Laser Cutting 1 inch Plate Steel on a Cincinnati CL-850

[zyxwvutsrqponmlkh]

The future cam so gradually I didn't even relies when it was here.

[Bamchucknorris]

Its light cutting through 1 inch of steel...

[adeeb12321]

Placed on the eye

[rickneff58]

Sorry I seem to have missed most of these comments as e-mails were going to an inactive address.  I fixed that. This is a 5000 watt laser. We can also cut good 1" steel with a 4000 watt laser.

[DiamondDupree]

@rickneff58 Rick, can you tell me what type of steel you are cutting in this video? we are trying to cut 1" A572 and we are having trouble with teh edge quality. thanks Shawn

[clamzo1]

Wow..makes a plasma cutter look like a Bic lighter: awesome!



[kalinte007]

lokking at the finished product makes you wonder how did they manage to make such items 10 years ago? forged steel perhaps

[KemikalAli]

Nice cut, i've seen most lasers struggle with 20mm mild steel. I've haven't heard of the Cincinnati CL-850, what is its maximum power and does it use gas?

[cj691]

This is the definition of sexy.

[badwolfshamma]

cutting edge tech

[tigerclawe]

i just skipped at the end to see what was happening :)

[nickshea1250]

remember kids watch the ark

[CincinnatiWeb]

Actually they usually come out pretty easily. 

[lexichronicle2]

"a little persuasion will get the parts out of the sheet."

The hammer. :D

[fizzy1972]

We have a CL-707. 2300(ish) watt Rofin DC. Awesome thin sheet stainless machine. I wish we had an updated or even refitted 4k. We also have a 5k Trumpf and a 4K Trumpf. The old (over ten years old) Cindy Lou 707 still hands them their (the Trumpfs) butt on light gage stainless. Everytime! Just don't try to match it on anything over 16 ga lol.

[ybnmachinery]

@fizzy1972 Rofin DC030 & DC035 have a slightly larger beam and cut thicker materials much better (Stainless 15mm on a Prima Platino). The DC040 is just a monster, have cut Al 4mm at 4000mm/min with N2, MS 30mm and still very good at thin sheet.

[CincinnatiWeb]

This is a 5000 watt Cincinnati CL-850 CO2 laser. It also has linear motor drives and is very fast in light gage material.

[magx1]

Is this a CO2 laser?

[CincinnatiWeb]

The laser cutting process removes material and creates a kerf cut. The width of the cut is dependent on the thickness of the material. For instance the kerf in 1" steel is about .025" The edge is nearly vertical. There is usually less than half a degree of taper in the edge. There is a leading edge and trailing edge to the cut similar to waterjet. It is important to have small radii on corners or slow down in corners to minimize the effect of the trailing edge of the cut.

[bncesper]

Do lasers like this have similar angled kerf like a waterjet does?

[CincinnatiWeb]

The pierce is actually a pulsed pierce and is cleaner than a CW or rapid pierce. You will note the top of the material is pretty clean. This process leaves a smaller hole and less ejected material. In addition it does not add too much heat to the part so it is easy to cut the thin webs at the end of the part.

[Kibbleis]

I want to buy one for my daily use at school. :D

[CincinnatiWeb]

@Kibbleis Every school should have one!

[Eschelonistic]

Why CW then pulse? -.- piercing paramaters are shot by the looks but nice edge none the less

[rickneff58]

This resonator is 5000 watts. The beam is a heat ray in the infrared range so you cannot see it with your eye. The unfocused beam can travel pretty far and still deliver a significant amount of power that could heat up or burn things but probably not cut them. The military has a number of laser weapons developed in recent years using different types of lasers.

