Cutting Stainless Steel / Titanium

[Robert Walters]

I'm looking to cut/engrave Stainless Steel (primarily) and/or Titanium (maybe) sheet/shim stock.
Up to 0.050" (1.3mm) thick, 0.020" (0.51mm) on average, and 0.010" (0.25mm) on occasion.

This would be full sheet 48" x 120" (122cm x 305cm), and 12" (31cm) wide coil for the thinner stuff, so at least a pass-thru would be needed.

I know that going from 12" to 48" wide is a HUGE difference in machines, it all depends on the material I can use at the time. I'm working on getting prototypes created to see what material (thickness) is acceptable.

I do have 220VAC@30A single phase available.

I'm just trying to get an idea on laser type/costs I'm looking at, and some examples/suggestions if possible.

[Mark Sipes]

So are you asking what mechanical/hydraulic shear is best to cut 48" wide material. Personally I have the sheets cut to a managable size by the distributor and I have two local facilities that can handle the 24" and less widths. Since 24" is your average and .020 is more than managable I would go for a foot operated shear the lengths supported by tables of shear height. Or just buy a water jet cutter.

[matthew knott]

So are you asking what mechanical/hydraulic shear is best to cut 48" wide material. Personally I have the sheets cut to a managable size by the distributor and I have two local facilities that can handle the 24" and less widths. Since 24" is your average and .020 is more than managable I would go for a foot operated shear the lengths supported by tables of shear height. Or just buy a water jet cutter.

Maybe i miss understood the Original Post, is it just cutting sheets, or are you trying to cut shapes out of a big sheet ?
Anyway, if its shapes out of sheets Coherent make a nice machine, saw this at a show in the UK but its a US company, price EXPENSIVE!
http://www.tlm-laser.com/laser-products/laser-cutting-machines
Data sheet
http://www.tlm-laser.com/pdfs/coherent/OMNIBEAM_DS_0411revA.pdf

Get your wallet out :)

[Robert Walters]

Yes, cutting shapes, holes, slots, etc.
I'm thinking YAG laser, but not sure if that's the right option.

[Michael Hunter]

For cutting 1.3mm SS you will need a pretty serious machine, so Matthew's comment about wallets is spot-on.
Have a look at the Kern Lasers site - they give details of the thicknesses that can be cut with their machines which are mid-sized (bigger/more powerful than Epilog/Trotec/ULS, but not monsterly expensive).

In the UK, laser cutting of metal is highly competitive and the good places get through enormous quantities of SS, so their materials prices are low as well. Here it would not make sense to buy a machine - better to sub the cutting out.
Having got hold of the cut out bits, a fibre laser from Epilog or Trotec would do the trick for the engraving.

[Bruce Boone]

A YAG laser or fiber laser would be the best choice for the metal. I was looking into a 650 watt YAG from Golden Laser from China for around $35K, but found that it took 30,000 watts of power, which is more than you can supply. The lasers use flashlamps which wear out quickly and need water cooling. Fiber lasers are very efficient and use air cooling at that power, but the price of the unit will be more. (About 35K for the laser alone without the machine to run it.) You could get by with around 150 watts in YAG for that thickness. A CO2 laser will not cut as well in metal due to its wavelength. It uses a brute force approach. I have seen the videos of the Kern laser cutting metal, so it does seem possible, but a YAG or fiber will have much more cutting power at the same wattage.

[Robert Walters]

Just to get an idea of what I was looking at, I called Kern for ballpark numbers...

$100K USD for 150W CO2 with oxygen assist, but will oxidize cutting edge of SS.
220VAC 1ph @ 60A, including chiller.

$150K USD for 400W CO2 with nitrogen assist.
220VAC 1ph @ 100A + 50A for chiller.

Both being 52" x 25"

Those prices are what I was being quoted to have the work done (in 10k - 50K quantities),
issue now being able to power them. Which more than likely won't happen.

I might see what Troltec has to offer.

Does anyone know of any places that do punch press/stamping in the US by chance?
That's just foreign territory for me, so no real clue there, other than probably a die being involved.




For cutting 1.3mm SS you will need a pretty serious machine, so Matthew's comment about wallets is spot-on.
Have a look at the Kern Lasers site - they give details of the thicknesses that can be cut with their machines which are mid-sized (bigger/more powerful than Epilog/Trotec/ULS, but not monsterly expensive).

In the UK, laser cutting of metal is highly competitive and the good places get through enormous quantities of SS, so their materials prices are low as well. Here it would not make sense to buy a machine - better to sub the cutting out.
Having got hold of the cut out bits, a fibre laser from Epilog or Trotec would do the trick for the engraving.

[Mike Null]

I've had stamping done locally on an Italian made press which could be set up without dies. Don't know more than that but I was impressed.

AAA Metal 314 664 2228

[Bruce Boone]

Plenty of places out there that do a combination of lasering and stamping for sheetmetal. I'm having my new laser enclosure quoted by one. There were plenty of others out there, but most are covered up in work. Just do a locational search in Google for a company with sheetmetal capabilities.

[Ernie Balch]

You should also investigate waterjet cutting and possibly plasma cutting.

[Kevin Groenke]

Where are you in the US Robert? Any major city should have several job shops with the capacity to do this. I have had work done in Minnesota by Twin City Metalfab (http://www.tcmetalfab.com/Equipment/) which has 4 Mazak lasers ranging from 1.5 - 4.0 KW. Ameristar (http://www.ameristarlaser.com/) laser is another in TC that has turned stuff around for us very quickly.

+1 on looking at waterjet shops as well.

-kg

[Lucy Lee]

a machine with 130w co2 laser tube ,with o2 assist can cut 1.3mm ss and carbon steel,
Photoes will be enclosed for refrence

Best Regards
Lucy Lee
G.WEIKE LASER


I'm looking to cut/engrave Stainless Steel (primarily) and/or Titanium (maybe) sheet/shim stock.
Up to 0.050" (1.3mm) thick, 0.020" (0.51mm) on average, and 0.010" (0.25mm) on occasion.

This would be full sheet 48" x 120" (122cm x 305cm), and 12" (31cm) wide coil for the thinner stuff, so at least a pass-thru would be needed.

I know that going from 12" to 48" wide is a HUGE difference in machines, it all depends on the material I can use at the time. I'm working on getting prototypes created to see what material (thickness) is acceptable.

I do have 220VAC@30A single phase available.

I'm just trying to get an idea on laser type/costs I'm looking at, and some examples/suggestions if possible.