Choosing the Right Cutting Machine: TRUMPF fiber lasers

TRUMPF fiber lasers have become one of the most popular and world-renowned cutting machines since they came to the market in the late 80s. The advanced technology, precision and ease of use appeals to metal fabricators everywhere; however, this investment can come with a lot of questions, especially for first time buyers. How can you determine if this cutting machine encompasses all of your fabrication needs?

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To learn more, we spoke with Mid Atlantic Machinery Senior Applications Engineer, John Moran, to ask how he knows when a laser is the best choice. John is our in-house laser expert as he has completed over 1,000 care visits to help laser customers optimize their machine for their production.

What material and applications are best for a laser?

“TRUMPF fiber lasers are able to cut parts out of almost any metal, including steel, stainless, aluminum, copper, brass, zinc, nickel alloys, tool steels, etc. These lasers can also cut coated metals such as galvanized, aluminized, anodized and pre-painted metals.”

“Very few laser operators know that these machines can cut expanded and perforated metals, textured and tread plate metals and laminated metals. Moreover, TRUMPF lasers have the capability to cut tubing and pre-formed metals, but some special techniques might be required for these processes.”

How should a fabricator consider power and speed on a TRUMPF Laser?

“While most lasers are 6 kilowatts (kw), they can be 4, 6, 8, 10 or 12 kw. A laser with higher kw equates to higher temperatures, allowing you to cut faster, cut thicker materials and cut more inches per minute (ipm).”

“When trying to decide what power laser to buy, ask for time studies on your typical parts. You can then compare the capacity and the time to manufacture to decide on speed versus machine cost. If you will never cut anything thicker than ½” or ¾” then you can use a laser with less power.”

“A 6kw fiber laser is rated to cut 1” thick steel, 1” thick stainless and 1” thick aluminum.  Fabricators only look at 8 or 10kw lasers if they want to cut thick materials with nitrogen faster than they can with 6kw, or if they’re looking for a cleaner edge than the average laser.”

“The kilowatts of the laser and assist gas used will affect the finish of your parts and the speed at which you cut it. For example, ¼” steel cut with nitrogen on a 4kw fiber will have a slight burr while cutting at 140 ipm. With 6kw will you get better cutting at 240 ipm, and with 8kw you will cut cleanly at 350 ipm.  If you are cutting ¼” steel with oxygen, all three lasers will cut around 110 ipm and have no burr.” 

“If you are only cutting thin material or smaller sized parts, you will never be able to take advantage of increased speed with more power.  Although an 8kw fiber might be rated to cut 16 gage stainless at ipm, when cutting small holes or parts that are 6” x 12,” the actual cutting time won’t be much different with a 6 kw laser rated to cut at ipm.”



What are the advantages to having a laser over other cutting solutions?

“The biggest advantage to cutting with a laser is how inexpensive they can be to operate. A TRUMPF laser costs about $2-3 an hour to run, whereas a waterjet or a plasma can cost anywhere from $20-25 an hour.  A 6kw TRUMPF fiber laser and all the accessories will run on a 60-amp electrical service.  You can also cut for over 50 hours on a single 240-liter Dewar of oxygen.  The highest cost incurred on a laser is nitrogen assist gas. Nitrogen can add an additional $10 an hour.”

“Lasers very quickly and accurately cut parts that are clean and nearly burr free with no nibble marks, dross or rapid rust formation. A 4kw TRUMPF Fiber Laser can easily cut 16 gage stainless steel at ipm and hold +/-.005” tolerance with the part ready for welding or powder coating right after being cut. Lasers can also etch part markings cleanly and clearly with little effort and cut PVC coated materials while leaving the covering in place.”

“Moreover, the kerf on the TRUMPF fiber lasers are as little as .006,” depending on the thickness of the material. Lasers can be easily automated, whereas you rarely see a waterjet or plasma with automatic loading and unloading.”

What are the top 3 things to consider when deciding to purchase a laser?

“Will you be able to process the majority of the parts you want to with the table size and power you are looking to purchase?”

“Can you process your parts at a cost and tolerance that meet your requirements and what additional capacity will you have?”

“If you have this machine, what other opportunities does it provide for you?”

What do customers care the most about when considering purchasing a laser? Any concerns?

