Laser cutter (materials)

[alejandroillini]

I wanted to know if anyone has ever cut precoated steel on a laser. I am planning on trying this I wanted to know if anyone has tried this and what were the results how does the edge end up was there any damage to the machine.

Also I have herad mixed views about etching aluminum has anyone on here tried it and what kind of results did you get and was there any damage to the machine
thanks in advance

 

[MikeHalloran]

Laser cutting machines are expensive, so it's hard to justify buying one unless you can keep it very busy. I've had uncoated stainless and duplex steels, and aluminum, cut by a couple of different contract cutters. Just ship them a sheet of material and email a DXF file, and get a pallet of cut parts in a few days. Painless, once you understand each other's limitations.

The cut edge was always clean and burr-free. Welding performance of duplex cut edges suggests that there is a heat affected zone, but it's not detectable to the naked eye.

We had part numbers laser-etched on the parts. It had to be done on a separate low powered machine, because the photon cannon used for cutting perforated the parts at character corners.

I understand that at least some optical parts are treated as consumables, because of destruction by laser energy. I'd guess the same parts would be affected by metal fumes or paint fumes from the stuff being cut. Not my machine, not my problem.



Mike Halloran
Pembroke Pines, FL, USA

 

[rltw]

Are you looking to cut or etch? If you're planning on cutting - what is the material and thickness?

 

[tomwalz]

Try Peerless Saw Co. They cut saw plate all day and do a lot of contract cutting. Nice folks and dead honest.

Steve Hartshorn is their Director of Sales.

Peerless Saw Company
4353 Directors Blvd.
Groveport, Ohio 43125
Phone 1-800-973-3753,

Tom

Thomas J. Walz
Carbide Processors, Inc.

http://www.carbideprocessors.com

 

[noreaster]

We have cut painted steel and melamine coated aluminum.
Not much different from bare metal. Buy it with pvc coating to protect the sheet. Etching Aluminum is not very good on a CO2 laser, I think YAG has a better wavelength for Aluminum. It will crack the focus lense. The beam forms a puddle which is very reflective in aluminum and copper, bouncing back up to the lense face and overheating it. At $700-$1500 a pop, it's not much fun.

 

[rltw]

I think that 1064nm YAG lasers are often used in the marking industry. Of course, a YAG marking laser set-up is around $50k, while a CO2 cutting laser is $250k. If you have a gantry type CO2 laser - you could have a YAG laser added to the gantry - maybe a $20k investment. It would mark much slower than a scan head driven laser though.

 

[alejandroillini]

Yes we have a CO2 laser. I am going to cut the precoat material next week I will let you know how that goes. thanks for the advise on etching aluminum. You saved the company a lens. I think that at this point we might just stamp it on a break press.

Once again thanks for all your responses

 

[alejandroillini]

yup it cut the precoat just fine it had a little discoloration around the edge wich was acceptable thanks for the info.