Fiber laser cutting produces very square cut edges with minimal cutting dross. For some applications, the as-cut edges and corners are acceptable to use straight from the laser-cutting machine. For other applications, it is necessary to remove all the cutting dross and to round or soften the cut edges.
K-zell Metals offers a solution by processing laser-cut parts with a Lissmac SBM-L 1500 G1S2 -60 edge rounding and deburring Machine. This machine can simultaneously grind and sand both the top and bottom surfaces. The grinding belts remove the dross and the sanding blocks around the edges. The sanding blocks also round the edges of bolt holes and cutouts.
Lissmac Deburring & Edge Rounding Benefits
Edge rounding is particularly beneficial for parts that are going to be painted or powder coated. Both liquid and powder coatings during curing have surface tension conditions that tend to thin the coating out at sharp edges. Edge rounding softens the corners reducing the thinning effect and providing better coating performance. You can click here to see the positive effects of edge rounding and oxide removal.
K-Zell Metals can process Steel, Stainless Steel, and Aluminum with its grinding and edge-rounding equipment. Stainless Steel and Aluminum parts are processed with belts dedicated to just stainless steel or aluminum with the machine being thoroughly cleaned to prevent cross-contamination of the material.
Part size can be as small as 2” x 6” and as wide as 60” x approximately 120” long. Thickness can range from about 20ga (0.035” or 1mm) through 2” (50mm) with a maximum part weight of 660 lbs.
Lissmac Deburring vs Fiber Laser Cutting
While most of the time Fiber laser cutting process results in very clean-cut edges with minimal cutting dross, certain chemistries of steel will not cut well. These chemistries can create two problems.
One is micro dross. Micro dross is a line of very small spherical metal beads tightly bonded to the bottom cut edge. Sometimes this dross can be removed with a light scraping, but most often it needs to be removed by grinding. The grinding belts on the Lissmac can be adjusted in increments of 0.005”, allowing the dross to be removed without damaging the surface of the part.
The second type of dross is a heavy recast of the cut material tightly adhering to the bottom of the part. This dross must be ground from the material. The grinding belts of the Lissmac perform much more uniformly than manually grinding the parts to remove the dross. This uniformity reduces the scrap rate in parts with heavy dross.
Another use of the edge rounding capabilities of the Lissmac is to soften the edges of finished sheet metal parts. The softened edges reduce the risk of cutting someone handling the part.