Nitrogen Laser Cutting

Laser cutting is one of the most accurate ways to cut many different materials.  The process can produce parts within a .004" tolerance with ease and is one of the fastest ways to produce parts.  A large variety of materials can be cut, including mild steel, stainless steel, aluminum, wood, plastics, and even cardboard. 

The type of  laser cutting we do at Lean Machine uses Nitrogen, CO2, and Helium to produce its beam.  The beam of light is focused through a lens to concentrate it so it can melt through the metal.  Additionally, there is an assist gas like oxygen or nitrogen which is used to help both with the exothermic reaction with the material and to assist removing the molten metal from around the part.

In order to reduce our costs of laser cutting, we decided to put up a bulk storage tank for Nitrogen.  The nitrogen is used in stainless steel, aluminum, and galvanized steel cutting.  In the past, laser cutting machines could encounter problems with highly reflective materials such as aluminum, but this is a walk in the park for our Hankwang!  See the videos attached.

Here is the Bulk Nitrogen storage situated on the concrete pad that we highlighted in a previous post.  The Nitrogen is stored as a liquid and runs through the large aluminum structure to the left of the tank to change it from liquid to gas.

Here is Lean Machine's Hankwang 4KW Laser cutting 1/4" 5052 Aluminum using nitrogen assist gas.