Method of compensation for a fluid cutting apparatus

A method for providing a contour path for cutting a double contour workpiece, the method comprising:

• receiving, at an input of a computing device, information regarding a contour path in at least five degrees of freedom for cutting the double contour workpiece and a velocity of movement of the fluid stream during cutting;
• determining a modified contour path in said at least five degrees of freedom based on Kerf compensation errors including estimated errors from a Kerf width, estimated errors from a Kerf angle and estimated errors from a Kerf lag and an instantaneous motion vector in real time;
• and
• outputting from the computing device the modified contour path.

A method of for providing a contour path for cutting a double contour surface on a workpiece utilizing a fluid stream, the method comprising:

• providing a computer aided design of the workpiece to a computer aided machining system to determine an initial cutting path in at least five degrees of freedom and a velocity of a fluid stream relative to the workpiece;
• modifying the cutting path for the workpiece to compensate for Kerf errors based upon a Kerf width, a Kerf angle and a Kerf lag and the velocity of the fluid stream relative to a surface of the workpiece;
• and
• outputting from the computer aided machining system the modified cutting path such that the workpiece can be produced having the double contour surface.