Waterjet stripping

Waterjet stripping takes an old thermal spray or clad layer off without the heat of a grinding wheel and without dunking a ten-foot roll in a tank of something the safety data sheet hates.

Rebuilds start here more often than speeches admit. A printing cylinder in the exchange loop cannot grow forever; the old ceramic or carbide has to leave so a new land can sit on honest steel. HVOF and cladding leftovers are stubborn. A wheel that also bites the fillet makes the next coating start in a notch. Waterjet, done with the right pressure and standoff, is pickier about the coating than about the substrate.

It is not magic. Thin walls can still move. Masking of threads and bores still matters. Residue has to be cleaned before blast and spray or you have invented a new failure. Inspectors look at the stripped surface the way they look at a new one — see quality and sometimes FPI if the spec is twitchy about cracks revealed by the old layer leaving.

People ask to grind the coating off “while you are in there.” Sometimes that is correct on a cheap steel build. On carbide and on parts with precious fillets, it is how you buy a scrap tag. The process family on thermal spray assumes a clean substrate. From the home page stripping looks like janitorial work. It is the first process on many travelers.

Name the current coating if you know it, and whether the base metal may be touched. Photos of the edge of the land help. Shop context: Our Company.

Know the old layer

Name the coating if you can: carbide, ceramic, steel arc, clad bead. Each leaves differently. Thin shells and precious fillets are why this machine exists instead of a wheel. Threads, keyways, and painted logos still need masking. Residue after strip is a blast defect if it stays. Sometimes grind-off is cheaper on a thick cheap steel build; say remaining wall and we will pick. Printing exchange cylinders almost always strip here first so the next land sits on honest metal. A photo of the edge of the land shows whether someone already nicked the substrate. Do not ask us to “save time” by grinding into a radius you will later need.