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Metalworking (rec.crafts.metalworking) Discuss various aspects of working with metal, such as machining, welding, metal joining, screwing, casting, hardening/tempering, blacksmithing/forging, spinning and hammer work, sheet metal work. |
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#1
Posted to rec.crafts.metalworking
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Laser or plasma
While recently in Mexico, there is a glut of metal sculpture, not a piece of
which I saw bought. Schools of fishes, large sailfish, small sailfish, three dimensional trees all cut out of a flat piece of metal, then pushed out to achieve depth. I can see the cuts, and they are definitely either plasma or laser. Some of them are very thin. How is it possible to differentiate between laser cut goods and plasma cut? Just how thin can a plasma cut be? Steve www.heartsurgerysurvivalguide.com |
#2
Posted to rec.crafts.metalworking
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Laser or plasma
"Steve B" wrote in message news While recently in Mexico, there is a glut of metal sculpture, not a piece of which I saw bought. Schools of fishes, large sailfish, small sailfish, three dimensional trees all cut out of a flat piece of metal, then pushed out to achieve depth. I can see the cuts, and they are definitely either plasma or laser. Some of them are very thin. How is it possible to differentiate between laser cut goods and plasma cut? Just how thin can a plasma cut be? Steve www.heartsurgerysurvivalguide.com I've seen the same stuff in south FL. It looks to be done with an inexpensive CNC plasma. There is a HUGE range in plasma cutter quality. Goes from looking like a cheap Oxy torch all the way to almost laser with the fine cut consumable oxygen units. "The Kid's" full time job is lead man on a bank of laser cutting machines. The new unit cost $300K ($600K with the accessories) and it cuts to 1 thou tolerance with a mirror smooth edge. They put a lot of stuff on that laser that used to be CNC milled. Karl |
#3
Posted to rec.crafts.metalworking
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Laser or plasma
"Karl Townsend" wrote in message ... "Steve B" wrote in message news While recently in Mexico, there is a glut of metal sculpture, not a piece of which I saw bought. Schools of fishes, large sailfish, small sailfish, three dimensional trees all cut out of a flat piece of metal, then pushed out to achieve depth. I can see the cuts, and they are definitely either plasma or laser. Some of them are very thin. How is it possible to differentiate between laser cut goods and plasma cut? Just how thin can a plasma cut be? Steve www.heartsurgerysurvivalguide.com I've seen the same stuff in south FL. It looks to be done with an inexpensive CNC plasma. There is a HUGE range in plasma cutter quality. Goes from looking like a cheap Oxy torch all the way to almost laser with the fine cut consumable oxygen units. "The Kid's" full time job is lead man on a bank of laser cutting machines. The new unit cost $300K ($600K with the accessories) and it cuts to 1 thou tolerance with a mirror smooth edge. They put a lot of stuff on that laser that used to be CNC milled. Karl A lot of the stuff I saw was hair line thickness, with very little kerf, and very little start up residue. Apparently, either plasma CNC or laser has made it to the tourista market, but I ain't paying $50 for one fish, nor $100 for a small school of fishes, and in the days and days of shopping, I didn't see anyone else ponying up the $$$. Fine looking stuff. But at those prices, it was "WHOA!". I can see some time there on either a plasma or laser cnc, and some airbrushing, but the prices were way out of line. In San Jose Cabo, the prices were way out of line on everything. It seems like these guys meet every Thursday and discuss the price of the week. Steve www.heartsurgerysurvivalguide.com Steve www.heartsurgerysurvivalguide.com |
#4
Posted to rec.crafts.metalworking
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Laser or plasma
"Steve B" Fine looking stuff. But at those prices, it was "WHOA!". I can see some time there on either a plasma or laser cnc, and some airbrushing, but the prices were way out of line. In San Jose Cabo, the prices were way out of line on everything. It seems like these guys meet every Thursday and discuss the price of the week. Steve Like that fan repair job, eih? |
#5
Posted to rec.crafts.metalworking
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Laser or plasma
Steve B wrote:
"Karl Townsend" wrote in message ... "Steve B" wrote in message news While recently in Mexico, there is a glut of metal sculpture, not a piece of which I saw bought. Schools of fishes, large sailfish, small sailfish, three dimensional trees all cut out of a flat piece of metal, then pushed out to achieve depth. I can see the cuts, and they are definitely either plasma or laser. Some of them are very thin. How is it possible to differentiate between laser cut goods and plasma cut? Just how thin can a plasma cut be? Steve www.heartsurgerysurvivalguide.com I've seen the same stuff in south FL. It looks to be done with an inexpensive CNC plasma. There is a HUGE range in plasma cutter quality. Goes from looking like a cheap Oxy torch all the way to almost laser with the fine cut consumable oxygen units. "The Kid's" full time job is lead man on a bank of laser cutting machines. The new unit cost $300K ($600K with the accessories) and it cuts to 1 thou tolerance with a mirror smooth edge. They put a lot of stuff on that laser that used to be CNC milled. Karl A lot of the stuff I saw was hair line thickness, with very little kerf, and very little start up residue. Apparently, either plasma CNC or laser has made it to the tourista market, but I ain't paying $50 