Stonecutting apparatus and method using saw and water jet

Abstract

An apparatus for cutting stone which utilizes both a circular saw and a water jet. Both the saw and the water jet are mounted on a gantry, which moves along tracks. All the parts are under the control of the CNC device. The saw is used for straight cuts and curves where possible. The water jet, which is slower and more expensive to operate is only used where the saw cannot be used. The water jet is used to finish a saw cut to avoid any overtravel.

Description

[0001] This Nonprovisional application claims priority under 35 U.S.C. § 119(e) on U.S. Provisional Application No. 60 / 602,862 filed on Aug. 20, 2004, the entire contents of which are hereby incorporated by reference.BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION Field of the Invention [0002] The present invention relates generally to a cutting method and apparatus to cut stone and similar material and more particularly to a stone cutting method and apparatus utilizing both a traditional saw and a water jet machine. DISCUSSION OF THE BACKGROUND [0003] Stone is often cut in order to be used for countertops and other applications such as floors or building facades. The stone may be natural stone or synthetic stone. This is a difficult and expensive procedure. For countertops, the slabs often average 5 by 10 feet and 2-3 centimeters thick, although varieties of sizes and thicknesses are used. Thus, the slabs from which the finished products are made are large, heavy, and difficult to handle. [0004] Curre...

AI Technical Summary

Benefits of technology

[0009] Accordingly, the present invention provides a cutting apparatus which avoids the problems of overtravel of the saw.

[0010] The present invention further provides a cutting apparatus, which eliminates wasted material in the cutting operation.

[0011] The present invention also provides a cutting apparatus, which avoids damage to neighboring parts being cut from a slab.

[0016] The present invention still further provides a cutting machine for cutting stone materials utilizing both a saw and a water jet machine under a computer numerical control operation in order to avoid overtravel of the saw and wasted material.

[0017] This is achieved by the present invention by providing a cutting apparatus with a saw for cutting straight cuts and a water jet machine for finishing straight cuts and performing curved cuts. The result is that no overtravel is performed, which removes any possibility of damaging additional parts or wasting material.

Problems solved by technology

This is a difficult and expensive procedure.

Thus, the slabs from which the finished products are made are large, heavy, and difficult to handle.

This overtravel causes excess material to be used and has the potential to damage adjacent pieces that are also being cut from the stone nearby.

The excess handling requires additional manpower and time to process the job.

There is also a danger of accidentally cutting other parts, which are being cut from the same slab.

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