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Laser cutting - what to charge?

studman

Plastic
Joined
Aug 7, 2011
Location
Manitoba, Canada
Hey all, I recently bought 4 used Mazak 5x10' laser cutters. 2 being 1000 watt units and 2 being 1500 watt units. I realize with this power output I'm limited to thinner than half inch material.

Either way, what is the going rate for laser cutting, or what is the least amount of money you'd expect to make per hour if you started cutting for other companies?

Thanks in advance.
 
Wow, the only way I see that possible is that the shop doing the cutting for you got a crazy good discount on steel in volume, and still made a profit somehow cutting it.
 
Hey all, I recently bought 4 used Mazak 5x10' laser cutters. 2 being 1000 watt units and 2 being 1500 watt units. I realize with this power output I'm limited to thinner than half inch material.

Either way, what is the going rate for laser cutting, or what is the least amount of money you'd expect to make per hour if you started cutting for other companies?

Thanks in advance.

With 1-2 hours effort you could create some geometry, send it out to shops local to you and get a ball park to what their charging. Then you might be able to determine if you have a business or not.
 
What ever the market in your area will bear.

Are you in a remote place ?

Larger pieces don't ship well, so you may have a location advantage there.
 
Wow, the only way I see that possible is that the shop doing the cutting for you got a crazy good discount on steel in volume, and still made a profit somehow cutting it.

I know its crazy right... The one place I worked with had 8 pallet fed machines with 2 guys attending them. Most of the time they were just packaging done parts and loading the pallet feeder.
 
Wow, the only way I see that possible is that the shop doing the cutting for you got a crazy good discount on steel in volume, and still made a profit somehow cutting it.

Yep, bloody right they do, when you buy steel in bulk - get deliveries by the full lorry load the per ton cost really drops a lot, depending on the age of your machines you might be so uncompetitive off the bat its not even worth setting up. Lasers generally have really high running costs and maintenance as they get older goes up fast. Add in cheap to run modern fibres and the fact that now unlike 20 years ago theres a lot of lasers out there and its a very different ballgame.
 
I just quit a job where I operated and programmed one (but sometimes two) old Mitsubishi 2kW lasers (no autofeed or anything fancy) for $15 and hour. Laser rate was $200 per hour.

It's worth saying this shop was in a convenient place and did very low volume runs without extra charges.

I was also responsible for all repairs and maintenance on both machines, and they were old and in bad shape.
 
I guess you have to define the market you want to play in first and then charge accordingly.

There is a huge difference between cutting 1/4 HRP&O with a note on the print that reads "Flame Cutting Permissible" and cutting .006 Full hard Stainless with .017 dia holes on .023 centers. To complete different ends of the spectrum.

All I need to know is how many inches of Laser, how many pierces and the federate to come up with a price per part at a given quantity. I don't want flat work...too many others playing in that arena. You guys can have at it and cut your way to the bottom. I want the parts that fit in the palm of your hand made from pre-plate with 15+ bends in them...throw in some Pems and maybe spotwelding, paint and silk screening...now we have something that weeds out the low margin players.

Pick your target market and you will find your price.
 
I have a couple 1KW Mazak (Panasonic) 50x100 lasers as well.

I paid under scrap for mine in fair running shape and there's no way in hell I could compete with anyone of the dozen laser shops in a 20 mile radius of me. I bought them initially with a guarantee of $20k/month in work for them from a good customer of mine. That really wasn't that much profit once I ran the numbers and realized how much labor, electricity, maintenance and material cost that was going to be. I was doing a lot of super quick turn emergency fix their mistake kind of stuff and I was 15 minutes away. Now I'm 1.5 hours from them and that work went elsewhere.

Plan B turned out to be to develop some products (more core business anyway) around having laser cutting and marking in house. They make a profit in what they make possible, not in a $$$/hr kind of way.
 








 
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