Car Destroying Waterjet

By Mark McConville

WATCH this SIXTY THOUSAND PSI waterjet peel apart automobile components and could cut your car in half if you were foolish enough to use it on your prized set of wheels.

The video shows the waterjet, which is pressurised to 60,000 pounds per square inch (psi), easily slicing open a car battery. Using only water, the jet also has no problem cutting open a car alternator so it’s not ideal to get your new motor sparkling clean.

Car battery.
Car battery.

A car alternator is cut in half.
A car alternator is cut in half.

The footage was shot by Dan Hicken (27) and Mitchell Fillmore (31), both from Bountiful in Utah, and uploaded to their YouTube channel.

“It would definitely do some serious damage to your car,” said Mitchell.

“The power decreases the thicker the cut so it wouldn’t cut all the way through a car but it would do serious damage and would likely total it.

Inside a car alternator.
Inside a car alternator.

“Just a quick pass would take all the paint off and scratch up the windows.

“It’s amazing how effortlessly it can cut through anything.

“Most people think it would use a ton of water, but it only uses about four and a half litres of water a minute.”

The simplest way to explain how the waterjet works is extreme erosion, according to Mitchell.

A line can be seen right along the car battery.
A line can be seen right along the car battery.

“Water is pressurized to 60,000 psi and then mixed with an abrasive,” he said.

“We use garnet, which is like a very fine sand. This is then pumped to a nozzle. The exit point of the nozzle is about the diameter of a sewing needle. The nozzle moves over a programmed path and at a programmed speed to cut the material under it.

The car battery opened after being cut in half.
The car battery opened after being cut in half.

“The material being cut will determine the pressure used, whether we use the abrasive, and the speed at which we travel.

“When we cut the car alternator we were at maximum pressure and were using the abrasive and set the speed to be much slower.”

Dan and Mitchell started the YouTube channel after having fun when they tried to cut something open with the waterjet.
“We had the idea one Sunday, and the next week we cut a seashell and a rubber ball,” said Mitchell.

“We had fun so we kept doing it. We saw some of the other channels out there where they explore items in creative ways and we thought the world would like to see the power of the waterjet.”

Inside a car alternator.
Inside a car alternator.

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