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Laser cutting metal gears
Posted: Sat Nov 03, 2018 3:57 am
by Eastblock
Hi All
In about a months time I will receive a 1kW fiber laser for cutting metal. I hope to be able to cut functional gears on it. I know they will not be suitable for heavy duty use as the cut faces aren't perfectly straight on a laser. However I hope they will be good enough for light duty in Rolling Ball Sculptures.
Has anyone in the group ever cut metal gears on a laser or have had some cut?
Cheers,
Michael
Re: Laser cutting metal gears
Posted: Mon Nov 05, 2018 5:34 am
by BobL
Michael;
No metal gears for me, however they cut and work great on wood or plastic. I don't suspect you'll have any issues as long as the curf from the cut line has been taken into consideration. Good Luck and have fun.
Cheers
Bob
:)
Re: Laser cutting metal gears
Posted: Mon Nov 05, 2018 6:04 am
by Dan Mauch
How thick are the gears going to be? Something you might want to consider is two make two thinner gears with dowel pin holes. Then sandwich them together and secure with dowel pins.
Dan Mauch
Eastblock wrote:
Hi All
In about a months time I will receive a 1kW fiber laser for cutting metal. I hope to be able to cut functional gears on it. I know they will not be suitable for heavy duty use as the cut faces aren't perfectly straight on a laser. However I hope they will be good enough for light duty in Rolling Ball Sculptures.
Has anyone in the group ever cut metal gears on a laser or have had some cut?
Cheers,
Michael
Re: Laser cutting metal gears
Posted: Wed Nov 07, 2018 9:44 am
by Eastblock
The gears will probably be in the 3-6mm range.
I've cut loads of wood and plastic gears on my CO2 lasers and they work fine in my marble machine kits where there is little load.
Re: Laser cutting metal gears
Posted: Mon Feb 04, 2019 5:34 am
by Eastblock
Just cut these mod2 gears on the fiber laser. 3mm carbon steel. Good enough for kinetic art pieces.
Re: Laser cutting metal gears
Posted: Mon Feb 04, 2019 2:37 pm
by ArtF
Hi :
Great job on those. I've never used a 1kw fiber.. how long did it take to cut?
The results look good. 3mm thick is pretty impressive really by laser.
Art
Re: Laser cutting metal gears
Posted: Tue Feb 05, 2019 2:09 am
by Eastblock
Didn't time it - probably less than a minute. 1kW is small stuff by todays standards. 6kW seems the norm with the big guys.
Here is one being cut in 1mm steel:
https://www.instagram.com/p/BtfvrBshufk/
Re: Laser cutting metal gears
Posted: Tue Feb 05, 2019 7:00 am
by steve323
Wow, the gears cut really fast and appear to have fairly smooth teeth. Thanks for posting the video.
Steve
Re: Laser cutting metal gears
Posted: Tue Feb 05, 2019 8:07 am
by Eastblock
I can just about manage mod0.5 in thin materials. Once the width of the tooth goes below the thickness of the sheet, then burning starts to become an issue.
Re: Laser cutting metal gears
Posted: Tue Feb 05, 2019 8:36 am
by Dan Mauch
Eastblock wrote:
Just cut these mod2 gears on the fiber laser. 3mm carbon steel. Good enough for kinetic art pieces.
Really nice job. Can you give us the name of the fiber laser or better yet a link?
Dan
Re: Laser cutting metal gears
Posted: Tue Feb 05, 2019 8:56 am
by Eastblock
This machine is not on their website but it's basically a slightly smaller version of their 3015 machine.
https://www.cnclaserlm.com/Fiber-laser- ... 72933.html
Re: Laser cutting metal gears
Posted: Wed Feb 06, 2019 10:59 am
by Dan Mauch
That is a really cool machine. You will be able to make some really cool kinetic art pieces with that.
Dan
Re: Laser cutting metal gears
Posted: Wed Feb 06, 2019 11:01 am
by ArtF
I agree, Im jealous, nice toy to play with...
Art
Re: Laser cutting metal gears
Posted: Thu Feb 07, 2019 5:36 am
by Eastblock
Dan Mauch wrote:
That is a really cool machine. You will be able to make some really cool kinetic art pieces with that.
Dan
Thanks, I hope that will be the case. However I may end up being too busy with cutting jobs for customers that I will struggle to get some play time squeezed in.
I'd like to give the ticker mechanism a go at some point. I think it could made more compact if constructed from steel. Perhaps a kit would be of interest to this community?
I also have a CO2 laser for wood/plastic, just need a CNC lathe with C-axis and Y-axis and I'm all set (those are hideously expensive though!!)
Re: Laser cutting metal gears
Posted: Thu Feb 07, 2019 6:46 am
by Dan Mauch
I'm not sure i understand about your lathe as most lathe use the X axis as the cross slide and the Z axis as the carriage. On a lathe the C axis is parallel to the Z axis so that is why I am confused.
Dan Mauch
Eastblock wrote:
Dan Mauch wrote:
That is a really cool machine. You will be able to make some really cool kinetic art pieces with that.
Dan
Thanks, I hope that will be the case. However I may end up being too busy with cutting jobs for customers that I will struggle to get some play time squeezed in.
I'd like to give the ticker mechanism a go at some point. I think it could made more compact if constructed from steel. Perhaps a kit would be of interest to this community?
I also have a CO2 laser for wood/plastic, just need a CNC lathe with C-axis and Y-axis and I'm all set (those are hideously expensive though!!)