator
This hardware/software combination can be used to locate precisely from features on an existing part. It can also be used to position a part on an arbitrarily placed piece of material, or to reverse engineer an existing part.

Z-axis control
Another hardware/software combination is support for one or two additional Z axes. Each can be manipulated together or separately. The motorized Z-axis is standard on new machines, and available as an upgrade to older machines.

OMAX Utilities
OMAX has many free utilities for file conversion, jet simulation, feed rate calculation, 3D Path Editing, remote machine tool monitoring, and other useful tasks. For details, contact softwareengineering@omax.com.

Otherwise, you won't see a lot of additional options, simply because the software you need is built into the standard software for free.

Q: What are some of the features of OMAX Make (the control software)?
A: Make offers patented control methodology allowing for maximum precision and implementation of cutting model, and way too many features to list here.

Q: What do software upgrades cost?
A: All software upgrades are free for the life of the machine. When you consider that software upgrades typically cost hundreds, or even thousands of dollars, you can see that the money saved can be huge. Multiply this savings times the number of software seats you have, and the savings can be thousands and thousands of dollars. For example, if your upgrade costs were $500.00 per seat, and you had four seats, upgrading only once per year would still save $2000 annually. If you owned the machine for 10 years, those savings are $50,000.00! Now, consider that competitors to OMAX often charge more than $500.00 for an upgrade, and that most OMAX customers run more than four seats. With the money saved in software upgrades alone, you are halfway to purchasing your next machine.

Q: What are some of the features of OMAX Layout (The CAD/CAM software)?
A: Layout includes standard CAD drawing tools, image tracing tools, drawing clean-up tools, automatic path creation tools, gear and rack geometry generator, function plot, and much more.

Q: What does the nesting built into OMAX do?
A: It nests single parts (or clusters of parts) in an array manner. OMAX Array Nester automatically rotates and spaces parts for optimal material utilization. It automatically considers that the user may want to multi-head nest, or step and repeat a nested part or strip of parts. This is useful for machining the same part multiple times. For customers looking for multi-part nesting (nesting lots of uniquely shaped parts at once), inventory control, and other advance nesting features, there are even more options:

Parts can be manually nested using OMAX Layout
Clusters of parts already nested in Layout can be nested using the OMAX Array Nester

There are many third party solutions available. Nearly all third party nesting software vendors support the OMAX file formats directly. Those that don't yet support OMAX can be easily upgraded to do so, and OMAX will support your vendor in this effort for free. OMAX does not resell any third party nesting software specifically because there is no single package that will fit the needs all OMAX customers.

OMAX Layout
Layout is a built-in CAD/CAM program developed by OMAX specifically for the job. Because it is designed for making OMAX tool paths, it is extremely fast and easy to use. It has all of the features needed to draw parts from scratch, import files from other CAD/CAM software, and create tool paths quickly. Because of its ease of use and speed, Layout is by far the most popular method for programming the OMAX.

Other CAD/CAM Support
OMAX file formats are published, and public. This means most major third party CAD/CAM software packages, such as MasterCam^® and others, support the OMAX Routed Data tool path file directly. Other CAD formats, including DXF and DWG can also be imported into OMAX Layout.

Nearly any third party CAD / CAM, Nesting, scanning, or vector drawing software that does not currently support OMAX file formats can be upgraded to support the OMAX through a custom POST processor. The OMAX software engineering department will work with your CAD/CAM or third party software vendor as needed.

Other 3rd party software
In addition to CAD/CAM software, a wide variety of 3rd party software also already supports the OMAX file formats. For example, nearly all the major nesting software makers can write the OMAX ORD file format directly. In addition, OMAX can import DXF, DWG, and other common CAD file formats from nearly any maker. Scanning software, art and sign making software, and just about any CAD program can create files that OMAX can read.

Custom software solutions
It is possible to write your own software to output to the OMAX file formats. A few OMAX customers have taken advantage of this for specialty applications. OMAX can provide documentation useful for this.

OMAX Layout
CAD/CAM software for programming tool paths and drawing parts from scratch. Features waterjet specific drawing tools, image tracing, array nesting, gear generation, part clean-up, and many other tools that are especially useful for OMAX users.

OMAX Make
Machine tool controller software. OMAX's patented second generation abrasive waterjet machine tool controller is designed and created specifically for the needs of abrasivejet and waterjet machining.

OMAX Watcher
Remote machine monitoring across a network

OMAX Interactive Reference
Thousands of pages of in-depth help and advice on using the machine, including tips and tricks, tutorial, troubleshooting, technical reference, and much more. Extensive information for the beginner and advanced user alike.

OMAX Utilities
A collection of miscellaneous utilities such as a 3D Abrasivejet Simulator, 3D Path Editor, Remote machine monitor, Feed Rate Calculator, Math Calculator, and more.

