Cold Cutting vs. Hot Cutting: Choosing the Right Machining Method
Hot cutting methods such as laser and plasma cutting use intense heat to melt or vaporize material. These systems are fast and effective for cutting conductive metals like steel and aluminum, particularly in high volume production. However, heat affected zones (HAZ) can alter material properties, requiring secondary finishing or stress relief.
Cold cutting methods, on the other hand, remove material without introducing heat. Mechanical machining and waterjet cutting fall into this category. Cold cutting is especially important when working with plastics, composites, laminates, and heat sensitive alloys, where thermal distortion can lead to cracking, warping, or delamination.
Another Method to Cutting: Waterjet
Waterjet cutting is one of the most versatile cold-cutting technologies available. By using ultra-high-pressure water, often combined with abrasive waterjets can cut metals, plastics, rubber, glass, stone, and composites across a wide range of thicknesses while maintaining consistent edge quality and material integrity. This flexibility makes waterjet systems especially valuable for manufacturers looking to expand beyond metal-only cutting into advanced materials and multi-material applications without introducing heat-affected zones or secondary distortion.
Gain Efficiency & Save On Cost in Your Workshop
Waterjet cutting is becoming one of the most cost-effective solutions on the market because it is a cold cutting process. Alternative hot cutting techniques face the likelihood of their parts/fittings experiencing heat zones which often cause the parts to warp making them inaccurate and unusable. Waterjet overcomes this quite easily with its cold cutting process so that chances of you throwing away material will virtually become non-existent.Time and efficiency in your workshop will improve due to the fact that waterjet cutting requires little edge treatment or secondary finishing after the cut is made. This means you are able to make a start onto your next cut or project whilst others who use alternative cutting methods are still wasting time and resources refining their edges.
No Heat Affected Zones
Heat distortion and hardened edges were a common problem faced by manufacturers before waterjet cutting was introduced. Cutting processes that generated high heat were used which created significant problems for workshops. One of the major problems faced was heat zones being created within materials which causes the molecular structure of that material to change. This has secondary effects on the material which often led to warping, inaccurate cuts or weak points being created within the material. Workshops can now eliminate all of these problems by simply choosing waterjet cutting which uses a cold cutting process.
Superior Edge Quality
No other cutting method comes close to the superior edge quality you will experience using waterjet cutting. Smooth, uniform burr-free edges are the reasons as to why designers and manufacturers specifically choose this method of cutting. The superior edge quality is achieved by using a combination of water speed, pressure, nozzle size and abrasive flow rate. In many cases waterjet cutting eliminates the need for secondary finishing, which saves a substantial amount of time, cost and improves the efficiency within your production line.
Tekni Waterjet systems, powered by the Quantum NXT pump, are built to run consistently in production environments where uptime matters. They deliver stable pressure and repeatable cutting performance across metals and non-metal materials without introducing heat or distortion. For shops running CNC mills, routers, or lasers, a Tekni waterjet adds cutting capacity and material flexibility handling jobs that other machines can’t or shouldn’t, while protecting part quality and reducing secondary operations.
The waterjet machine that combines great capabilities with simplicity, offering a brilliant solution for cutting large metal sheets.
Our Electric Servo Pump (ESPs) deliver a lower environmental impact than any other waterjet pump, making them the most efficient cutting pumps on the market. It leverages core "direct servo" technology, replacing traditional hydraulic cylinders with highly compact, efficient, and reliable servo linear actuators. The servo motor uses energy only when generating water stream pressure and flow, requiring just 2 amps to maintain pressure while providing instant high-pressure water when the cutting head opens. This makes our pump the most efficient on the market.
Waterjet provides fabricators and other manufacturers with an extremely versatile cutting process that allows you to cut your full range of metal material with one tool.
For composites, traditional techniques are often found to be non-profitable as conventional cutters will cause the parts to wear out and require quicker replacement. Because Waterjet cutting uses an erosion process composite material can be cut without facing the likelihood of the material losing its strength, making it more suitable for applications in the medical and aerospace industry.
Types of metal material: Aluminium | Stainless | Copper | Hardened Steels
Choose Waterjet Technology
By eliminating thermal stress, cold cutting reduces post processing, improves part consistency, and protects material performance key advantages for aerospace, automotive, and industrial applications.