I know water is great for cutting thick materials; a friend of my Dad works (oops, worked) at an industrial kitchen makers, and they cut 100mm work tops. That said, I've seen some slightly rough edges on water-cut stainless plate I once got done (free of charge admittedly). It almost looked like the contour was plunge cut without enough swathe.

I also just want to say thank you to the people who have contributed to my thread! I keep getting told I need to use stronger, faster, better parts but at least I am also avoiding some big mistakes. I think perhaps part of the problem for me is that I got a CNC3040 and figured it is easy enough to scale up, but most of the things they have done in that machine don't work on a bigger scale. I think I also have a loose wallet as I don't have a set budget and I think of this machine as a business investment since I design and make speakers.

Just curious, how many of you like good stereos? Not to be rude, but most of the machinists I have met don't seem to worry about wearing hearing protection even though they work in very noisy places. Please protect your hearing, it's not girly!