As plate metal producing technology develops rapidly, China`s manufacturing technology also tries to keep up to date. Lots of breakdown innovations are brought by famous companies that move their operation to China.
Implements for cutting plate metal materials include presses, shears, flame, plasma, high-pressure water cutting and so on.
The above mentioned types of equipment are not only quite popular, but also inexpensive. Though these devices are somewhat disadvantageous in comparison with up-to-date technology of laser cutting, they are notable for a series of supercities typical of them.
The following description will help you in deciding which device to select for cutting plate metals.
Shears
NC shear is intended for direct cutting. It has a capacity of cutting four meters at the most.This is mostly applied in processes requiring cutting of direct line in the afterwards of smoothing process.
Punch Press
This equipment is flexible to make a set of punches; square, round or other. This is useful for a particular plate metal operation. It is mainly applied in the industry of cabinets.
This device is efficient for cutting direct lines, holes of both square and circular shapes. The molds are firm, simple and are applied on a sheet of carbon possessing density of less than 2 mm, the space of cutting varies between 2.5 m 1.25 m.
The stainless steel of over 1.5 mm density outwears too much mold because of its tenacity.
One of the advantages of this device is its rapidness of producing figures, the disadvantage is the limited capability of punching dense steel sheet.
It is more advisable to use laser cutting in case of steel with more than 2 mm thickness than punch press. This can be explained by inadequate surface quality for dense sheet punching and shearing as well as the requirement of greater tonnage to punch any dense sheet. What is more it produces excessive noise which contributes to noise pollution.
Flame Cutting
This is one of the traditional ways of realizing the process of cutting and has quite a large demand due to its low investments. It efficiently cuts dense sheets of steel with thickness of over 40 mm. Large thermic deformity, excessively wide slit, waste of steel as well as slow speed make it disadvantageous and requires tough manufacturing.
Plasma Cutting
The similarity of plasma cutting to flame cutting is in their wide heat affected space. Though plasma cutting is more precise and rapid.
The upmost cutting exactness of the CNC plasma cutting device is the same as the lowest limit of laser cutting. While cutting sheet of carbon steel with 22 mm thickness, the speed may equal to more than 2 meters a minute, the cutting surface is flat, and it is possible to control the best incline in the limits of 1.5 degrees. Disadvantages include rather large thermic deformity in the process of cutting slim sheets, big incline and high consumption expenses.
Water Cutting
This way of cutting presumes use of high-speed water squirt mixing carborundum during cutting plate metals. There are actually no limitations connected to the materials and the cutting density may be up to 100 mm. It is capable of cutting fragile materials like ceramic and glass as well as highly reflective ones like copper and aluminum.
Slow processing speed, too much dirt are seen as disadvantages ,however.
Laser cutting
This way of cutting is an innovative one in processing of plate metals. Plasticity,high speed, efficient production have won a reliable place for this particular way in the market. Laser cutting needs none of the cutting strength, has no deformity, device outwear or suitability of materials. Both complicated and simple details are possible to cut through laser rapidly and precisely. This way has a great deal of advantages such as little slit, high cut quality, absolute enviornmental protection and simplicity to operate. Automatic cutting is possible through this way, besides it involves low production costs. This technology has got a long service life. It is efficiently used for cutting sheets with more than 2 mm density.
Conclusion
On the whole laser cutting is suitable for carbon steel sheets of 20 mm, stainless steel sheets of 10 mm, metals of non-metalic kinds.
Plasma cutting is recommended for steel sheets possessing 20-50 mm thickness.
Flame cutting is appropriate for steel sheets of more than 50 mm thickness.
And as to water cutting, it is recommended for working with aluminum, copper and different delicate materials of non-metalic type.
CNC punching machine is suitable for sheets that have density of less than 1 mm. Meanwhile, different methods can be applied to assist the procedure of cutting.
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