[ledaero]

I am slowly succumbing to pressure and considering buying a fibre laser. I wanted to make my own CNC plasma cutter, and still may do, but time constraints mean I am more likely to buy off-the-shelf.

Mostly I am a wood guy, with a lot of experience in lasers on wood, ply, mdf and acrylic, but not on metal.

Even on my CNC, it is nearly 100% wood - sheet goods, mostly.

One thing I noticed is that the edges of fibre-cut metal is very sharp and with some intricate designs, finishing the edges with a file or sandpaper isn't economically feasible.

So, how to make them finger-safe?

I thought maybe a sand tumbler might do the job, but it's going to have to be big to accommodate the size of item I am likely to cut.

The setting is commercial, but I'm not making stuff to sell - I want it for a fab-lab, or maker shed, where people come in and use my lasers, CNC and such. I get so many requests for cutting metal, and they are disappointed that a 150W laser won't cut through 12mm steel plate like butter, that I think it's worth the investment.

I suspect I'm going to have to hire in a metals expert... because the next thing they will want is a welder and guillotine and bender...

Any advice gratefully received.

[peteeng]

Hi Ledaero - There are deburring machines for metal edges. They look like a thicknesser or sander. You place the item on the conveyor and it feeds through. At the other side it comes out deburred. Not sure if you can get little ones but laser metal shops have big ones for deburring all their cut parts. Peter

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=TzRWe24v9Ng

[ledaero]

Hi Ledaero - There are deburring machines for metal edges. They look like a thicknesser or sander. You place the item on the conveyor and it feeds through. At the other side it comes out deburred. Not sure if you can get little ones but laser metal shops have big ones for deburring all their cut parts. Peter

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=TzRWe24v9Ng

Hi Peter,

Thats fantastic - just what I wanted. I can build one of those pretty easily. I have a bunch (20?) of those polypropylene wheels that fit a drill that I use for cleaning up 3D relief carving and they look like they will do exactly the job.

I see 3M sells deburring wheels which can fit an angle grinder, too.

Appreciate the help. I love this site