Oxy-fuel Cutting and Welding Machines

Oxy-fuel cutting and welding equipment melt areas with an arc and then use a high-velocity, high-temperature ionized gas to make cuts. The high-velocity ionized gas conducts electricity from the torch of the plasma cutter, heats the workpiece, and then melts the material. The high-velocity stream of ionized gas blows the molten metal away from the workpiece and severs the material. The arc’s contact with the working surface creates a high-heat circuit which can melt a section less than 1/16 in. (1.6mm) wide. The force of the plasma flow creates a fairly clean cut with little or no slag. With some oxy-fuel cutting and welding equipment, the plasma arc travels through the nozzle at a speed of up to 20,000 feet per second, and at temperatures as high as 30,000º F.

Oxy Fuel and Plasma Cutting Machine

There are many different types of oxy-fuel cutting and welding equipment. Examples include plasma cutting torches, plasma torches, and plasma cutters. Plasma cutting torches use compressed air or nitrogen as the cutting gas. They provide narrow-width kerfs and use a water-cooled electrode. Plasma torches produce a high-temperature gas stream by passing the gas to be heated through an electric arc discharge. Typically, a plasma torch has two metallic, tubular electrodes so that the electrical arc flows between the negative and positive electrodes. Plasma cutters are suitable for cutting steel and other electrically-conductive materials. With a plasma cutter, the surface of the metal outside of the cutting area remains cool. Other types of oxy-fuel cutting and welding equipment are also available.

Oxy-fuel cutting and welding equipment are used in many applications. They provide high-quality cuts and fast travel speeds. Some oxy-fuel cutting and welding equipment are used in metal working, switch gear construction, and part fabrication applications. Others are used in the manufacture of heating, ventilation and air conditioning (HVAC) systems. A used oxy-fuel cutting and welding equipment is a remanufactured system that includes components and subassemblies such as torch holders, motor/gearboxes, operator control consoles, bearings and hoses, and cables. A CNC plasma cutting machine can be used to automate the material shaping process. Oxy-fuel cutting and welding equipment should adhere to American National Standards Institute (ANSI) standards

Oxy-Fuel Cutting Machines

Oxy-Fuel Cutting Machines, Flame Cutting Machines, Portable Cutting Machines
Oxy fuel cutting is a process that makes use of pure oxygen for cutting metals like steel. The oxygen which reacts with steel creates iron oxide. Flames are used to heat the steel to a very high temperature, approximately 1800 F, at which time pure oxygen is applied in a constant stream and this creates the cut. The metal cutting machines based on this oxy fuel cutting technique are known as oxy fuel cutting machines. These oxy-fuel cutting and welding machines make use of high-velocity, high-temperature oxygen gas for making cuts. The high-velocity ionized gas is ejected from the nozzle which is sufficiently hot to heat the workpiece, and then melt the material. The high-velocity stream of ionized gas blows the molten metal away from the workpiece and severs the material.

CNC Oxy Fuel Cutting Machine

There are various types of oxy-fuel flame cutting machines available now-a-days. Some of the examples of oxyfuel machines include portable cutting machines or plasma cutters, shape cutting machines, profile cutting machines.Oxy-fuel cutting machines are suitable for cutting steel and other electrically-conductive metals like aluminium, brass etc. These machines are available in different ranges for cutting the metals upto thickness as required. Generally these machines which are available as portable cutting machines are available in ranges for cutting metal plates ranging from 5mm to 70mm thickness. These cutting machines are also available as shape cutting machines that are generally used for cutting metals into different shapes like circular, flanges, squares, rectangles, straight line etc. These machines are available in ranges to be used in small workshops or large industries. For cutting plates of larger thickness and for large production applications such as in metal fabrication industries generally heavy duty shape cutting machines are used. These machines are generally available for cutting metal plates of thickness ranging from 5mm to 200mm. Now-a-days one can find a wide range of oxy fuelprofile cutting machines in the market with cutting automation for accurate dimensional cutting. These are the CNC oxy-fuel cutting machines and available with programming logic control technology in which PLC controller in the machine displays the drawing and does the cutting operations depending on the programming instructions provided to it. Whatever may be the type of oxy fuel cutting machines these are the ideal equipments for cutting metals.

Programming and nesting software for CNC Plasma

Programming and nesting software (FastCAM)

FastCAM is a powerful CAD plotting software specially used for number control cutting and it can read CAD DXF files and choose and output the NC files of different controllers ; in addition, it can speed cutting obviously heighten cutting quality and thus improve social and economic benefits.

FastCAM - Software

Plotting System
- Compatibility of plotting software.

- Special Functions to DXF files.

- CAD clearing function.

- CAD compacting function.

- CAD extraction function.

- CAD breaking and ranking functions.

- Bridge function, including continuous bridge, break bridge and interruption bridge.

Cutting Path
- Able to automatically or manually set cutting direction.

- Able to set cutting starting port, finishing point an dcutting sequence.

