Flat Sheet Laser Cutting vs. Plasma Cutting
With all sorts of clients producing all types of parts, our laser cutting shop includes various types of advanced cutting technology. Even better, with a wide range of cutting services and many years of experience in manufacturing and fabrication, we can help you choose the best cutting method for each unique product or part that you need.
At our PA laser cutting facility, we use the latest state-of-the-art cutting equipment—including flat sheet lasers and plasma cutting—to give our clients the best options for their specific projects.
Flat Sheet Laser Cutting
Flat sheet laser cutting is fast and accurate. When you need to cut a large quantity of parts, you can do it quickly – with a very high level of consistency and very tight tolerances – using a flat sheet laser. It’s highly effective when cutting parts from large sheets of steel, stainless steel, aluminum, brass and copper. Another plus is that flat sheet lasers cut and etch in just one step. From individual prototypes to full runs, you can get the parts you need done fast with a flat sheet laser.
Flat sheet laser cutting does have its drawbacks though – one of which is that it can only cut flat and thin pieces of metal. BenCo’s flat sheet lasers will cut large sheets (up to 83″ x 162″), but they wouldn’t be effective when working with metal thicker than 1″ for hot rolled, .75″ for stainless steel, and .5″ for aluminum.
Plasma Cutting & Oxy Fuel Cutting
Plasma cutting and oxy fuel cutting are two of the newer cutting technologies in the BenCo shop. Thanks to a top-of-the-line Baykal machine, we can provide both of these types of cutting along with additional machining and drilling processes.
Plasma cutting involves cutting metals of various thicknesses using a plasma torch that blows inert gas out of a nozzle at an extremely high speed. Some of the gas converts to plasma which melts and cuts the metal. You can cut very thick flat sheet metal – up to 6″ – with plasma cutting.
Oxy fuel cutting involves using fuel gas along with oxygen to cut metals of various thicknesses. Our oxy fuel cutting machine can cut flat sheet metal up to up to 7.87″ thick when starting the cut from an edge.
One unique feature of our plasma cutting and oxy fuel cutting service is that in addition to flat sheet materials, our machine can also cut tube, channel and other open profile stock.
A second distinct advantage our plasma and oxyfuel cutting machine offers is a built-in multi-axis CNC drilling station. This station can cut, tap, countersink and more all in the same step. This eliminates the need to move materials to other machines to perform additional processes – saving time and saving money.
Which Cutting Technology Will Be the Best Fit for Your Project?
At our PA laser cutting facility, we’ll help you determine which cutting technology will deliver the most efficient production and highest quality results when cutting parts for your products. Our experience with the most advanced cutting technologies ensures you’ll get precision parts each and every time. Contact us to find out how we can help you with your next project.
