Industrial Waterjet Cutting in California
5-axis cutting at up to 94,000 PSI on a Flow Mach 500, run daily inside our ASME-certified fabrication shop in Oceanside, California. Steel, stainless, aluminum, and titanium, cut cold.
Code-built boilers and vessels
Code repairs and alterations
Factory-authorized Tech Center
Factory-authorized Burner Tech Center
Fifth generation, family-owned
QUICK ANSWER
McKenna Boiler Works, Inc. provides industrial waterjet cutting for manufacturers and fabricators across California from its Oceanside shop. Its 5-axis Flow Mach 500 cuts at up to 94,000 PSI, with Flow-published positional accuracy of ±0.0005 in. It cuts carbon steel to 6 in., stainless to 5 in., and aluminum to 8 in. with no heat-affected zone. Part tolerance is confirmed on each quote, based on material and thickness. McKenna is an ASME code shop, family-owned since 1921. Email your file to info@mckennaboiler.com or call (323) 987-1816 for a quote.
Why waterjet
Why we cut with water instead of heat.
Plasma and laser heat the edge they cut. That leaves a heat-affected zone that has to be ground off, and on some aerospace alloys and hardened steel the spec doesn’t allow it.
Waterjet cuts with water and garnet at up to 94,000 PSI, so the edge stays as strong as the plate. McKenna runs the same machine on its own ASME boiler and vessel builds.
Capabilities
What the machine can do.
- 5-axis bevel cuts in a single pass, ready for weld prep
- Thick plate: carbon steel to 6 in., stainless to 5 in., aluminum to 8 in.
- Exotic alloys: titanium, Inconel, Hastelloy, and Monel with no heat-affected zone
- Large sheets: up to 157 × 78 in. in one setup
- Any quantity: one-off prototypes through production runs
- Engineering review of every file before the first cut
Equipment specifications
Machine
Flow Mach 500
Cutting head
Dynamic XD 5-axis, active taper compensation
Pressure
94,000 PSI (Flow HyperJet pump rating)
Cutting envelope
157 × 78 in. (13 ft 1 in. × 6 ft 6 in., 4 m × 2 m)
Z-axis travel
12 in.
Machine accuracy (Flow’s published specs)
Linear positional ±0.0005 in. (±0.0127 mm), repeatability ±0.0008 in. (±0.02 mm), ballbar circularity ±0.0025 in. (±0.0635 mm)
Part tolerance
Confirmed on each quote, based on material and thickness
Software
FlowMaster CAM
File formats
DXF, DWG, STEP, IGES, dimensioned PDF
How a job runs
How it works.
01
Send your file
Email a DXF, DWG, STEP, IGES, or dimensioned PDF with material, thickness, quantity, and tolerance.
02
Engineering review
A McKenna engineer checks the file, flags problems before cutting, and sends a written quote.
03
Approve the cut file
You sign off on the final cut file. That file is the specification for the job.
04
Pick up or ship
Pick up at our Oceanside shop or we ship to you. Inspect parts when you receive them.
Project photos
Why McKenna
Your parts are cut in an ASME code shop.
We run it on our own work
The Mach 500 cuts plate for the boilers and pressure vessels we build. The crew running your job runs it on our own work every day.
An ASME code shop with a QC manual
McKenna holds ASME S, H, M, and U and National Board R certificates and maintains a written quality control manual for its code work.