Manual Flame Cutting Vs Machine Flame Cutting

In manual flame cutting, the operator is responsible for holding and guiding the torch and the quality of surface being cut solely depends upon the skill of the operator. More smooth and accurate cuts can be attained in this process if the torch is held against straight or curved guides while forward movement is consistently maintained. Machine flame cutting makes use of metal cutting machines that are specifically designed and constructed to hold the torch in specific predetermined positions to accomplish repeated and rapid cuts.

Machine flame cutting process quite accurate, provides greater speed and is more economic too. Whereas manual flame cutting method does not produce cuts as accurate and smooth as machine flame cutting does.

Machine flame cutting is an optimal option to go for when bulk quantities of materials are to be cut. However, manual cutting is slow and can be used with fair accuracy on thicknesses up to two hundred to three hundred millimeter flame cut.

The consumption of oxygen gas in manual flame cutting is much greater as compared to the consumption in machine flame cutting.

Manual flame cutting is widely employed in scrapping operations and on production work. Machine flame cutting can be used primarily to do straight line cutting, although they can be taken up for circular and shape cutting also.

Waterjet Fabrication

A waterjet cutter is an instrument extremely able of cutting rigid metals or any other hard material using a forceful jet of water at relatively high speed. Sometimes water is replaced by a combination of water and some scratchy substance. This technique is frequently used in production or manufacturing of machine parts and other heavy tools. This technique is very useful and highly applicable in various industries like tools manufacturing, automobiles, mining and other metal fabrication works, since it is helpful for the important operations like cutting, carving, and reaming. These cutters use the energy of high pressure water to generate extremely powerful force to slice objects. A waterjet cutter pressurizes a torrent of water flow to cut a variety of materials, for instance foam, rubber, plastic and wood. Abrasive jet cutters blend abrasive material with a rushed water stream to cut tough objects.

Waterjet fabrication is well thought-out as a green technology because water jets produce no harmful waste and do not pollute environment. Huge fragments of reusable scrap matter can be sliced with water jet cutting technique that could have been gone astray using traditional and custom cutting techniques. Consumption of water in waterjet cutters is very low and the water once used in cutting can be used again by recycling it using a closed-loop structure. Generally, used water is sufficiently clean or you can filter it and dispose down the drain. Use of garnet abrasive is totally non-hazardous as it is a natural material and non-poisonous in nature and can be used repeatedly after recycling.

Other advantage of waterjet cutting and waterjet profiling is that you get rid of dust particles produced in the air by traditional cutting methods. This feature seriously helps in improving the working atmosphere and minimizes the troubles that may arise from workers exposure to contaminated environment.

How do I determine which cutting method is best for your needs?

In order to determine the best metal cutting method for your process, you will need to conduct a through examination of your production needs. All cutting methods including waterjet cutting, flame cutting, laser cutting etc have their own advantages and disadvantages.

Typical criteria used for most process evaluations should include the following:

1. Type of material that is to be Processed
2. Material Thickness – you will have to determine the range of material thickness to ensure best cutting method for it.
3. Accuracy required in the cutting of stainless steel profiles.
4. Finish required in the material to be cut.
5. Rate of production desired.
6. Cost of technology that will be used for processing.
7. Machine operating costs and machinist skill requirements

Metal cutting by Laser Cutting Machines

Laser cutting is one of the fastest processes that allow metal fabricators to create high-quality parts. The pieces cut by laser cutting fabrication machines require very little, if any, finishing work as the high-powered laser burns, melts or vaporizes away the excess material left in the cutting process.

Two most popular types of laser cutting machines widely in use today are CO2 laser cutting machines and Nd:YAG (neodymium-doped yttrium aluminum garnet) laser cutting machines. CO2 were one of the first gas lasers and are the most common variety of laser cutting machines. These machines have an excellent input output power ratio ranging its efficiency up to 20 percent. Nd:YAG laser machines use a crystal as a lasing medium and are extensively used in manufacturing industry for cutting and welding steel profiles and various alloys.

Benefits of Laser Cutting Machines

1. Laser cutting machines cut metals with a very higher precision.
2. Since the machine never comes in contact with the metal, there is no wear and tear on the equipment and there are less chances of the metal to become contaminated.
3. Laser cutting is faster and more productive. Computer touch screens aid the laser equipment to plot out designs and the machine can cut multiple designs in one run by storing inventory on site.
4. In laser machine cutting, the heat affected zone is kept small, thus reducing the possibility of warped material.
5. Apart from being decently quite, laser profiling and cutting machines are safe too. Most of the laser machines are completely enclosed to prevent any kind of accident.

