Is laser cutting expensive?

[RWD3M]

I know the short answer is probably yes, but a pal of mine needs a replacement part for his pellet burner and, as he's a bit of a tightwad, has asked me to draw it up and see if it can be made instead of bought off the shelf.

It's just under 4mm thick and possibly a nimonic alloy.

Not counting the cost of the raw materials, is having this made going to be ridiculously expensive

Thanks chaps.

 

[Erie Fred]

Draw it up first, and then send it out for quotation.

Then you will know for sure.

 

[BrokenBiker]

all the online laser cutter people will give you a free quote for it, just send them the appropriate file and they will give you a price

 

[julianf]

if youre wanting some sort of special alloy, then, yes, it will be money

this will be because people wont have the alloy in stock, they will have to buy a load of it, and then running your single part on the sheet is just not going to work out

a cut out of whatever 4mm mild theyre cutting all the other parts out of that day, sure, but somthing special as a 1-off, its probably not even worth your bother getting a quote IF you can buy the part off the shelf anyway



(i do custom cnc alloy work myself AND outsource steel here and there, so have some experience of it all)

 

[Bki26]

If you have a scanner pop it in that and it's give you a perfectly flat image without camera lens distortion that you can load into your favourite CAD program and trace for the features.

 

[hotponyshoes]

Most places are expensive for one-offs,
Guessing at numbers but I'd expect £60 for one.
£40 each for 2
and so on... Order 500 and they'll probably be £1.50 each..

 

[ajlelectronics]

Most places are expensive for one-offs,
Guessing at numbers but I'd expect £60 for one.
£40 each for 2
and so on... Order 500 and they'll probably be £1.50 each..

Waterjet cutting is also cheaper than laser, apparently.

 

[daedalusminos]

I've found Andover Laser to be reasonable in the past

 

[julianf]

Waterjet cutting is also cheaper than laser, apparently.

Certainly not where I go.

 

[ajlelectronics]

Certainly not where I go.

That came from the laser cutting specialists is Morelands Trading Estate, when I asked for some cutting to be done.

 

[hotponyshoes]

Water versus laser cutting prices have too many variables to for one to be cheaper than the other.

I'd generally expect laser to be cheaper for the 4mm steel that the op wants. But, go away from standard steels to something special and waterjet cutters may be more likely to use it in volume so the price might swing back around.

There are plenty of places that will give you online quotes and you can then play with material selection and so on to see how it changes the prices

 

[Brad93]

In Nimonic I'd have it waterjet.

No HAZ

 

[fizzy]

Waterjet cutting is also cheaper than laser, apparently.

I can't see that. Cost of Garnet or other abrasive and some of those waterjet cutters have 50kw or more pumps

 

[fizzy]

I know the short answer is probably yes, but a pal of mine needs a replacement part for his pellet burner and, as he's a bit of a tightwad, has asked me to draw it up and see if it can be made instead of bought off the shelf.

It's just under 4mm thick and possibly a nimonic alloy.

View attachment 499860

Not counting the cost of the raw materials, is having this made going to be ridiculously expensive

Thanks chaps.

Stainless would probably do almost as well for that application. Not for gas turbine blades perhaps

 

[Erie Fred]

I caught a fish once....It was this big......

 

[oldbikedavey]

Premier Laser in Corby are pretty good.
Waterjetting is more costly than laser cutting, and by quite a substantial margin , from what they told me some time back.

 

[RWD3M]

Hi Guys,

Many thanks for all the replies.

I'm getting a drawing off to a couple of local and online places so will wait to see what they have to say.

 

[Smallfry]

Hi Guys,

Many thanks for all the replies.

I'm getting a drawing off to a couple of local and online places so will wait to see what they have to say.

If you were a real mate, you would make one for him with a pillar drill and files