Talk:Laser cutting

message: The article 'does not cite any references or sources'.
For 'fastest class of machine', where? Fabricator article/survey?
The section on pulsing isn't very satisfying yet.
Jmaechtlen 01:39, 11 November 2007 (UTC)
thread_title:  references, possible additions 

message: I have a few edits for this article, nothing major just a couple extensions regarding assist gases and so on.  I am, however a newbie here so before I change anything, any objections or concerns from more seasoned folks? Protolam 21:22, 7 July 2006 (UTC)
thread_title:  New user 

message: I have a dissagreement with the statement "There is also a reduced chance of warping the material that is being cut as laser systems have a small heat affected zone."
a laser effectivly cuts by superheating and therefore melting/vaporising its target, whereas more traditional cutting methods use abrasives which may cause localised heating but this is a side-effect of the cutting process rarther then beign the cutting process, as is the case with lasers. Also in mechanical cutting the cutting head conducts a significant amount of the heat generated by the cutting process. drills & saws can be designed to dissapate heat, while laser cutters clearly cant.
from my experience as an engineer i feel that perhaps the biggest dissadvantage of the laser is the heat issue and i would suggest this be a candidate for ammendment to the article.
I would welcome other peoples suggestions on this matter. —The preceding unsigned comment was added by 193.63.48.253 (talk) 12:07, 10 March 2007 (UTC)
replies: text: I've never handled a warped piece from a laser cut, nor heard anyone in a laser shop whine about the laser's HAZ.  Are you a manufacturing engineer with specific, hands-on experience programming or designing a process that would cause you to evaluate it in such a way? - Toastydeath 19:10, 10 March 2007 (UTC)

text: Just to throw my two of some currency in here - I've never seen anything permantly warp from laser cutting, What it comes down to is - yes the item gets hot - but never hot enough to permanently warp the item to any great degree. Thick items do get fairly warm - but only to the point where it's around the point of too hot to handle. The issues come not in permanent damage but heat expansion. Basically when you start with a cold sheet, then start cutting, after a period of time the whole sheet expands so now your sheet is bigger due to heat expansion - now anything new you cut is going to be smaller by the time it cools down. That being said because you've now cut pieces out you get a bit of a heatsink effect whereby your sheet of metal allows air too pass over a larger surface area and cool down quicker. It's all things you have to think about when you operate such a machine, and if it's a serious problem it's easy to add a pause between cutting each item - or if your machine bed is large enough like with many CO2 lasers it's also plausable to have multiple sheets and stagger cutting between each one. Now where I have seen permanent warrping is in laser marking this is because you're often permanently changing the properties on one side of the item. This is very common if you laser mark very thin metals, again it's something the operator needs to (will) know. --Streaky (talk) 19:50, 23 June 2008 (UTC)
thread_title:  heat effects 

message: that may be the beginnings of a new article. —Preceding unsigned comment added by Jmaechtlen (talk • contribs) 
We have 3500Watt Cincinnati CO2 Laser. We cut Stainless exclusively. The heat distortion is non exsitance with laser compare to abbrasive disk cut. Reason is, beam moves 600 inches per minutes on 18 ga, and always use "assist gas" to blow away the kirf ( 0.007" wide) so it cools down before transfer heat to other area. When compressed air or gas blow out from nozzle, it cools it self by nature.  —Preceding unsigned comment added by 24.83.160.233 (talk) 21:14, 11 September 2009 (UTC)
thread_title:  cutting process/ distortion agreed

message: Can laser cutting be employed for sharpening Bisalloy wood-chipping teeth, Brinell hardness around 300? Would the amount of heat generated affect the cutting edge? Rumiton (talk) 15:28, 6 August 2008 (UTC)
thread_title: Question