A few considerations

1. Laser machines do not function well on highly reflective metals like aluminum and copper.
2. Laser machines consume very high level of energy, making it more difficult for conventional metal fabricators to incorporate into its metal fabrication system.
3. Holes created by laser cutting machines are slightly tapered with the hole entry being slightly larger in diameter than the exit.
   
   

Applications, advantages and disadvantages of flame cutting method.

Flame cutting is an important industrial production process suitable especially for materials like carbon and low alloys steel. Using this cutting method, a carbon steel of up to 150mm can be cut with typical tolerances from +/- 1.5mm.

Various applications of flame cutting method.

1. It is used to cut many layers of thin sheets also known as stack cutting to reduce the cost and time of production effectively.
2. Flame cutting is used to groove weld joint metal designs and to prepare the edges of metal plates.
3. It can be used to cut risers, rivets and gates from castings.
4. Flame cutting is also used for salvage work and to pierce slots and holes of different sizes in steel plates.
5. Also used to cut work pieces of small sizes from large metal plates for further usage in production.

Advantages of Flame cutting method.

1. It can cut metals into small shapes and sizes that is otherwise difficult to be machined by other mechanical methods.
2. Equipments used in flame cutting process are portable and can be used effectively for field work
3. Flame cutting machines with multiple torches can cut number of steel profile pieces simultaneously.
4. This process of steel cutting is faster as compared to other mechanical cutting methods.
5. As compared to other mechanical cutting methods, the cost of using flame cutting method is rather low and cost effective.

Disadvantages of flame cutting method.

1. This method is limited to the cutting of steel and cast iron materials only.
2. The dimensional tolerances as compared to other mechanical cutting methods are poor.
3. The heat and red hot slag expelled during this metal cutting method present fire and burn hazards to plant and workers.
4. Proper fume control and adequate ventilation is must for the place of cutting.

Disadvantages of waterjet cutting method.

Among various cutting methods, Waterjet cutting is one of the most useful machining processes that can be readily substituted for many other cutting methods; however, this method too has some limitations to what Steel Profiles it can cut. And for the people dealing in Waterjet Metal Cutting industry, it is necessary to be aware of these limitations. Listed below are some points that will give you a brief description of each.

1. By using waterjet metal cutting method only a limited number of materials can be cut economically. Thus being one of the main disadvantages of waterjet cutting. While it is possible to cut tool steels, and other hard materials, the cutting rate has to be greatly reduced, and the time to cut a part can be very long. Because of this, waterjet cutting can be very costly and outweigh the other advantages that it offers.
2. One more disadvantage of waterjet cutting method is that it is not possible to cut very thick parts with waterjet cutting as there may be problems in maintaining the dimensional accuracy of the metal to be cut. If the part is too thick, the jet may dissipate some, and cause it to steel cut on a diagonal, or to have a wider cut at the bottom of the part than the top. It can also cause a ruff wave pattern on the cut surface.
3. Taper is also a problem with waterjet cutting in very thick materials. Taper is when the Steel Cutter jet exits the part at a different angle than it enters the part, and can cause dimensional inaccuracy. Decreasing the speed of the head may reduce this, although it can still be a problem.

Advantages of using Waterjet cutting method.

Waterjet cutting method is used in many applications and there are number of reasons for which waterjet cutting is preferred over other cutting methods. Here is a list of advantages offered by waterjet cutting technology:

1. No heat id generated in waterjet cutting method. This reason makes this method especially useful for cutting tool steel and other metals where excessive heat may change the properties of the material.
2. The method is quite safe to be used by humans in way that unlike other machining or grinding methods, waterjet cutting does not produce any dust or particles that are harmful if inhaled.
3. A very little material is wasted in warjet cutting method as the kerf width in waterjet cutting is very small.
4. This method can be conveniently used to produce prototype parts very efficiently. An operator can program the dimensions of the part into the control station, and the waterjet will cut the part out exactly as programmed. This is much faster and cheaper than drawing detailed prints of a part and then having a machinist cut the part out.
5. Waterjet cutting can be easily automated for production use.
6. This cutting method does not leave a burr or a rough edge, thus eliminating the need of finishing and grinding of the cut surface.
7. Waterjets machines are much lighter than equivalent laser steel cutters, thus reducing the problems of accelerating and decelerating the robot head, as well as taking less energy.

I will be discussing the disadvantages of the waterjet cutting technology in my next article. So guys keep reading….)