August 2024

At Metal Fabrication Professionals, we don’t just offer laser cutting. We offer laser cutting and waterjet cutting and plasma cutting. Our team handles all of these metal cutting services due to our expansive capabilities and limitless expertise and because each process offers unique and significant benefits. Distinctions between these capabilities include:

• Cut quality
• Precision
• Material thickness allowances
• Cost
• Heat considerations
• And other factors

Let’s explore why customers choose one cutting method over the others. Then, we’ll explain why customers should partner with MFP for their sheet metal cutting needs.

Laser Cutting Services

At Metal Fabrication Professionals, we have access to a fiber optic laser and a CO2 laser, both offering unique benefits. Due to their efficiency, speed, and quality, our team typically defaults to these machines when cutting metal. Let’s explore the specifics:

Impressive Speed

Laser cutting offers the greatest speed of all the sheet metal cutting processes we handle, making it the most efficient of our services. 

High Accuracy

Laser cutting offers exceptional accuracy, including the following specifics:

• Positioning accuracy of +/- 0.004”
• Repeatability of +/- 0.002”
• Edge detection accuracy with capacitive sensing of +/- 0.002”
• Edge detection accuracy with cut control of +/- 0.006” (with our fiber optic laser) and +/- 0.008” (with our CO2 laser)

Considerations for Laser Cutting

Our laser cutting services are typically our default for metal cutting, but we can only handle limited material thicknesses. Our fiber optic and CO2 laser can cut mild and stainless steel up to one inch thick. When cutting thicker material, we need to pivot to plasma or waterjet cutting. 

Waterjet Cutting Services

Another standard method for sheet metal cutting, waterjet cutting, offers heat-free, high-precision results.

Range of Material Thickness

Our waterjet cutting services allow us to cut a range of materials – including metals, wood, glass, and composites – from 1/16 inches thick to 6 inches thick. 

Exceptional Accuracy

Waterjet and laser cutting are comparable in terms of accuracy, surpassing plasma cutting in this area.

No Heat Affected Zone

One of the primary value-adds of this process is its ability to cut material without melting, distorting, or warping it. Depending on the type of metal or the part’s intended end use, no exposure to heat could be the main selling point for waterjet cutting.

Considerations for Waterjet Cutting

While waterjet cutting offers its share of benefits, it’s essential to consider the following before opting for waterjet cutting:

• Cost: Waterjet cutting is a labor-intensive process, and the additional labor cost makes it the most expensive of the three metal cutting procedures.
• Speed: Of all the metal cutting services we offer at MFP, waterjet is the slowest process.

Plasma Cutting Services

Our metal fabrication shop has a “Messer” high-precision cutting machine that offers efficiency and cost-effectiveness.

Cost-Effectiveness

While we often default to our laser cutting services, customers may request plasma cutting to reduce costs. 

Flexibility of Material

Our plasma cutting equipment offers us the ability to cut a range of sizes and thicknesses.

Stainless steel cuts from 12 gauge to…

• 1 ¾” thick for pierce cut
• 2” thick for edge start

Mild steel cuts from 16 gauge to…

• 2” thick for pierce cut
• 2 ¼” thick for edge start
• Or up to 6” thick via torch burning

Aluminum cuts to…

• 1 ½” thick for pierce cut
• 2” thick for edge start

Considerations for Plasma Cutting

It’s important to note that the cost reduction that occurs when customers opt for plasma cutting services comes at a different price: less accuracy and precision. Particularly when cutting thicker materials up to 6 inches thick, adding a torch head can achieve these cuts but will increase the heat affected zone and widen the tolerance for these cuts, sacrificing precision.

Bear in mind that plasma cutting is a good choice for sheet metal cutting when tolerancing isn’t an issue.

Leverage MFP’s Expertise in Sheet Metal Cutting

By looking at the print, our team can determine the best cutting method based on the customer’s needs and the part’s specifications. This expertise not only ensures customers receive the best parts, but it could also yield positive results regarding speed or cost.

For instance, we occasionally receive drawings that request waterjet cutting on pieces less than one inch thick, even when a heat affected zone is permitted. In cases like this, our team will contact the customer to inquire about any outstanding reasons why they require waterjet cutting, only to find out that the customer developed this print long ago, before laser cutters could handle materials up to one inch thick. When we offer laser cutting services as an alternative, our customers will often jump at this opportunity, as it produces parts of the same quality but at a significantly lower cost.

This is where MFP’s expertise comes into play. Because we have such an in-depth understanding of our machinery and the results it produces, we can offer better options for our customers.

Request a quote to get started with Metal Fabrication Professionals.