Lasers.

I have a laser engraver that is worth it's weight in gold, but is for engraving only. Been looking at one for cutting stainless up to 14ga. They make them with small foot print(about 6ft square 24 x 24 travel. I only do small stuff so I can't justify a 5' x 10' travel machine. Any one run or own one and have any idea how much gas they use when cutting (O2 on steel, N2 on stainless)?

RonA

Austin Powers - Sharks with lasers - YouTube

I'm on to you Ron.

^^^ well played, sir.

I run a Trumpf TruLaser 3030. It's a fiber laser, and is a 5x10 machine. Before this one we had a Mitsubishi CO2 laser that was also 5x10. I have no experience with the small machines so I'm no help there. But I know with Nitrogen on steel (we use it on 9ga and under for travel speed) we run around 14 bar. We don't cut much stainless so I don't know the pressure for it off hand but the machine feeds at 27 bar, and stainless does use more pressure than steel does.
We normally use O2 on 3/16 and up unless customers want a laser scale free edge then we will use N2. For thin material it is more cost effective to use N2 because we can cut so much faster with it.
We also can use compressed air. We don't use it very often but if you have the compressor requirements and driers already it is the cheapest gas to run for steel, and you can run a decent speed with it too.
Hope this helps in some way, sorry I don't know any numbers on actual amounts used, I just run the machine..

A company that does work for us is as "Made in the USA as it gets, and they run 4 Mitsubishi lasers 5x10 and larger. They said the idea of buying a Mitsubishi killed them, but they started with one and bought more.

You rarely see small travel lasers. Makes more sense to have a big one so you can nest more, or larger parts, but since the largest part I need is 1.9" in diameter, a large table just isn't needed. Substantially cheaper and alot easier to find room for a 6 x 6 spot in the shop instead of 9 x 18. This one is a fiber laser as well, comes in 300. 500, and 700w. I'm looking at the 700.

What is the maximum thickness the 700w laser is able to cut?

9724VF350 said:

A company that does work for us is as "Made in the USA as it gets, and they run 4 Mitsubishi lasers 5x10 and larger. They said the idea of buying a Mitsubishi killed them, but they started with one and bought more.

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Mitsubishi makes a good machine. The one we had as far as I know is still working. Fiber machines just cut so consistent. The only time we have to make adjustment with the Fiber machine is if there is big differences in the chemical make up of the material. Where as with the CO2 laser we'd have to make adjustments as the mirrors deteriorated.

How much room do you have Ron?


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EnduringAtlas said:

What is the maximum thickness the 700w laser is able to cut?



Mitsubishi makes a good machine. The one we had as far as I know is still working. Fiber machines just cut so consistent. The only time we have to make adjustment with the Fiber machine is if there is big differences in the chemical make up of the material. Where as with the CO2 laser we'd have to make adjustments as the mirrors deteriorated.

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700w max rating is 7mm in mild steel and 3mm in stainless.

Red Sleeper said:

How much room do you have Ron?


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It's a matter of how much room I want to give up. 6-8 ft square I can do. a 5 x 10 machine footprint is just too big.

I have so much fun with this engraver.

I want one. 700w fiber sounds expensive though. Too many zeros in the price tag.

I agree. I had a machining center die on me so I replaced it instead. Just ordered another $2500 worth of laser cut parts and haven't even had the machining center delivered. Maybe some day.

Why not a water jet, seems like a better option for thin stuff

I had parts cut using both methods. Water was almost 3 times as expensive and all parts had to be tumbled before assembly because the abrasive gets caught in the cut area and caused problems welding. Laser cut parts can be touched up as needed on the belt sander and welded.

RonA said:

I had parts cut using both methods. Water was almost 3 times as expensive and all parts had to be tumbled before assembly because the abrasive gets caught in the cut area and caused problems welding. Laser cut parts can be touched up as needed on the belt sander and welded.

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Exactly. The sand/dust impregnates itself into the cut edge. If you are doing detailed work with the parts and want things to look nice, cleaning of the cut surface is required after waterjet cuts. Especially in aluminum and stainless.

Cutting 1/2" carbon and piling on weld with a wire feed, no cleaning needed.