[banga]

ball wrote:

31zook wrote:

Laser cutting is what I use for my stuff.

Laser also doesn't put allot of heat into the job, so your 0.6tin sheet doesn't buckle while cutting.

Laser isn't that flash on aluminium. I have never found anyone to do a decent clean cut with ally.

we use laser at work most of our stuff is ally cut is pretty good quality even down to a 3mm hole. far better than the finish you get off water and plasma. plasma is shit for ally.

[JrZook]

banga wrote:

we use laser at work most of our stuff is ally cut is pretty good quality even down to a 3mm hole. far better than the finish you get off water and plasma. plasma is shit for ally.

What thickness ally you cutting? Got any pics of the finished cuts? I just got some 2mm and 10mm flanges laser cut from alloy. The thin one worked out ok, 10mm ones are pretty rough! No issue with 10mm stainless tho.

[henno]

Laser is best for thin stuff, water is best for the thick stuff. Anything from 10mm and thicker is best suited to water cutting - the edge finish ends up a little coarse but it's far better than laser in the thicker gauges. Plasma just blows in general for ally.

[just_cruizin]

A slow feed rate on water provides a decent finish but may not be economical

[Che]

It's all about balancing the tradeoffs. What I want is a router or a mill - it's more in my price range, can achieve my desired outcomes and it leaves my options open to explore working in 3D. It also allows me to work in steel, staino, alloy, or wood. The tradeoff is that they're slow, you need to baton down the piece you want to work, and cutting out a hard corner needs secondary tooling. Not really a problem for my small-scale plans.

Lasers and waterjets are a much more industrial spec tool - beyond what I need. Massive upfront investment to buy into one of these machines, high running costs and high maintenance costs. But no doubt shit-hot at what they're designed to do.