Tolerances
Parts cut on an abrasive waterjet are generally made with a tolerance of 0.005 inches (5/1000 of an inch). This means that you should not depend upon features to be more accurately placed than 0.005 inches. Holes may be up to 0.01 inches smaller or larger than your specification.
Kerf
Kerf is the cutting width of the tool used to make your parts. We typically cut parts with an abrasive waterjet with a nozzle width of 0.040 inches. Features smaller than this size may be lost. Also, inside corners have to be able to accommodate the width of the nozzle.
Taper
Parts will have a slight taper along the cut edge of the part, typically between 0.007 inches and 0.0005 inches.
Surface Finish
Our abrasive waterjet cut parts have a slightly rough surface finish on the areas where they are cut. You can see this effect on this part, cut from 0.25 inch thick Aluminum 6061 alloy:
Close up:
All parts are cut at "Quality 3", which is good enough for most purposes.
Note that clear plastics made on the waterjet will have a frosted appearance along cut edges, which can be removed with appropriate chemical cleaning and polishing, if desired. Note that laser cut parts have much smoother edges. Here is what 0.125 inch thick clear polycarbonate plastic looks like after being cut with a waterjet:
Tabs
Your part may have a small tab where the part was held to the stock material. You can remove this tab with a file or a similar tool.
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