Another new project we are working on requires that we make some gears (actually – more than a few). This movie shows us creating a 4 foot diameter wooden floating gear (the finished outer gear has teeth on the inside AND on the outside) with 3 planetary gears, using our waterjet cutter. It’s all wood, and it is interesting to think that we’re building things that would have been built in the middle ages (wooden clocks, effectively!) but using the very latest in manufacturing techniques to get there.

This tool starts off with a CAD file generated on a PC (wouldn’t those cathedral builders in the 1500s have loved to have had one of those) using a 50,000psi beam of water with some garnet (sand, basically) to cut through just about anything – you’re looking at the only tool that can cut through the armor on an Abrams tank. We normally use this unit to cut through metals, but with an accuracy better than 3 thou, it is obviously the ideal tool for this project too.

We’ll post more images and movies as we get further into this one, it really is a fun project. Watch this space!

The cutting we’re doing here is unusual, in that most cutting is done with the object under water; however, wood floats, and it would release and come to the surface as soon as it is released. We also try to keep the wood from getting too wet, so cutting it above waterlevel is a lot better.