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This is what the laser shop sent me...

DRobs86

Plastic
Joined
Apr 26, 2019
Sent some steel work out to a laser shop. Thought I'd get everyone's thoughts on what I got in from them. It's a smaller shop and I know one of the guys there really well. I didn't specify that they'd break the edge or finish the part. I just trusted my bud's shop to take care of me. They told me I'd have to tumble them some. I told them we have two tumblers so we can handle it, but I wasn't expecting to get something so rough. I've never had a fiber laser cut part come back looking anything like this. I've had some burr and dross, but this is pretty nasty. It's a 6kw laser and 1/4" steel. I'm thinking they don't have the thing set right.

IMG_20210204_140625978.jpgIMG_20210204_140519233_MP.jpg
 
had something like this with an alloy steel sheet, composition similar to 4140, 2mm thick, it had some mill scale with rust preventative on it and the parts looked similar to yours, they were very apologetic about the result, they always supplied me with near perfect looking parts from either mild or stainless, regardless of thickness, from 1 to 25mm (mild steel)

I cleaned up the next sheet before bringing it to them to be cut, degreased and lightly sanded the scale, and the result was much better, still wasn't near perfect as mild or stainless, but much better
 
Those are terrible, unacceptable. You can't "tumble" that away. Even using a Timesaver, it could be hard on the belt.

I'd either talk to your buddy, or chalk it up to experience and get them done elsewhere (with a guarantee of edge quality).
 
Cutting 1/4" steel with nitrogen can do that if you don't have something set right. Which it appears they don't. It being HR will play into that some. We had issues cutting 1/4" with oxygen for some reason or the other, I swapped over to use nitrogen. Once everything got dialed in it cuts great. That said we try to use only HRPO cuts cleaner does leave a slight burr but nothing like this. Like Milland said thats going to be hard on a timesaver belt. Paint scraper and a hammer you can get under the burr and can pop off the burr. Sometimes.
 
That's pretty bad indeed. 1/4" should be no problem for a 6 kw laser. Something is definitely "off".

A frank conversation needs to be had and expectations need to be understood before the next order is placed. Otherwise, take your business elsewhere.

My laser guy only has a 4 kw laser and there's not even a discernable burr even on 1/4" material. I'm not sure what type of laser he has though.
 
That is not acceptable.

I get parts like every now and then. I happily have them redo them over and over until they are acceptable.

I have noticed the uglier the parts are the more elaborate the wrapping/palletizing often is. Like the operators know and are trying to hide it.

I have even gone as far as to note "Not to be cut from flaking rust pitted shit" on my PO's to one vendor.
 
I agree with everybody else. That is horrendous. The 1/4" thick parts I've had laser cut are much closer to what Fish On posted.
 
On my oxy cnc table I get it like that sometimes, I keep a 4" wide masonry chisel
handy.
It has enough weight, you slide the slag "off", not the other direction.
The 4" wide makes it easy to find the last bits still hanging.

https://www.homedepot.com/p/Dasco-P...MERCH=REC-_-searchViewed-_-NA-_-100507480-_-N

I second doug's masonry chisel. Sharpen one sided like a wood chisel. Add a longer solid handle if more weight is needed. Works great for removing weld spatter as well.

But no, you shouldn't have parts that look anything like that.
 
I would never send something that looked like that to a customer.
Especially if I wanted to keep them as a customer.
 
The last welding class I took at the local community college, that would have been totally unacceptable for hand-cutting with an oxy-acetylene torch. For a CNC fiber laser? No way!
 
I've had the same results as Fish On - the laser shop we sub out to hates us because our orders are either really small, or the involve a million piercings, but the results are always similar to the photos Fish On posted. I also second Ohio Mike's comments about that being much worse than plasma, and I only have a Hyperther 45XP on the cheapest CNC table in the market.
Here are some photos of why they hate us:
image1.jpg20180810_144407.jpgBar Front.jpg
 
I would never send something that looked like that to a customer.
Especially if I wanted to keep them as a customer.

Ya!! How could anyone in good conscious send that out and expect to be paid? :angry::(

edit: even as 'just an employee" I would be embarassed...
 
Ya!! How could anyone in good conscious send that out and expect to be paid? :angry::(

edit: even as 'just an employee" I would be embarassed...

Thanks for the replies. I've been pretty straightforward with the shop that this batch of parts is no acceptable at all. The owner asserted that he thought I was trying to save money on some parts and his understanding was that these parts would be acceptable. He has taken strides to improve the quality of the cut. He still seems to think these parts were okay. I sent him the link to this post tp see if it changes his mind.
 
We were buying mirror glass from a big waterjet shop in sacramento ca for 10 years with a less than 1% rejection rate, we just tossed them and never said anything, about 3 years ago all of the sudden we had a 50% rejection rate, scratched glass, chipped edges, poor packaging, after three batches we decided it would be cheaper to buy a protomax waterjet. The quality of work done out of house has become more trouble than it is worth. I have to think this will affect their bottom line but folks are being forced to hire better than nothing employees in many sectors but having the owner think those are acceptable is a whole nother thing all together. There may be a protomax in your future too.
 
We state the part quantities are +-5% or whatever so that we can nest extra if they fit well or throw away ones that turn out bad.

We often include ones that need work for free, because why not. It doesn't cut into our margins and the customers like it.

But any part that bad would just be tossed into the scrap bin before a customer ever had a chance to see it.
 
I spent a lovely week surfing in in Tofino BC last summer. Tofino accommodations are challenging and everyone has stories about deals they've had, good places and bad places etc. Early one mooring we saw a guy who was actually sleeping on the beach but inside his surf board bag, one of those padded ones with the sliver outside so they don't overheat in the sun. But they're always damp inside and at risk of mildew. So this immediately set a new low standard of Tofino accommodations for all others to be compared to, "well I was in a three person tent with four guys from Quebec and it was raining but at least I wasn't sleeping in my board bag!". Anyway, thanks to this thread we have now seen the laser cutting equivalent of sleeping in your board bag.
 








 
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