From cutting 0.250” steel plates for industrial machines and parts to cutting 0.0005” tantalum foil cut to be installed in a satellite, Accumet has the metal cutting expertise you need and is a service company you can depend on. We have the equipment and expertise in laser cutting thin foils and metal from Hastelloy, Invar, Inconel, Titanium, Nitinol, stainless steel, and many other routine or rare metals.
Need an intricate part made from solder foil? Accumet maintains an inventory of Sb96.5% Ag3.5% solder sheets to help our customers offer the shortest lead times and most competitive prices to theirs.
We're located just north of Boston, Massachusetts in Devens, MA. We proudly service the entire US with many laser machining and secondary processing services, including welding, lapping, and polishing. All of our materials are stocked in-house for optimal convenience and fast delivery.
A laser's central feature/benefit is the ability to concentrate high energy on a very small area. When this happens, a given material in its path, like metal, ceramic, adhesive, or any other material, will burn, melt, weld, cut, or vaporize. With machine technology, mainly CNC, laser job shops and manufacturing centers can offer machines that can cut or engrave everything from large sheets of steel to delicate aluminum foils. Wood, plastic, rubber, microwave absorber, frozen epoxy, plastics, and even Teflon, can also be cut or drilled.
Every material has its limitts and feature benefits when laser cutting is involved. Despite many a comic book villain's powers, a laser cannot actually cut through anything. In particular, extra thick metals. That’s because every material requires a particular amount of energy to be cut. The laser energy needed, for example, to cut through ceramic is less than the energy needed for a thick steel plate. This is important to understand as you're researching the capabilities of a laser cutting service provider or full-service materials processing center, such as Accumet (laser operations formerly known as Laser Services.)
As a reference, a 40-W laser can cut through paper, cardboard, foam, and thin plastic, while a 300-W laser can cut through thin steel and thicker plastic. If you wish to cut through 2-mm or thicker steel sheets, you’ll need at least 500 W.