Some Facts About Copper

Do you know the first metal that was every manipulated by man? It wasn’t silver, iron, or even gold. It was copper! The manipulation of metal hasn’t stopped since and copper has remained one of the most used metals in the industrial world. Copper is behind only iron and aluminum as the most popular metals in industry. Its popularity is contributed to factors like its availability as well as its affordable price.

As a waterjet cutting service, we love working with copper. The material has a unique look with its reddish brown shiny finish. We work with a variety of different raw copper materials. Its always a enjoy when a purchase order with copper as the material of choice. The finished product is almost always something Instagram worthy. Some of the common types and thicknesses include:

• Annealed
• ¼ Inch Hard
• ½ Inch Hard
• Full Temper
• Thin Gauges

Waterjet manufacturing has long been associated with copper manufacturing, for several reasons. Here is a quick list of why some major manufacturers choose waterjet cutting as the preferred method for their copper.

1. Easy Set Up – Waterjets can be easily set up for one part or a scaled production very easily. That means testing a prototype with multiple versions is easy. One the part is selected scale that part to 10, 100 or a 1000 no problem!
2. Price and Edge Quality Options- Waterjet can offer different quality of cutting depending on the need for individual parts. Slower speed equals better quality. With some parts manufacturers need more of a separation cut, typically with thicker materials. In this case the price can be lowered by running faster. Find out more about edge quality here.
3. No Structural Changes- You can expect your copper to be the same structural piece of metal because no heat is used to cut like in plasma or laser cutting.
4. No Heat Zone- Waterjet is a cold cutting process so no heat means a smoother edge quality un hardened copper guarantee.
5. Tight tolerances and Intricate Designs- Copper and its unique colour is a popular choice for designers. Waterjet can just intricate designs for create projects.

Waterjet Cutting Copper for Industry

Copper parts that come through a waterjet cutting service usually will come from a variety of different industries. The leading industrial industries that rely on copper and waterjet alike include automotive, electrical and transportation. These industries utilize the cost effectiveness and unique properties of copper to produce parts in one offs and production scenarios.

 Waterjet Cutting Copper and Art

Copper is alone with Gold as the only two natural elements that are not either silver or grey in colour. This makes copper a unique and more affordable option for metal art projects. Waterjet shops work with designers for high end artistic projects that range on a creative scale. Waterjet can be an attractive choice due to the intricate designs that it is able to achieve in tight tolerances. Again, you can also expect a different edge from a laser or plasma cut product. Waterjet gives the copper a unique smooth sanded edge