Laser Cutting Stainless Steel ???

[Babba]

Hello. I'm currently having motorcycle radiator guards manufactured by an outside contractor on a very £expensive CNC laser and apart from losing a lot of the profit to them I'm suffering through lack of flexibility in quantities, lead times etc.

I'm mainly using 0.5mm - 1.2mm mirror polished 304 Stainless. Business is growing to the stage where I really should be looking to move production in house but I don't have anywhere near the £1/2million'ish I'm told my contractors machines cost to purchase and commision.

I've already ascertained that Plasma won't give the accuracy of cut needed, is there anything on the market that will cut stainless up to 1.2mm ????

[MacGyver]

YAG is your laser of choice here, 1.2mm isn't too bad... 100W would cut fairly fast, though you could probably get away with 60-80W without too much trouble but at a slower pace. Others will chime in with more specific answers as I've never used YAG.

[bisjoe]

Probably a better way to go is waterjet. Laser cut stainless often turns bluish along the cut.

[Baketech]

I've never had much luck waterjetting thin stainless without a backside burr. Maybe someone can chime in with a solution. Even then, speed and cost seem like it would be hard to make money with that part...

Have you thought about using an off the shelf piece of "perf" and welding it to your box?

Interesting product...keep us posted with your solution...

[Banzai11]

Waterjet should do it just fine, find a local job shop.

WJ machines are hot now, prices are good....and no expensive laser parts to replace!!

If you have a burr...try slowing down feed rate or maybe faster since it is so think, adjust abrasive feed, worn nozzle(?), etc
Test cut is the key...

I just WJ cut some 11G (3mm) 304 SS and it was almost perfect w/ a slow feed and used nozzle etc.

[chatchawalsit]

CS Inter Group Co.,Ltd. is estabished in Thailand almost 6 years.Our office in located on north of Bangkok, at Donmuang. We are manufacturing and distributing all CNC cutting machine solution such as CNC Gas and Plasma Cutting machine,CNC Laser Cutting and Engraving machine ,CNC Water Jet cutting machine ,CNC Router and Engraving machine,and we are supply CNC controller for new and retrofitting program .We are offers arange of services and products to enhance your productivity and options for your cutting machine.Listed form shorterm benifit with minimum cost, through the longest term with maximum benefits,you can find a solution to fit your needs.

[bennett71]

You might also be able to find perforated stainless sheets & just cut the rectangle you need. This would save a lot money if it would work.

[Babba]

Thanks for the responses so far but what I'm looking for is a self contained machine capable of cutting 0.5 - 1.5 mm stainless steel.

I've built up quite a list of machinery (mostly Chinese in origin) with prices ranging from £2k - £8k that promote their non metal cutting specs but finding anything that admits it will cut metal for less than a £gazillion is proving difficult.

Surely someone out there is routinely cutting stainless on machinery that costs less than the building its housed in ?????

[MonoNeuron]

I have heard of people cutting stainless steel with a 120 watt laser but it was about .6mm thick and they pulsed the laser in microsecond pulses to keep the molten pool established and cut through very slowly. You could probably cut up to about 1.2mm with a 200 watt laser but you are looking at 30K to 40K for a good synrad RF laser.
Head on over to Synrad and have a look at their examples of what they cut and power settings and speed used. Their is a lot of info on heaps of different types of materials.
Here is a rough guide from their site.

Steel 25W 50W 125W 240W
Stainless 0.01" 0.016" 0.025" 0.08"
Mild 0.01" 0.016" 0.03" 0.16"

So as you see at 240 watts and a gas assist you can cut through 2mm or 80 thou.
here is the link.

http://www.synrad.com/search_apps/ap...briefs/6-2.htm

Rich.

[wickedboysap]

Hi Babba I know the right machine that you are looking for I have been in the laser industry for the last 10 years and work with a few machines which cut stainless steel upto 4mm with a clean finish, PM me and I would be more then happy to help you out.

Sap

[bigtoad170]

What about cutting mild steel and having them chromed. If you had two products to offer a standard and a premium you can charge a premium price for the stainless even if the chromed once end up costing the same to manufacture most will justify spending close to double for the premium product then you have a product you can double profits on. Just a thought

[coleong]

Maybe you could find somebody to use a turret punch machine with rubber strippers to avoid scratching the mirror finish.

Turret punching is far cheaper to do your work as compare to laser cutting since you have only holes rather than different contours on your part.

Waterjet is not the right idea to do your job.