Precise cutting of thin materials from ES Precision

Precise cutting of thin materials from ES Precision

During 2022 ES Precision introduced its new erosion cutting service to compliment the successful laser marking and engraving that the jobshop has been offering since ES was founded in 2017.

Erosion cutting harnesses the flexibility of familiar galvo-driven laser systems and meets a demand for precise cutting of thin materials without the need to create exposure masks that photochemical etching requires. Conventional gas-nozzle laser cutting is also not suited to ultrafine shape creation in metals which can be as thin as only a few microns thick.

ES has been cutting a range of metals (including titanium, stainless steel, nickel and brass) to create prototypes and short-medium production runs for diverse sectors: masks and meshes for electronics companies; fuel cell plates for electric power generation; laminations for motors and generators and screens and grids for analytical instruments.

One engine manufacturer wanted a series of prototype metal gaskets in 0.2mm 316L stainless steel for a high pressure oil pump design and ES was able to cut them directly from the CAD layout supplied out sheet metal with a two-day turn around.

The parts were shown to meet the tight dimensional tolerance using ES’s optical measurement system to provide QA and individual conformity reports for the customer. Some pieces were then passed to a marking laser for a unique ID code to be added for traceability.

Contact: Andrew May

a.may@esprecision.co.uk

https://esprecision.co.uk/