Laser Cutting Guidelines

SIMPLY STATED: Laser machining is the core competency of our business.

We have developed specific programming methodologies that enable us to efficiently laser cut designs that our competition cannot process. Whether your design is an intricate, tight tolerance, fragile part or a tube with a few features with wide tolerances, you can be assured we can make cost effective parts in prototype and production quantities.

Material Selection Hypotubes

• + Stainless Steel
• + Nitinol (NiTi)
• + Cobalt Chromium
• + Titanium
• + Tantalum
• + Hastelloy
• + Magnesium

• + Elgiloy
• + Platinum
• + Gold
• + Silver
• + Brass
• + Copper

Determine cut width (laser Kerf width)

• + Larger kerf = faster cutting = less $
• + Smaller kerf = slower cutting = more $$$

Thin wall (.002” - .005”) | .0005” - .001” Kerf
Normal Wall (.006” - .009”) | .001” - .002” Kerf
Thick Wall (.010” - .025”) | .0015” - .004” Kerf

Tubing Limitations

• + Wall = .002” - .025”
• + Diameter = .008” - .700” OD
• + Tubing Length: We can accommodate most tubing lengths over 4” but prefer lengths 54” and higher

Calculating yield from raw material

(Supplied Tubing Length - 6”) / (Part Length + .015”) = Maximum Part Yield Per Tubing Length

NG:YAG Laser limitations

• + Holes cut in tubing create a slight taper effect ^{(fig. 1*)}
• + Cuts are made “normal” to surface of tube ^{(fig. 2)}
• + Laser cannot cut “off-axis” ^{(fig. 3)}
• + Material rotates under fixed laser beam

Flat or “unrolled” drawing formats (fig. 4**)

• + DWG
• + DXF
• + PDF (for quoting purposes only. Pulse cannot program from PDF files)
• + SLDDRW (tubing should be created with longitudinal slit so part can be unrolled)

* Important: specify on drawing which diameter (ID or OD) is more critical to maintain for thru-hole measurements.
** Example of 2D flat or “unrolled” drawing file.