- Able to set leadin and leadout.

- With the mid-layer function of CAD, able to set and conduct cutting, marking and drilling ect..

Nesting System
- Able to nestle quickly, continuously and automatically by placing hundreds pf parts on many steel plates.

- Able to conduct optimized nesting on the rest steel plates.

- Able to manually interrupt AC automatic nestling and interfere with discharge.

- In the optimized nestling process, able to specify, receive and choose parts and have free horizonal

- movement, rotation and matrix etc.

Verifying System
- Able to have analogue check and change to NC cutting files.

- Able to calculate material cost and processing cost.

- Able to support many controller NC codes and switch among different codes.

- Able to provide many languages that Windows platform supports.

Printing:
- Discharging drawing and name, discharging parts list;

- steel plate size, cutting speed, cutting time and steel plate utilization rate;

- programming parameters and number control codes.

CNC Controller (MicroEDGE, Hypertherm)

Numeral Control System (MicroEDGE, Hypertherm)

MicroEDGE is specially designed for metal cutting from Hypertherm Automation, it is an CNC controller
based on PC with lowest price. The MicroEDGE provide the most flexibility to OEMs to integrate own looks-it is
easily customizable. It provides OEM to intergrate theirown display, keyboard and mouse etc customized
components.

CNC Controller (MicroEDGE, Hypertherm)

- Shape Wizard Programming – Non professional person program easily

- File’s Read and save – Can read or save from / to memory stick directly

- Plate Alignment – Align plate to table automatically if plate is not straight

- Current Part Edit Function – Can scale, rotaye and mirror the part, which is very flexiable

- Watch Windows – 10 watch windows, can monitor all the I/o signals, position, speeds and process
parameters

- Backup / Forward on Path – Can move Torch backup / forward on path during the cut

- Move the Pierce – Can move to any pierce point of the cutting part easily

- Simple Nest Function – Can make simple nest for the parts

- Power Loss Recovery and Parts Interuption – No need to worry about the power loss during cut, and also

- support interrupting the current cut and resume to cut the last part while other task is finished

- Parameters Setup – Can quickly setup machine’s parameters and cutting process

- Communication Ability – RJ45 and serial Communication are available

- Multi Control Functions – Can Control Dual Gantry, Sensor THC, Command THC, ArcGlide THC, Multistation

- System Diagnostics – Can test CNC ‘s software / hardware and servo motors

- Professional Cut Charts – Intergrate all the Cut Charts of Hypertherm’s plasma power supplys, all process

- data can be generated automatically after selecting material type and thickness

CNC Laser Cutting Machine

There are various key considerations while operating the CNC Laser Cutting machine.

Below listed are some of them.
- The laser power of the CNC Laser Cutting machine is directly proportional to the speed and the depth of the cut.

- Laser warm up is another important factor in cutting. The laser tube should be kept warm at all times.

- If the laser is not focused properly on the material, it could very well affect the speed of operation.

CNC Laser Cutting Machine

- The laser lens of the CNC Laser Cutting machine might get dirty very quickly depending on the extent to which you perform your cutting operation. So care should be taken to make sure that the lens is cleaned at regular intervals.

- The speed of the cut depends on the thickness of the material that has to be cut.

- Greater the thickness, higher the number of passes required to cut the material.

- The nature of the materials could have many adverse effects. It the material is made of polyvinyl carbonate or fiberglass, it has chances of emitting poisonous gases on burning.

- Air assistance is also important while cutting metals using CNC Laser Cutting machine. Some prevent flaming and some can assist us in the cut.

- There must be some way of holding the material that is to be cut. The most common method is to use a metal grating or a cardboard honeycomb material.

Right now, this machine is considered to be the best machine available in the manufacturing field. So, don’t hesitate to spend a few more on this as it’s a one-time investment which is sure to reap enormous benefits in your business.

CNC Laser Cutting machine

CNC Laser Cutting machine is hailed as one of the most advanced techniques in manufacturing technology. They are perfectly suited for cutting any kind of metal like stainless steel, aluminum or titanium.

Below are some of the advantages of using a CNC Laser Cutting machine:
- Setup time for this machine is very minimal compared to other technologies

Laser cutting

- Faster engineering time, nearly hundred times faster than the traditional methods.

- Minimum waste or slag is left behind when this machine is used.

- Complex designs can be made very easily using CNC Laser Cutting machine.

- Uniformity in dimensions will be maintained for any number of uses.

- CNC Laser Cutting machine is very effective in manufacturing large volumes of material.

The working mechanism of the CNC Laser Cutting machine is as follows:

A single wavelength of light is projected onto the metal sheet using an optical projection mechanism. The light is caused by the excitation of gas when carbon dioxide is passed through a high voltage system. The light is narrowed down to such a thin line that can be used to cut metals. A nitrogen and oxygen gas mixture is used in this machine that helps in two ways. One is, it enables faster cutting and other is it helps in preventing the vaporization of the metal to give a nice and smooth finish. No waste can be found from the finished product of the CNC Laser Cutting machine and even if there is some, it will be very minimal. A few machines are capable of getting nitrogen even from the air and use it for the laser purposes. The user is well protected by a lid on top of the machine. The top has a special coating that can protect the user’s eyes from the laser light.

