Ceramic Tile Logo Challenges Overcome by Waterjet Cutting Technology

The Company
Founded in 1999, Waterjet Works is one of the premier custom waterjet design and fabrication companies in the country. Using computer-driven waterjet cutting machinery, the company partners with architectural, design, and contracting communities to create beautiful, high quality, horizontal and vertical applications.

The Challenge
Lightning Burger, a new quick-service hamburger restaurant located in the food court at Six Flags Mall in Arlington, Texas, needed help jazzing up its signage to help stand out from the crowd of other restaurants located within the food court. As Lightning Burger sought out solutions, they were referred to Waterjet Works for their expertise in creating corporate signage. The project called for designing signage that had a bold and dramatic look and could also be easily maintained and was inexpensive to produce. After evaluating several design options, Waterjet Works chose to use several hundred 4.25 inch ceramic tiles with thickness ranging from 3/16 inch to 1/4 inch that would be assembled into Lightning Burger's logo. However, dealing with ceramic tile has its own set of challenges as each piece, by nature, is sized differently. In order to cut the tile pieces in a way that would help compensate for the variations in size, Waterjet Works needed a cutting process that would keep the tight tolerances required for the design. Any deviation from the exact dimensions would throw off the design when it came time to assemble the final product.

The Solution
Waterjet Works previously had implemented two 6' x 10' A-series ultrahigh-pressure waterjet cutting machines from Flow International Corporation. The A-series machine has the ability to cut flat stock materials with a high level of accuracy, at ± 0.003 of an inch, which was key in enabling Waterjet Works to cut the tile pieces at the exact dimensions and tolerances needed for the signage project. Additionally, the A-Series utilizes a PC-based controller, called FlowMaster, to enable Waterjet Works to scan the designs and program the machine to cut to exact dimensions.

The Results
The waterjet machine was key in helping Waterjet Works maintain a consistent cut for each of the tiles used in Lightning Burger's ceramic tile logo. Also key to the success of the project was the installation of the tiles, arranging each tile to create Lightning Burger's logo. With the ability of the waterjet to cut at exact dimensions, Waterjet Works was able to create a map with corresponding numbered tile pieces to give installers an easy blueprint from which to work. Overall, the project was a success — completed in just one week from design to final cutting. Lightning Burger was pleased with the finished signage, which provided a jazzy way to help differentiate their restaurant from the competition.

Story used with permission from www.flowcorp.com