N2 cutting Mild steel
N2 cutting Mild steel
(OP)
I am running an Amada Lc1212 and am looking for increased productivity on low gauge mild steels.
The latest lasers cut at 20M + per min (1MM mild steel) and they use high power and loads of gas to achieve this.I also know there is a limit to the speed that Oxygen can cut due to exothermic process, and this is why they switch to N2.
Does anyone have data for high speed cutting Mild steel with N2?
If so has anyone tried using lower grade N2 (96%) when cutting?
The latest lasers cut at 20M + per min (1MM mild steel) and they use high power and loads of gas to achieve this.I also know there is a limit to the speed that Oxygen can cut due to exothermic process, and this is why they switch to N2.
Does anyone have data for high speed cutting Mild steel with N2?
If so has anyone tried using lower grade N2 (96%) when cutting?





RE: N2 cutting Mild steel
Yes there is a limit to achievable speed when cutting with oxygen due to the balancing of the exothermic reaction. For cutting thin mild steel at high speeds, high pressure Nitrogen is your best bet. And using lower grade nitrogen will usually cause your cut edge to exhibit a rusty oranges brown color and decrease your maximum cut speed. A question back to you though, have you noticed when cutting at higher accelerations that your cut tends to jitter especially at corners or block changes?
RE: N2 cutting Mild steel
Yes i do get jittering,
I get this when I cut stainless at high speeds, when the laser turns corners dross appears on the rear side, as you said also on block changes. This i think is due to the laser hesitating momentarily as it turns the corner or reads its next command. There are cures such as edge data, which slows the laser down just before a corner then speeds up after, but from experience all corners are different and not every job is rectangular, we normally end up second opping the part with a graining or deburring operation.
RE: N2 cutting Mild steel
Call them!
Jay
Jay Maechtlen
RE: N2 cutting Mild steel
RE: N2 cutting Mild steel
I an not sure what kind of problem you are trying to describe? Normally, the special treatment at corners is to control heat in areas where the machine necessarily cannot maintain programmed feedrate.
The corner problem tends to be worse with high programmed feedrate on machines with limited accel/decel.
Jay
Jay Maechtlen
RE: N2 cutting Mild steel
RE: N2 cutting Mild steel
Again, have you asked the vendor?
Good luck
Jay Maechtlen
RE: N2 cutting Mild steel
As far as the jittering, can you get into the acceleration rates of the machine? Usually they are set around 80in/sec2. Try going up to 140in/sec2. If you can't do this, a simple "dwell time" command around the corners will help. I generally have used a dwell time of 0.1s per move. Sometimes you can also couple this with a M61 and M60, which forces the machine to execute the programmed block before reading ahead.
Good luck