Laser drilling of square hole in countersinks
Laser drilling of square hole in countersinks
(OP)
I am trying to make square holes after drilling countersinks in a carbon steel plate.
Plate thickness = 5/8 inch
Counter sink hole depth = 0.310 inch
Depth of laser drilling = 0.315 inch
Hole size = 0.562 inch with corner radius of 0.125 inch
The laser cutting company I have contacted says that they can make the square holes in the countersinks from the back of the plate where it is flat and not from the side where the countersinks were made. My question to the forum members are as follows:
1. Can we drill from the side where the counersinks are made?
2. If we make holes from the bak side, will the alignment of square hole to the countersink be a problem?
3. What kind of laser system be more suitable for this purpose?
4. What is the maximum thickness of carbon steel we can drill and what at power rating?
Thanks in advance.
Plate thickness = 5/8 inch
Counter sink hole depth = 0.310 inch
Depth of laser drilling = 0.315 inch
Hole size = 0.562 inch with corner radius of 0.125 inch
The laser cutting company I have contacted says that they can make the square holes in the countersinks from the back of the plate where it is flat and not from the side where the countersinks were made. My question to the forum members are as follows:
1. Can we drill from the side where the counersinks are made?
2. If we make holes from the bak side, will the alignment of square hole to the countersink be a problem?
3. What kind of laser system be more suitable for this purpose?
4. What is the maximum thickness of carbon steel we can drill and what at power rating?
Thanks in advance.





RE: Laser drilling of square hole in countersinks
and have failed miserably. Its basically due to the counter sink or counter bore geometry disrupting the process gas and diverting it of axis from the beam interaction which at best gives a crap cut, the other reason is the size of nozzle is usually too large to get in real close to the material inside the counter sink. The only way I've managed it is by doing exactly what was advised. ie cut from the reverse side. As long as your jig is accuractly made and positioned, hole and countersink alignment should be fine.
Alternativley the hole profiles could be cut before the counter sink. But I guess thats not an option!!!
RE: Laser drilling of square hole in countersinks
Just a few days ago, we have managed to cut square holes from the backside by vendor, similar to what you have described above.
I am just wondering whether any new laser machine has autofocus capabilities so that we will be able to cut from the countersink side.
RE: Laser drilling of square hole in countersinks
RE: Laser drilling of square hole in countersinks
Thickness = 0.5 to 3 inch
Width = 8 to 16 inch
Length = 2 to 12 ft
It is not posisble to put on a lathe, as you will appreciate.
We are still exploring the possibility of using a laser system.
RE: Laser drilling of square hole in countersinks
RE: Laser drilling of square hole in countersinks
The problem is like AXIOMATRIX said:
The nozzle tends to be bulky, and may not get the tip down close enough to the cut zone. Sloping surfaces at the cut line tends to do bad things to gas flow and poor cut results.
Proper fixturing (reference the part from the same edges when performing successive processes) should let you cut from the flat side of the plate and get decent results.
Since you are performing the countersink and hole cutting operations on different machines, it shouldn't be a big deal to locate the parts "flat side up" for the laser process.
How thick you can cut depends on the laser cutting system- power, etc, etc. The thickness number of interest is the material actually being cut, not the raw blank thickness.
Jay Maechtlen
RE: Laser drilling of square hole in countersinks
RE: Laser drilling of square hole in countersinks
Thanks for your advice. We have already tried from the flat side up and it worked. If we go that route, we need to flip the plate and make sure the origin is located so that there is no offset when the square holes are cut on the back of the countersink.
Servocam:
I am not very familiar with laser cutting technologies. Could you describe the systems you mentioned in a bit more detail? Many thanks.
RE: Laser drilling of square hole in countersinks
Contact some of the laser mfg's like Lambda Physik.