A competitor to me (offering laser services) has started offering water-cut plywood, which boggled my mind - I would have expected that to be a terrible idea!
Sure - we're a startup (MODICA Microindustries) working on a related problem (modular manufacturing equipment), and we spun up a subsidiary (Harbor Island Waterjet) offering waterjet cutting services as a job shop since we had excess capacity on our three machines.
There are pros and cons to waterjet cutting but for what it's worth, it can cut virtually anything. There are a lot of techniques for reducing splashback and other wetting/soiling from the tank. We cut wood fairly often. Some people like how laser singes the edges better, but to each their own!
Hey, thanks for getting back to me - I realised this morning I should've just checked your profile, which I did!
I'm very impressed with what you're doing - particularly as I actually had a similar idea a couple of years back, rooted in a plan to perhaps move country (within EU) and so was wondering how I'd a) move my equipment and b) set up shop when there. That sort of spawned a lot of thought about modular container-based systems, and how I'd fit various sizes and types of CNC machines in them. Then I wondered about the use of on-site CNC services for large construction developments - I could imagine the benefit of having a few accurate machining shops in containers that can quickly turn around finished interior elements straight from site measurements, etc.
As we know though, an idea's worth precisely nowt if unrealised, so I'm super-glad to see that someone has!
There are pros and cons to waterjet cutting but for what it's worth, it can cut virtually anything. There are a lot of techniques for reducing splashback and other wetting/soiling from the tank. We cut wood fairly often. Some people like how laser singes the edges better, but to each their own!