Thread: Barton vs GMA

Originally Posted by TurboGuy

What do you have for a water jet machine?

Assuming the question is for me - a Maxiem, w/ 20 HP direct drive pump. It's one of the first units from 2010, it's a basic 3 axis machine, simple and pretty awesome.

pics at
MetalCreatureVashon (@metalcreaturevashon) • Instagram photos and videos

I was asking "waterjet2017" but either way......Nice work, dude!! You're doing some good work there.

I'm running 2 5555's with WRS and custom solids removal. We're running production over 3 shifts so I don't get to play nearly as much as I'd like to. It's a bigger company in NH so they got the money to throw at all the bells and whistles which is great but it gets kind of boring after a while. I'll try and get a pic of our area

Originally Posted by TurboGuy

Since we are on the subject, has anyone tried Bellemere Garnet? I think they are based in Canada. Their sales guy has been courting us a bit. Price is slightly higher than Barton and GMA but they include shipping and it's the same price for alluvial and crushed.

Just wondering if anyone has used their product and what they thought of it? Thinking about trying to get some samples from them.

I just talked with their US rep. They don't ship to NC. Freight kills them

I have the Maxiem 1530, I just got the BART wand a couple of weeks ago. I think for the $ and me being a one man operation it is great! I run it at the end of each day for about 30 minutes. It is keeping up just like I had hoped! Thanks for the leads!

We're looking at a waterjet, how much does 80 mesh generally cost? We won't be using that much, so probably buy 5-10 tons at a time?

Originally Posted by DavidTT111

We're looking at a waterjet, how much does 80 mesh generally cost? We won't be using that much, so probably buy 5-10 tons at a time?

I just paid $0.31 per pound FOB their dock (local distributor, I picked it up) in August. I bought 4400 lbs from Barton. I am a home user thus I got through about 50 lbs a week if that.

Not sure if they offer volume discounts.

We switched from Barton to GMA a few years ago when they started adding that starlite crap. It was messing up our Omax machines. Barton said we needed to adjust our abrasive settings. We had been using the 80 hpa for years with no problems. Not changing our settings b/c they changed their blend. We put some screens under the garnet as we would dump it and all kinds of junk would filter out. Ridiculous to pay that much for crap like that. We haven't used Barton since. GMA stuff is good. Never had a problem with supply.