“It’s very easy for anyone to learn how to program and operate a laser, but a customer’s biggest concern is cost.  A $500,000 laser has a monthly payment around $8,000.  However, a job shop can charge at least $150 per hour for laser cutting, and as much as $500, depending on the industry served.  At $150 per hour, with 40 hours per week of cutting you can earn, or save, $24,000 per month with a laser.”

“Nitrogen cost can be a big concern. Cutting mostly stainless and aluminum, or steel with nitrogen, you can spend upwards of $2,000 per month cutting one shift per day.  Most gas suppliers require a 5- or 7-year contract, and that can be intimidating without knowing your future business needs.  Peripheral items for a laser such as cutting gas piping and regulators, a transformer and electrical service, foundation work, a computer for programming or a device for loading sheets onto the laser bed can also add up. Even with these costs though, a TRUMPF laser could still save you money by increasing your production and productivity.”

How should someone determine if a laser is right for them?

“If you are currently subcontracting parts to be laser cut, a laser would be right for you. A lot of fabrication shops are paying the same price as a monthly laser payment for what’s being cut. In this case, it would make more sense to be in complete control of the production of your own parts, rather than risking long wait times.”

“Another consideration is your volume of parts. If they are ¼” thick and under, and you have a decent volume, a laser is most likely right for you. If your volume is low, or  ½” and thicker you might want to consider an alternative method. If you are shearing, notching, and punching holes in parts, you could make them in one operation with higher quality and less handling using a laser.  This will allow you to put skilled personnel on other tasks.”

TRUMPF fiber lasers are unparalleled in power and precision and offer advanced technology with simple operation. Though there are many factors to consider, TRUMPF lasers have the ability to increase any metal fabrication shop’s productivity. The ease of use offered by TRUMPF machinery allows anyone to become laser proficient with just a little bit of training.

In nearly every custom project the material you use matters. There are numerous properties that might factor into the decision of which to use.  In this article we’re going to use material strength across a variety of scenarios/criteria to compare the strongest and weakest materials that SendCutSend offers for custom sheet metal manufacturing.

While strength by itself may be a primary driver for your design, there are usually other factors to consider, such as weight, cost and even other processes the material can undergo (tapping, bending, etc.). How strong a material needs to be depends on your design and application. Often the best choice is a material that’s “strong enough” rather than the strongest material available. This allows you to optimize for those other factors.

For more information, please visit Sintered Metal Fiber.

Additional resources:
Essential Guide to Metal Perforated Sheets: Types, Applications ...

The Different Ways to Measure Material Strength

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There’s more than one way to measure how strong a material is. The one most people think of is tensile strength, or how much stress a part can resist in tension before it fails. But there are also shear strength, fatigue strength and even hardness can be used as an indicator for wear resistance. When you’re looking for a specific material for your project, it’s important to know which of these is important to your application. You can find these values for most of the properties we carry on our materials page.

Material Properties

Since we’re discussing material properties in this article, it’s important you know where to find these properties. For all the materials we offer, we provide a long list of properties, design considerations and available services. You can find all of that information by going to the materials section of our website and selecting a material and thickness.

The Importance of Material Weight

Weight is a common constraint in both design and material selection, especially. When your parts need to be both strong and light, you’ll want to look at materials with high strength-to-weight ratios. 

Carbon Fiber – At the top of the pack when it comes to strength-to-weight, carbon fiber is a modern composite material. Not only is carbon fiber one of the strongest materials we offer, it’s also one of the lightest. If maximizing strength-to-weight is your goal, look no further than carbon fiber.

Titanium – Offering the strength of high end steels and the weight of aluminum, titanium is the strongest and lightest metal SendCutSend carries.

HDPE – At the other end of the spectrum is HDPE. As the name implies, it is a high-density plastic making it heavier than other plastics, but it is still relatively light compared to metals. While it doesn’t have the tensile strength of other materials, it is still tough, meaning it can take some abuse. 

Copper – With a similar strength-to-weight ratio as HDPE, copper is not typically used as a structural material for high performance applications. It has other qualities that make it desirable, such as conductivity and its appearance.

SendCutSend does carry materials with a lower strength-to-weight ratio, but they aren’t generally considered for any application where strength is needed. Cork is a good example.

When Does Material Thickness Matter?

Some designs require a specific size or thickness of material. In most materials, strength doesn’t vary by thickness. The strongest material at any given thickness will depend on the thickness you need. Composites are an example of materials with mechanical properties that can easily vary, since they are direction dependent.

