[Jewelry making - Article 01128] - Re: [Orchid] High pressure water jets cutting

[Bruce Boone]

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    The types of lasers needed for cutting through stainless steel are
    generally CO2 lasers, which use a combination of CO2, nitrogen, and
    helium that continually flow into the vacuumed out chamber, and are
    shot at nearly the speed of sound into the resonator chamber by a
    special compressor. It's pretty crazy stuff, and they are usually
    something like 10 feet long. It takes at least around 600 watts to
    cut through metal, with a more normal number of around 1000 to 1500
    watts. There are used machines of that wattage in the $35,000 range,
    but special optics, tanks of gasses, and replacement parts are
    hugely expensive. Don't forget that these will also take huge 3 phase
    electricity in the order of dozens of amps at 440 volts. These lasers
    usually cost $500,000+ new. They would cost thousands of dollars to
    move. They usually work with straight G-Code rather than drawing
    files as well. I used to work on such a machine. I now have a sealed
    tube CO2 laser of about 120 watts, which is approaching the upper
    limit of "cheap" lasers ($26K used), and it still won't go through
    metal. 

    You would do very well to go to the Thomas Register and find
    qualified laser manufacturers. It is a very steep and expensive
    learning curve to get good parts, and as I mentioned, the equipment
    is very expensive. They would probably charge a one time artwork fee
    of maybe a hundred or two dollars and charge for time on the machine,
    maybe $20 per part or less. 

Bruce Boone
Boone Titanium Rings
www.boonerings.com
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