[jacksonlefteye]

@rickneff58

i got a 4000w amada at work that can barely cut 3/8", blows my mind that you can get all the way through 1" with only an extra 1kw, particularly with the part you're making there with such a thin wall with two hot cuts around it, we tend to make a fireworks display when we cut stuff like that

not claiming to be an expert either, i haven't operated the machine much myself, but i'm guessing you have a pretty rockin' assist gas situation going on there

[jacksonlefteye]

@jacksonlefteye

scratch that, it's only a 2000w model

[rickneff58]

The beam that comes from the resonator on this laser is about an inch in diameter. When it comes into the cutting head it is focused on a small spot on top of the material in order to get the power density that will cut steel. There are a significant number of safety devices built into the machine to make it difficult to cut your hand. Indeed you could sever a finger if you could get it under the head.

[Pocketlint3]

Time to make a scale model of the Death Star!

[YouJustL0stTheGame]

Cool, now let's weapononize it.

[mussedeq]

How many watts?

[FakePlasticShrimp]

If you put that on your hand, would it slice through you easily? Like you could literally cut a human in half with this in a split second? How far would you see the dot at the end of the beam at night, 10miles? This laser needs to be on mythbusters..

[CincinnatiWeb]

OK gang. No pointing at your neighbor. Vision correction surgery uses much lower power resonators. The resonator itself is available from Fanuc FA America in Hoffman Estates, Illinois.

[Immortalicast]

where can i buy one of these with out the entire machine though.

[iHoady]

I want to point it at my neighbours eye.

[laofmoonster]

@iHoady You'd probably have one less neighbor after doing that

[iHoady]

@laofmoonster And one hell of a lawsuit..haha

[YoyoFlamingo]

Imagine that on your skin!

[rickneff58]

Low powered lasers are used for surgery because they easily cut flesh and also cauterize the cut greatly reducing bleeding. This high powered laser has numerous safety features to make sure that you are not exposed to the beam. It is surrounded by a safety enclosure. The beam only comes on when the head is in close proximity to conductive material like steel. During maintenance it takes two hands to turn on or flash the beam.

[SuperRandomTroll]

@rickneff58 sweet, im sure a stupid enough person could still hurt themselves on it......

[mkultra2300]

@SuperRandomTroll Don't try to catch the cut-out piece as it drops from the plate. I've seen too many people go to the emergency room trying that. I'm all like "damn you couldn't wait for that to cool son?!" and there all like "Sheeit, I done burnt my hiz-and on this laser agin"

[DancingDruidStudio]

Interesting....

[sk8wnec]

Shouldnt they drop out?

[rickneff58]

@sk8wnec The CL-850 has a pretty dense cutting grid that keeps many parts from dropping. Once the part has been removed you can see a grit tip under the area where the slug would have been able to drop. Small slugs will usually drop through especially in thin material. In 1" thick plate most slugs get hot and with a small kerf do not drop readily. Only a little persuasion will get the parts out of the sheet.

[sk8wnec]

@rickneff58 o okay cool.

[mksboysal]

This beautiful machine! Amazing what a job it can do in such a short time...

[bradbradbrad021]

had

[bradbradbrad021]

I wish the shop I work for hard one. I have a hard time cutting 3/8s. We have 2 CL-707's 2000 watts and 1 CL-7 1500 watts theres old

[jlawson710]

will it pop a balloon

[rickneff58]

@jlawson710

No problem on popping the balloon. The raw unfocused beam from the resonator can probably pop a balloon from 100 yards away.

But why?

[dtiydr]

Insane power, i mean 1 inch gees..

[april76301]

@dtiydr Hey thats pretty good its cutting steel.I bet its power would increase when i use it on you >:) and you know kill you it could be a good weapon you know.

[rickneff58]

There are lots of shops that do low volume work with this type of 5000 watt laser.

[boomersoonerks]

I agree. I work at a shop that has 3 5000 watt Bystronic and 5 Trumpfs. We mostly cut for larger companies, but we take local jobs as well

[jeetendrag10]

so beautiful,i wanna cry. anyone takes jobs for these machines to make low volume parts?

[pakozelman]

NICE :D

[shayneyasinski]

4000 watt??

[djtrixen]

shayneyasinski: Actually I think that's a 5000 watt.