AR500 Steel – We offer steel in a variety of types and strengths. AR500 is incredibly resistant to both impact and wear. It’s one of the strongest materials we offer, if your project can use one of its available thicknesses.

UHMW Polyethylene – Tough and durable for a plastic, it’s one of the weaker materials SendCutSend carries, still rated with some minimum strength. It is self lubricating, impact resistant and can be easily cut with simple woodworking tools.

ACM (Aluminum Composite Material) – Probably the best example we carry of a material that can have varying strength as its thickness changes. ACM is made up of a thin skin of aluminum surrounding a polyethylene core. The aluminum skin stays the same thickness, it’s the core that changes as the panel thickness increases or decreases. This has an impact on the overall panel strength.

How Much Will Your Material Cost?

If any other factor influences material selection as much as weight, it would have to be cost. Very few designs are immune to the need to cut costs where possible. The good news is you don’t necessarily have to give up all of a materials strength just to reduce the cost of your parts.

Chromoly Steel – A stronger alloy than mild steel. While is more expensive than mild steel, it can be significantly stronger. Where can save money is that it can be approximately as strong as Titanium, but at a fraction of the cost.

Aluminum – A stronger alloy than aluminum. aluminum is close to twice as strong as , but it’s only about 50% more expensive. A savvy design may be able to reduce the thickness appropriately to keep overall strength the same while lowering the total cost.

G10/FR4 – Like the stronger alloys of metal above, G10 is a composite material that happens to be stronger than the Linen Micarta we offer. In this case the increase in strength comes with a similar increase in cost. When a composite with even greater strength is needed, we also carry carbon fiber. 

One more thing to note while we’re covering the cost aspect of your parts is the fact that material cost is only a portion of the total cost. The more complex a design is, the longer it will take to cut, which can also increase the cost of your parts. Buying parts at higher quantities, even two instead of a single piece, can be a great way to reduce per part cost.

SendCutSend Available Services

One of the best reasons for buying your parts from SendCutSend is all the additional services we offer. More than just getting your flat parts cut, you can get them bent, tapped, have hardware installed, we even do finishing. When your parts need any of these additional services, how do the strongest and weakest options look?

Bending

The strongest grades of each material are typically too hard to be bent without cracking, so pay attention to which materials can be bent. Chromoly, Grade 2 Titanium and 316 Stainless are at the top of the list for strength.

Polycarbonate, the only non-metal material SendCutSend bends, rounds out the weaker material that can be bent.

Tapping

When you need your part to hold a fastener, but there’s no room or access for a nut, you may be able to tap threads into the material directly.

Not all of our materials can be tapped, but there are some strong options on the list like aluminum. Similar to bending, stronger materials can be hard, making tapping much more difficult. Softer/weaker materials are easier to tap, but the threads won’t be as strong. Plastics like Delrin and HDPE are relatively hard for plastics, but not very strong compared to the metal materials at SendCutSend.

Hardware Installation

When you need your part to hold threads, but it’s just too thin, inserted hardware is your next best option. Inserted hardware works by tightly pressing the steel inserts into a hole. The insert is knurled to grip the material and keep it from twisting when fasteners are tightened. This means, like tapping, it doesn’t work as well in very hard (typically stronger) or very soft (typically weaker) materials. This is why the materials for hardware insertion are more limited to middle of the pack strength options.

Finishing

All of the finishing options we offer work only with metals. Only aluminum can be anodized, but we offer multiple grades, so you have some options on strength if anodizing is important for your parts. being the strongest and being the weakest.

Most of the metal materials we carry can be powder coated, so there’s some room to choose between stronger and weaker options. From Chromoly down to Aluminum and plenty of options in between.

Lastly in our selection of finishes is zinc plating. Only available for two steel materials, but you still get to choose between a significantly stronger option ( Chromoly) or a relatively weaker one (Mild Steel).

165+ In Stock Materials

SendCutSend offers a lot of materials. When you need options from strong to weak, we’ve got you covered. At the top of the strength leaderboard you get AR500, Carbon Fiber and Grade 5 Titanium. Those three alone cover a wide range of other properties for you to use in your projects. At the weaker end of the scale, we carry some soft plastics and even unrated (for strength) materials like Birch Plywood and MDF.

So whether you need the strongest material available, or just something strong enough that minimizes weight or cost, SendCutSend has a material that could work for you.

If you are looking for more details, kindly visit industrial filter mesh.