If i was going to amke a CNC router..,.but instead of the router part added a laser....how many watts would i need to cut up to 1 inch of aluminum?

Aluminum has good thermal conductivity and good reflector for the laser beam. Laser may not cut.

Try the water jet.

WaterJet and Laser are way too expensive for you (I have talked to him before about his budget). Stick with a good aluminum frame router.

Cold Fusion I know, this is not for me(unfortunately).....this is for someone else with a budget range of 15k-20k for making a machine.....thanks though for your consideration though....

Ummm laser jet cuts alumnum because my uncle has a trumph laser cutter(big machine) and it cuts....i don't think this person wants to go water jet because fo the water issues involved and speed!

What about plasma?

nevermind, 1" thick...not for any kind of a good cut with plasma.

plasma would be too unpercise!

There isn't much (Besides mills) that will cut 1" AU for a budget of 20K or less...

Leaveing off the issues of refelection, it would take atleast a 350watt co2 laser or MORE, my estimates

um if the budget can up to 50k?


Would that be better?

We use YAG lasers to cut steel at work. 2000 watts. About $400,000 each.

Eric

AU is gold. (hehe)

Ya, my uncle cut aluminum, steel, you name it with laser cutter and he got really expensive machines!

Laser is not good for aluminum. We run 1500w Pulsar and rarely cut anything thicker than .188" AL. That machine is about 500K. Piercing take a lot of power in AL. Most AL jobs requiring laser are run through the puch first to add pierce holes for this reason. No way will you get a laser capable of cutting that thickness for 50K. BUT, if you do........

You would need thaousans of watts (3000)
a lot of $$$$$$ . Laser may not cut.
Try the water jet.
Very hard to cut with a laser

We have three Trumpf lasers at work. Aluminum is possible but even the 5000W machine will only do 1/2". Price for that machine is 1Million.

How do you like the Trumpf lasers? We have 3 GSI Lumonics 2000w lasers where I work. It's part of my job to keep them running...What do you cut with your lasers?

Eric

The Trumpf lasers are ok I guess, not having experiance with anything else to compare to. I am training as maintenence and applications manager. The machines are extremely complex. The newer ones use linear motors on the gantry and rack and pinion on the long axis. Servo drives are Siemens simodrives. Rapid speed is 12000 in/min diagonal. Amazing to watch. I will be going to the factory in Farmington CT for 3 separate courses. We cut mild steel up to 1" thick with the 5000W machine and also cut a lot of stainless up to .5" thick. The other two machines are 2500W and 3000W.

Our lasers use robots with GSI's "silver" autofocus cutting heads. I am Electrical Engineering Technologist. When the lasers break they call me. You are correct, they are complex machines. Also expensive to maintain. VERY cool to watch.

Eric

Our lasers use robots with GSI's "silver" autofocus cutting heads. I am Electrical Engineering Technologist. When the lasers break they call me. You are correct, they are complex machines. Also expensive to maintain. VERY cool to watch.

Eric

Eric,
It seems you know much about lasers, I'm looking for a good co2 sealed air cooled laser to cut acrylics, plastics, and ply for the advertising industry...I want to mpount it to a table I'm designing right know, which one do you recommend...?
I was looking at a 240w coherent, but to much equipment arount, is water cooled..to much trouble for the size of the laser, similar stuff to a amada 2000w laser I use right know, and is really expensive to run it...
Regards,
Hector

You can cut aluminum with a laser. What you need is a YAG as the whole thing with lasers is wave lenght. Lasers like CO2 reflect off the surface, where as a polished aluminum surface will absorb the YAG laser frequency.
I cut aluminum, stainless, copper and brass for inlay designs with a YAG.

Look at a thread I'm putting up for some 25/40 watt YAG lasers that are for sale at my work place.

OOPS!! Saw that you want to cut 1 inch thick, as Tim Allen would say, "MORE POWER"...like death ray power. How about wire EDM.

We just got a new Amada 4000watt laser at work. I can do .500 Alum at work no problem. Never tried anything thicker. Never had a problem with piercing and also the machine has auto reflection detection. I will look into the libraries tommorow to see the thickest for Alum. I know we can cut 1 inch steel plate with no issues.

We have a 5000watt PRC laser head on a BLS machine. It can cut aluminium to 12mm, but we play it safe and only cut 8mm. Aluminium is one of the hardest materials to cut with laser, its very reflective of the beam and a risky operation, a reflection back up the beam parth can damage the resonator. The PRC head is worth over $400,000. I dont think you will find a laser that can cut 25mm.
Glenn

1.0 thick alu no way with laser. What deanc500 said.

I have found that punching is the way to go for Aluminum. We have a Trumpf 600L combo punch and laser that we would punch as much as possible and only use the laser for special shapes. There are other companies that have purchased punch only machines to reduce the cycle time for cutting materials like aluminum / galvanize.

Greg
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