?Power? Type?

[Brian Robison]

Hi gang,
If I wanted to cut 1/8" Stainless, what power and type of laser would I need?

[Kim Vellore]

Brian,
For cutting metal with laser you will need gas assist and high power, The smallest ones I have seen are 1000w with Oxygen assist for steel the cuts are not very smooth. I have seen only industrial application for Laser cutting metal. I was hoping I could cut thin sheet metal with a laser instead of photo etching but the cost and infrastructure needed did not justify it for my application.

Kim

Hi gang,
If I wanted to cut 1/8" Stainless, what power and type of laser would I need?

[Sam Yerardi]

Brian,

There are several types of lasers that can be used. 10-50w Ytterbium fiber lasers and 50-100w YAG lasers would be my first choices. Fiber lasers will run around $50K, and YAG anywhere from 50K to 80K. You can cut steel with less power, it just takes longer but the drawback is deformation of the material due to heat.

[George D Gabert]

The easiest way to cut the SS / carbon steel / aluminum is with a cnc plasma cutter. the cost of a table and cutter is about 10K-15K. If you are cutting thin SS approx .125 or less a water cooling table may be required.

people like "plasma cam" and "torchmate" make systems that are good for light to medium duty cutting

[James Jaragosky]

The easiest way to cut the SS / carbon steel / aluminum is with a cnc plasma cutter. the cost of a table and cutter is about 10K-15K. If you are cutting thin SS approx .125 or less a water cooling table may be required.

people like "plasma cam" and "torchmate" make systems that are good for light to medium duty cutting

I have use a cnc plasma cutter in the past. and would like to say you will not believe the speed that can be achieved cutting with one of these machines.

[Robert Alexander]

Brian,
If you want to cut metal for yourself. The CNC plasma is the cheapest way to go $12 to 25k. Followed by a water jet cutter $80 to 150K. Then a laser $150 to 450k. I have run both plasma and water jet cutters ( and very soon a laser). And a plasma cutter with a water table set 1/16 of an inch below the material with a fine cut tip will give a very smooth slag free cut with very little clean up. If you want to save the most money possible and still want laser cutting. Do your own 2d cad work in Auto Cad DWG format and find a sheetmetal shop with a laser willing to work with small business owners or walk in customers. Most shops will have their lasers tied up in production for big customers, but maybe with the economy slowing you might get lucky. Be prepared for $ 150.00 and hour and up for laser time.

[Brian Robison]

Robert, what kind of tolerances can the plasma cutter hold?

[Sandra Force]

If you are determined on using a laser contact Kern lasers. They make a metal cutting CO2 laser at 200w. The tolerance on the cnc plasma cutter is as good as the laser and the quality of work turns out better with less cleanup. Waterjet turns out the smoothest and cleanest but is not cheap.

[Robert Alexander]

Brian,
A plasma cutter should hold a tolerance of less than .03. But with proper
jigs, shims, cutting tips and controlled cooling of the part, tolorances can be alot better than .03. The size of the cutting tip and speed of the cut have the most affect on tolerances. If you use a higher amperage tip on thin metal or a slower feed rate. This will increase the amount of heat to the part and there goes your tolerances.