Variations of the Plasma Cutting Process

Precision Plasma Cutting

This process produces superior cut quality on thinner materials, (less than 1/2") at slower speeds. This improved quality is a result of using the latest technology to super constrict the arc, dramatically increasing energy density. The slower speeds are required to allow the motion device to contour more accurately. This process is for mechanized applications only

Precision Plasma Cutting

Conventional Plasma Cutting
This process generally uses a single gas (usually air or nitrogen) that both cools and produces the plasma. Most of these systems are rated at under 100 Amps, for cutting materials under 5/8" thick. Primarily used in hand held applications

Conventional Plasma Cutting 

Dual Gas Plasma Cutting
This process utilizes two gases; one for the plasma and one as a shield gas. The shield gas is used to shield the cut area from atmosphere, producing a cleaner cut edge. This is probably the most popular variation, as many different gas combinations can be used to produce the best possible cut quality on a given material.

Dual Gas Plasma Cutting

Water Shield Plasma Cutting
This is a variation of the dual gas process where water is substituted for the shield gas. It produces improved nozzle and workpiece cooling along with better cut quality on stainless steel. This process is for mechanized applications only.

Water Shield Plasma Cutting

Water Injection Plasma Cutting
This process uses a single gas for plasma and utilizes water either radially or swirl injected directly into the arc to greatly improve arc constriction, therefore arc density and temperatures increase. This process is used from 260 to 750 amps for high quality cutting of many materials and thicknesses. This process is for mechanized applications only.

Water Injection Plasma Cutting

Specifications

Specifications of the CNC Plasma Cutting Table
The robotic CNC plasma cutting table is used to precision cut sheet metal. They are especially useful in mass production. Used with its control software, it provides an operator with a variety of helpful features. It is easy to maintain, and relatively easy to operate too. Here are some of its important and helpful features:

CNC Plasma Cutting Machine

- Using the gears and changing the speed of operation, you can get accurate motion in any horizontal direction

- It has lightweight parts that can control the motion of the machine as required; these also allow for precise cutting at any speed

- Some CNC plasma cutting tables can be adjusted for height

- It can be used for repetitive tasks, producing high quality work at a fast rate and with little supervision

Specifications of the CNC Plasma Cutting Table
The plasma cam CNC plasma cutting table has a cutting area of size 4ft x 4ft. It can cut sheets that are of sizes 4ft x 8ft or 4ft x 10ft. However, the machine can cut metal images that are much longer – up to 20ft. Go here for a refresher on CNC plasma cutting and CNC plasma cutters.

The table requires power with 3amp current for proper operation. The weight of the table is about 300 pounds. The dimensions of the table are about 64 inches wide x 60 inches deep x 90 inches high. The table surface itself is 33 inches high where plasma cam is installed. This table with its plasma machine is much more accurate and precise than just hand-held plasma machines. That is because fixing the machine at one point means that its body and nozzle are not prone to small jerking movements (a symptom of drinking too much coffee or energy drinks). That improves precision of its operation.

CNC plasma cutting

When deciding on a CNC plasma cutting table, there are many options available in the market. It can be very confusing and make the buying process very difficult. Before deciding on a CNC plasma cutting table, it is better to keep the following in mind

Models and Sizes - The CNC plasma cutting table comes in different models and sizes. It is easy to maintain and offers a wide variety of features. Some of the features are
- Variable speed and gears that provide accurate motion in any direction

- Rigid but lightweight parts offer variable speeds of cutting.

- With every speed, there is precise cutting

- Incorporates height capabilities where the tip will not get hung up

CNC Plasma Cutting Table

The CNC cutting table is a robotic table that incorporates the use of a hand held plasma cutter. It is easy to use and maintain. Small businesses can now use CNC plasma cutting tables and increase productivity and also eliminate production costs and waste materials. Due to the precise cutting, waste is eliminated and a lot of money is saved. This results in the reduction in the cost of production. More of the materials can be used from the same sheet. There is less wastage, so the profit of the company is increased.

The CNC plasma cutting table offers repetitive capabilities with each and every cut. The use of the computer makes it possible to save the program for the specific project and use it again at a later date. Even after continuous use, the end product will be the same as the one that was produced before. So it can be used again and again on different dates as the need may be. Since the table is computer numerically controlled, a lot of time and money is saved and the precision is maintained.

Brands – There are different brands available in the market. The brand of the CNC plasma cutting table will determine the machine’s capabilities.

Since there are many brands and sizes, the buyer should keep his specific needs and budget in mind before he selects and buys a CNC plasma cutting table.