Common Cutting Methods for Sheet Metal Fabrication – Types of Sheet Metal Cutting

1. Flame cutting

This cutting method is relatively conventional. Flame cutting is mainly used for processing thicker plates when cutting sheet metal. This kind of processing method has large thermal deformation and wide kerf, which will cause a certain waste of materials. The processing speed will not be too fast, and the sheet metal rough processing can be used.

2. Plasma cutting

Plasma cutting is a sheet cutting method that uses the heat of high temperature plasma arc to locally melt (and evaporate) the metal at the workpiece notch, and uses the momentum of high-speed plasma to remove the molten metal to form the notch. The use of plasma mechanical equipment is similar to flame processing. Although they are heated, they have great advantages in accuracy. The speed of CNC plasma equipment has also been greatly improved, especially in medium plate processing. The actual upper limit of precision of many fine equipment processing machines in China is relatively high. It can also ensure the smoothness of the cutting surface in the processing of metal plates, and it is also good in the control of the slope.

3. Wire cutting

Wire cut EDM also known as WEDM, is a type of electronic discharge machining. Wire cutting can be divided into fast wire cutting, medium wire cutting and slow wire cutting according to different wire speed. The wire speed of fast wire EDM is 6~12m/s, the electrode wire moves back and forth at high speed, and the cutting accuracy is poor. Medium wire EDM is a new technology developed in recent years, which realizes frequency conversion multiple cutting function on the basis of fast wire EDM. The wire speed of slow wire EDM is 0.2m/s, and the electrode wire moves in a low speed and unidirectional way, so the cutting accuracy is very high.

4. High pressure water cutting

High pressure water cutting is also a common method of sheet metal processing. It uses high-speed water jet doped with emery to process sheet metal. It can process many materials and has high cutting thickness. It is also effective for explosive materials such as ceramics and glass; It also has advantages in copper and aluminum cutting, but its disadvantage is that water cutting is slow and not environmentally friendly.

5. Laser cutting

The revolutionary process of sheet metal is the use of laser cutting. High flexibility in operation, fast enough in use, high production efficiency, and short production cycle. Laser cutting refers to the use of focused high power density laser beam to irradiate the workpiece, so that the irradiated material can quickly melt, vaporize, ablate or reach the ignition point. At the same time, with the help of high-speed airflow coaxial with the beam, the molten material can be blown away, so as to realize the cutting of the workpiece. It belongs to thermal cutting. There will be no deformation or tool wear during laser cutting. The materials have good adaptability. Using laser to process plates can complete one-time precision cutting, ensuring good quality, simple operation and low pollution. It can improve the use rate of materials in cutting.