Cutting Conditions for Fanuc F0-3015 Laser 1

[stanjasper]

I have been running a Fanuc F0-3015 Laser with a 4000 laser and I can't seem to get HRS0.500 material to cut smooth edges like my HRS0.375 material. I was wondering if any one had some baseline cutting conditions for this material. I have been using a NON WAC and a 7" focal length. Any suggestions will be greatly appreciated.I believe this is a mild steel.

 

[jetrep]

Conditions shouldn't vary too much from what you are running for your 3/8" material. Have you tried using that set of conditions and slowing the feed rate down to 40-45 in/min?

 

[stanjasper]

Thanks for the reply jetrep. I have used these settings 1/2" HRS
E4 35"/MIN 4000W 2000HZ 100 DUTY GAS 0.08 NOZZLE GAP .030"

FOCAL POINT -.075" 7.5" LENS, 1.4MM DOUBLE NOZZLE.

Our focal point is negative because our NC is an older model,(Fanuc 160i-l series). I am able to cut better however the edge is still rough and sometimes it randomly doesn't finish cutting a hole all the way. We are scheduled for a turbo repair and also optics. Could it be our optics and turbo have something to do with our cut conditions? Is there some other adjustments we could use?
Thanks Again

 

[Foostrap]

Seems like your power setting might be a little high for the speed. Leave the power at 4000W, but try to lower frequency to 700 and duty to 75.
If the cut is still rough, try to lower the gas pressure as low as you can without losing the cut; the lower it is, the smoother is gets. If that doesn't help, play with focus; I would try higher first; go by increments of 0.02" (0.5mm).
If that still doesn't cut good, could be something going on with the beam, or maybe material specs.
Were you able to cut that same material with good quality in the past?

 

[stanjasper]

I am now cutting .187 material but as soon as I go back to .500 I will try your last suggestion. I believe that maybe turning the freq. and duty down may help my situation. Again I really thank you for your assistance.
Stan

 

[msandoval]

The mode will make a world of difference when cutting steel with oxygen, as well as a constant flow of oxygen. Based on the information you provided, you're cutting 1/4 and 3/8 just fine. In my experience cutting with this machine 1/2 was tricky at times but was mainly material related.

To add to what Footstrap said about frequency and duty: Use a larger nozzle (2.5 double) and use edge and approach data as needed. Maybe even WACS. Increase/decrease your focus by 1 mm on a 7.5" lens otherwise you'll barely see changes with .5 MM, that I would do on a 5" Lens.

Sometimes it's not worth fighting the material quality and it's more important to get parts out the door. You'll likely succeed by lowering the power, feedrate and using a larger diameter nozzle.

 

[stanjasper]

msandoval I do appreciate your help. I have cut .500 material in the pass and got a pretty clean cut without using the WACS head. However we just replaced 2 discharge tubes and are in the middle of a turbo replacement. I was wondering if there is a change in the machine's run-ability when maintenance is done and if so how do I compensate for the difference especially in my cut conditions. Another question, is there a baseline setting for the .500 especially the power, feed, frequency, duty, gas pressure, gas time, and focal not the WACS head but the HS head (2154.
Again thanks
Stan

 

[LASERNINJA]

Cutting ½” with the 1.4mm double has the same degree of difficulty as cutting ¾” or maybe even 1” steel (on the machine your working on). Its not easy. As Mr. Sandoval said, the beam quality has to be just right, the alignment, very good, nozzle and lens in great shape, and the focal point, almost perfect.

The way I try to explain it is, the cutting window is very small, not forgiving at all. What the previous post suggests, is breaking out a larger diameter nozzle and making the cutting window bigger, more lee-way on the other settings.

I agree the WACS set up is a pain. You don’t have to use this cutting head when you go with the bigger nozzle diameter. Use the WACS cutting condition just turn the water “off” and it should work out well.

To answer some of your other questions: new discharge tubes shouldn’t effect the laser one way or the other. If they are installed properly and the machine is aged and purged completely, you should not see a change in cutting.

The standard Amada and Fanuc procedure when changing out a turbo is to put the turbo in, purge and age the laser to get it back to where it was before the procedure then wait a few weeks or a month and then replace the internal optics. During this time its possible the cut quality to decrease. The best indicator that there is a change is to keep and eye on the Laser Calibration Coefficient, Parameter 15204

Please see attachment for cutting conditions

 

[stanjasper]

I have my settings at prw. 4000, Freq.700, Duty 75%, Gas Press. 0.06, Gas Time 2.0, Nozzle gap 0.0300, offset 0.0085, focal -0.030. Cutting HRS0.0500 A572 material. The cut is much better but still needs improvement. I don't have the 2.5 or 4.0 double nozzles they are on order. I don't have my WACS working yet but will try it next time. However is there anywhere in my current settings that may need tweaked to get some dross off the bottom of my cut. There isn't much but it is soft at times and harder at others. I know the material is not high quality and I won't be able to get it perfect but is there anywhere I might try tweaking? Let me say that this forum has been much help and each one of you has given me some valuable information and I want to give you thanks for all you have done. One other question is there a book somewhere I might get, outside of the operations manual, that will give me some necessary instruction in laser cutting using my type of machine.
Thanks so much
Stan

 

[msandoval]

Amada used to have a handout in PDF called the "Cutting Know-How" which included pictures of Steel, Stainless and Aluminum Cut which was pretty good info. I would contact the Applications Department and see if you can get a copy of it.

As far as not having the nozzles, I would take a 1.4 Eco Nozzle and ream it to 2.5 until you get the new ones and try it. Not the best way to go about it, you'd rather have a near perfect concentric nozzle but you gotta do what you gotta do to get the job done.

Good Luck

 

[LASERNINJA]

This is the document that he was referring to.

Good luck.

 

[LASERNINJA]

Didn't up load. Sorry. This is another attempt.

 

[cloa]

Your document uploaded just fine LASERNINJA.

 

[Foostrap]

Nice. Thanks Laserninja.

 

[stanjasper]

I want to follow up on this post. I have since return to cutting .500 material and it has improved 100% especially my edges. Here is my settings:Feed 35, Pwr. 4000, Freq. 700, Duty 75, Press .08, Kind 1, Nozzle gap .0600, offset .0085, Edge 0, Approach 0, Focal Point -0.031 and I am using 1.4mm ECO nozzle. The biggest change is in the Nozzle gap, it went from .0300 to .0600 and that improved my edges 100%. I want to thank you all and footstrap for giving me a great starting point and msandoval for the Knowhow document it is in this document that I found that my nozzle gap needed to be changed. I am now working on increasing my speed and I may need to go to the larger nozzle size. Thanks a million.
On a different note I was wondering how to get my .500 material pierce point to cut cleanly. At the present it appears to be allowing a patch of slag to bubble out and when the head hits it the head bounces and it doesn't cut completely through. I have set my pierce settings according to the Amada material list book and I did increase my approach from .1 to .23 in my drawing and that helped at least I am not having to scrap or clean up as much material. Again I want to thanks all you guys for the help.

 

[LASERNINJA]

Are you using the "A7" pierce set up?

Example:

O6597;
M100
E4
G00G41X26.831Y74.219
M103A7
G01.....


I have attached a nozzle matrix as well.

 

[LASERNINJA]

Sorry, that didn't work out so well. It maybe that "big brother" needs to preview it before it shows up but when I click on the link, nothing happens.

That's why I am reposting it.

 

[stanjasper]

Thanks Laserninja but I can't get the second link to work either.

 

[cloa]

I concur with stanjasper