message: I tweaked the machine descriptions, and beam delivery stuff.
I ripped out the mention of 'pivot beam' for now.
I'm not opposed to mentioning it, we just need to do it a bit differently.
As I understand it, pivot beam is one mfg's way to keep a constant beam path length. Is that correct?
We should draw a distinction between the changing distance/location of the cutting head, and the issue of compensating for any change in beam path length. The pivot beam keeps a constant path length, avoiding the need for active optics and simplifying collimation. Right?—Preceding unsigned comment added by Jmaechtlen (talk • contribs) 
Looks like the text of this section is ripped wholesale from this whitepaper: http://www.spilasers.com/whitepapers/laser-systems/ 
How should attribution be handled here?
Paulw1128 (talk) 20:08, 13 October 2016 (UTC)
thread_title: machine configurations

message: not physics—Preceding unsigned comment added by Jmaechtlen (talk • contribs) 
:Agree, I changed it. Wizard191 (talk) 00:28, 10 February 2009 (UTC)
thread_title: article category

message: The following sequence of sentences confuses me. 
"The neodymium (Nd) and neodymium yttrium-aluminum-garnet (Nd-YAG) lasers are identical in style and differ only in application. Nd is used for boring and where high energy but low repetition are required. the Nd-YAG laser is used where very high power is needed and for boring and engraving."
I cannot grasp the similarities and differences from this.  
What I come up with is that while both are used for boring, Nd-Yag is used for engraving and repeatability.  
I do not understand the difference between the high power and the high energy.  
Further, if you are going to say that they differ only in application, you should not follow up by listing the same application for both.  It is confusing to a novice reader.    —Preceding unsigned comment added by 12.2.81.84 (talk) 18:17, 5 February 2009 (UTC)
thread_title:  Confusing Sentences 

message: I'm missing fiber laser cutting as a separate entry. This technology has been developed by IPG.  —Preceding unsigned comment added by 84.197.236.198 (talk) 23:19, 9 February 2009 (UTC)
thread_title: Fiber laser cutting

message: Are the power needed for stainless steel figures correct?  They appear to go down with increasing thickness.  I would have expected the power needed to increase with thickness.  (The source data may have changed units.)   Andrew Swallow (talk) 21:00, 23 April 2009 (UTC)
replies: text: I took a look at the source and it lists the same info. It does seem dubious so it ought to be cross-referenced. Wizard191 (talk) 22:22, 23 April 2009 (UTC)
replies: text:  I am assuming that as the thickness increases the feed rate has to decrease, however power also needs ot be reduced because of thermal effects? 86.157.52.239 (talk) 08:30, 7 April 2014 (UTC)
thread_title: Stainless steel power inconsistencies

message: Todd's book is a survey of processes, and not definitive for laser cutting by any means, It just provides a brief overview. And it is old.
Anyway- the feedrates for Stainless were probably for a limited power system, maybe even a YAG. It also doesn't mention feedrate- those were probably very slow feedrates.
In thicker materials you had to pulse, where the average power went way down. Modern CO2 machines will use lots of power and really tear through it. Of course, modern YAG machines have improved as well.
A lot of the stuff on feedrates and power were too general and only partially true.
Still needs work. I don't think Todd is a good source of real application power and feedrate info.
more later.
Jay  —Preceding unsigned comment added by Jmaechtlen (talk • contribs) 18:34, 18 December 2009 (UTC)
replies: text: You are quite right about Todd not being a very good source. Any sources or other help you can provide is much appreciated. Wizard191 (talk) 19:33, 18 December 2009 (UTC)
thread_title:  cutting power, processes 

message: I have made some custom laser-cut work such as tactile 3D map for blind children from OpenStreetMap data. Would it be welcomed to add them to this article?
Can I add them straightaway? Asking as it is kind of COI - I got grant for this project and the justification for funding was that it would promote OpenStreetMap ( https://wiki.openstreetmap.org/wiki/Microgrants/Microgrants_2020/Proposal/Tactile_maps_for_blind_or_visually_impaired_children ).
I also made some custom maps as gifts (also matching "is now used by schools, small businesses, and hobbyists") and right now images are only matching industrial application, with quite wide use in hackerspaces not represented 
I am planning to make a better images, but https://github.com/matkoniecz/lunar_assembler#laser-cut-3d-tactile-map is showing what kind of thing I want to use as an illustration.
Mateusz Konieczny (talk) 14:18, 28 May 2021 (UTC)
thread_title:  Adding images of my laser cut work