1. Superior software
OMAX incorporates an advanced cutting model into the controller which automatically creates the optimal cutting path. It varies speeds and accelerations so that no time is wasted going more slowly than necessary. In addition, the OMAX controller automatically takes advantages of many speed-up tricks that would be too difficult and cumbersome for a human to program. For example:

The OMAX controller automatically adds corner passing on corners that will allow for it. This can result in speed increases from 5 to 25%, depending on the geometry of the part. This process is automatic, and does not require additional work or knowledge from the operator.

The OMAX controller automatically adjusts the speeds and accelerations around curves and corners to optimize the tool path for speed, precision, and square corners. This makes it very fast and easy to program the machine, and allows the parts to be machined as quickly as possible while still maintaining the highest tolerances.

The OMAX controller selects the optimal pierce speed, and length, based on an advanced piercing model. This greatly speeds up the otherwise slow process of piercing the material, automatically and optimally.

There are also tools such as the "optimal stack height calculator", which can be used to greatly speed up some categories of parts.

2. Superior X,Y positioning system
All OMAX JetMachining ^® Centers are designed for high precision machining. A combination of precision mechanics, rigid construction, and precision velocity control from the software insures the highest degree of precision in the machined parts, even in shops where vibrations from other tools such as punch presses or fork-lifts driving by may exist.

3. Superior direct drive pump technology
OMAX pumps are highly efficient, so 33% more horsepower makes it to the nozzle than in the competing intensifier pump designs. This means that for the same horsepower rating, the OMAX system's pump will cut much faster, and at a significantly lower cost.

4. Superior nozzle technology
OMAX MAXJET™ and MiniJet nozzles are designed for maximum precision, life, and cutting speed.

Q: How hard is the OMAX to learn?
A: After about one day of training, you can make simple parts. Three days of training are provided for extra proficiency (see Training). Optional follow-up training is available and recommended after a few months of use, to increase skills and productivity.

Q: Can secondary machining operations on an existing part be done?
A: Yes. There are many ways in which this can be done. Here are some of the more popular methods:

The optional OMAX Precision Optical Locator (POL) makes secondary machining on existing parts easy (for more information, see the POL Spec Sheet).

You can also do secondary operations on existing parts by cutting a "square" from a plate of steel, then sliding the parts into the corner of the square, which provides a known reference point.

The OMAX Controller also allows up to 100 user-specified home locations, which are provides multiple tooling locations on a single machine.

Q: Why aren't cuts made at even higher pressures?
A: While it is technically possible to make equipment that can achieve pressures beyond 100,000 psi, there are fatigue limits to consider. This limits the practical range of pressures to be below 60,000 psi (414,000 kPa). Anything higher, and reliability drops very fast. For this reason, OMAX pumps all operate at below 60,000 psi (414,000 kPa). All waterjet manufacturers share this limitation.

Q: What is the highest precision obtainable, in terms of the final part's accuracy?
A: OMAX generally advertises ±0.005" (±0.1 mm) as a typical tolerance for most parts. However, for thicker parts, it may be difficult to achieve. For thinner parts, the advanced user can sometimes get ±0.002" (±0.05 mm). This is accomplished by slowing down the cutting process, and being very careful with the setup. Some OMAX customers even report tolerances as high as ±0.0005" (±0.01 mm), but OMAX considers them to just be lucky. Although possible, tolerances higher than ±0.002" (±0.05 mm) are generally difficult to achieve, and in some cases impossible.

Q: What does it take to maintain an OMAX JetMachining Center?
A: When operating at high pressures, there is typically more maintenance required than most traditional machine tools. However, the maintenance is relatively easy to do. Anyone with a basic mechanical aptitude should be able to properly maintain the machine.

Q: What does it cost to run an OMAX JetMachining Center?
A: There are three models of pumps available, and cost depends on the model you choose.

Q: Why are cuts made under water, and can I cut above water if I like?
A: Cutting under water is typically used to reduce the noise and splash. For materials that are larger than can be submerged, the material can be fed through the tank and cut above water.

Q: What are the limiting factors in getting a precision part?
A: Typically as the thickness of the part increases, the ease of obtaining precision decreases.

Q: What is the smallest kerf width that can be cut and how small can a part be made?
A: With the OMAX Mini-Jet nozzle, the kerf width is 0.020" (0.5 mm) wide, which is 0.010" (0.25 mm) smaller than a standard OMAX MAXJET nozzle. You can make parts as small as you like, but exceptionally small parts may require special fixturing to prevent them from falling into the tank. OMAX offers several methods for fixturing such small pieces. OMAX "waterjet brick" is especially popular for detailed work.