Laser cutters

[Frostfly]

I have an odd question. Big laser cut rigs that are used for cutting plate etc. I'm wondering if there is a way to set the "depth" of the cut. For instance..can you cut one side out of a chunk of pipe. or(as is my intrest) cut one side of a coil of wire to get very clean cut rings.

I suppose I could ask the same question about water jet cutters.

[mike-hr]

I worked in a machine shop in Portland for almost a year in the 1980's until the rain made me suicidal.. Anyway, they bought a nice waterjet machine and were doing some nifty art engraving stuff by running the travel speed so fast the jet would cut only partially into the steel plate. I reckon you would have to call your local shops and ask. I would think the smaller coil you are working with, the more difficult it would be.

[Frostfly]

The rain just makes you enjoy the sun that much more :-)

[cunningham]

I would use ahand held chop saw.

[Joe H]

There may be a machine that would do that, but I've never seen one. Lasers/waterjets are pretty much for sheet/plate only. It could be done pretty easily with a handheld plasma torch.

[Phil Patrick]

I work for a company that manufactures and sells laser cutters, as well as other sheet meat fabricating equipment.. I trouble shoot and program them as well as our other equipment. Most laser cutters are designed for sheet or plate work. Despite who makes them, they all work pretty much the same way. In terms of sheet or plate, it is pretty much all or nothing when it comes to cutting depth. You are either all the way through, or not. you can do what we call micro welds. They are tiny welds along the edges of parts to keep them from falling through the cutting grids, or for holding windows into parts or purpose. They way we do it is we bring the beam out of focus. This changes the power density and causes a puddling effect.
On the other side of the gambit, there are series of laser cutters out there built for the purpose for cutting tubing And not just a straight cut, but complex or simple profiles weldaments and so on. They do just cut through one "side" of the tubing at a time.
I hope this helps!!


Phil

[RBrown]

Iv got a customer that has a MAZAK Laser and it will cut shapes out of pipe and at its lowest power setting it will ingrave (not cut all the way through) but considering the cost of the machine and the software for it i dont have 1,000,000 laying round to buy one. you can see a little bit about the machine they have here Laser Cutting Services now personaly after seeing what it cost to fix that thing when it brakes and only has a 6 month warrenty i would never own one of theres. dont get me wrong its a nice machine when its running but you could buy allot of plasma tables and all kinds of other toys for what that thing cost.

[Phil Patrick]

That's the rub with Laser cutters. When they run, they RUN! When they break, it can get expensive very fast. The advantage with a laser is faster cutting speeds(to a point mind you!), smaller kerf, etc. We make and sell two models, a ball screw driven laser and one that is driven by linear motors. The linear motor model can grab like 3 g's at full accel. So on thinner material it can really perform well. We also use a DC Rofin Sinar laser source which has a higher power density than say a fast axial flow laser. What that gives is the ability to cut a given thickness with less wattage.
Salvagnini
For those who are interested, check out our website.
I'll be heading over to Italy for training in two weeks at the world head quarters.

[facium]

I made a very simple single axis line plasma cutter once.
just a 110 plasma cutter, a threaded shaft (to move the tip), and a variable DC drive.

controls were simple limit swithches to prevent overtravel, and the dial on the drive.

what you can cut would depend on the table you build to go under the cutter.

If the rings are small you will get slag on the other side of the ring, but using a bar thru the middle of the rings should stop that.