for one fish, nor $100 for a small school of fishes, and in the days and days of shopping, I didn't see anyone else ponying up the $$$. Fine looking stuff. But at those prices, it was "WHOA!". I can see some time there on either a plasma or laser cnc, and some airbrushing, but the prices were way out of line. In San Jose Cabo, the prices were way out of line on everything. It seems like these guys meet every Thursday and discuss the price of the week. Steve www.heartsurgerysurvivalguide.com Steve www.heartsurgerysurvivalguide.com This reminds me of a story an old boss of mine told me. His aunt and uncle bought a seaside souvenir shop to run as a venture and when they looked at the prices of the goods and what they cost they thought they were way overpriced and so reduced the prices to a level they thought good. Business wasn't great and then they ran into the previous owners and said as much and then mentioned that they had reduced the prices as they had thought the stuff was over-priced, the previous owners said that was not a good move as although the stuff was cheap if you priced it so then the buyers would think that but if more expensive they would think they were getting something quality even if it wasn't. The aunt and uncle put the prices back up and business improved. |
#6
Posted to rec.crafts.metalworking
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Laser or plasma
On Mon, 30 Jan 2012 19:54:50 +0000, David Billington
wrote: Steve B wrote: "Karl Townsend" wrote in message ... "Steve B" wrote in message news While recently in Mexico, there is a glut of metal sculpture, not a piece of which I saw bought. Schools of fishes, large sailfish, small sailfish, three dimensional trees all cut out of a flat piece of metal, then pushed out to achieve depth. I can see the cuts, and they are definitely either plasma or laser. Some of them are very thin. How is it possible to differentiate between laser cut goods and plasma cut? Just how thin can a plasma cut be? Steve www.heartsurgerysurvivalguide.com I've seen the same stuff in south FL. It looks to be done with an inexpensive CNC plasma. There is a HUGE range in plasma cutter quality. Goes from looking like a cheap Oxy torch all the way to almost laser with the fine cut consumable oxygen units. "The Kid's" full time job is lead man on a bank of laser cutting machines. The new unit cost $300K ($600K with the accessories) and it cuts to 1 thou tolerance with a mirror smooth edge. They put a lot of stuff on that laser that used to be CNC milled. Karl A lot of the stuff I saw was hair line thickness, with very little kerf, and very little start up residue. Apparently, either plasma CNC or laser has made it to the tourista market, but I ain't paying $50 for one fish, nor $100 for a small school of fishes, and in the days and days of shopping, I didn't see anyone else ponying up the $$$. Fine looking stuff. But at those prices, it was "WHOA!". I can see some time there on either a plasma or laser cnc, and some airbrushing, but the prices were way out of line. In San Jose Cabo, the prices were way out of line on everything. It seems like these guys meet every Thursday and discuss the price of the week. Steve www.heartsurgerysurvivalguide.com Steve www.heartsurgerysurvivalguide.com This reminds me of a story an old boss of mine told me. His aunt and uncle bought a seaside souvenir shop to run as a venture and when they looked at the prices of the goods and what they cost they thought they were way overpriced and so reduced the prices to a level they thought good. Business wasn't great and then they ran into the previous owners and said as much and then mentioned that they had reduced the prices as they had thought the stuff was over-priced, the previous owners said that was not a good move as although the stuff was cheap if you priced it so then the buyers would think that but if more expensive they would think they were getting something quality even if it wasn't. The aunt and uncle put the prices back up and business improved. This is a common phenomenon in retail. My dad was a store manager for Sears. They had a line of Puch (Austrian) bicycles that weren't selling. Austrian products were dirt-cheap then. So they raised the price by some large amount and they started selling great. My wife was a fashion buyer for Macy's. When they had a new sweater line that wasn't selling, they'd first increase the price to see if that worked. Quite often, it did. Years after his Sears days, my dad and mother had a gift shop. They sold a line of decorator candles that was, at the time, unheard of (Colonial). The big seller and premium candle was Bluegate. So they raised the prices of the Colonial candles *above* those of the Bluegates, and soon they were our top sellers. -- Ed Huntress |
#7
Posted to rec.crafts.metalworking
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Laser or plasma
On Mon, 30 Jan 2012 15:02:35 -0500, Ed Huntress wrote:
On Mon, 30 Jan 2012 19:54:50 +0000, David Billington wrote: Steve B wrote: "Karl Townsend" wrote in message ... "Steve B" wrote in message news While recently in Mexico, there is a glut of metal sculpture, not a piece of which I saw bought. Schools of fishes, large sailfish, small sailfish, three dimensional trees all cut out of a flat piece of metal, then pushed out to achieve depth. I can see the cuts, and they are definitely either plasma or laser. Some of them are very thin. How is it possible to differentiate between laser cut goods and plasma cut? Just how thin can a plasma cut be? Steve www.heartsurgerysurvivalguide.com I've seen the same stuff in south FL. It looks to be done with an inexpensive CNC plasma. There is a HUGE range in plasma cutter quality. Goes from looking like a cheap Oxy torch all the way to almost laser with the fine cut consumable oxygen units. "The Kid's" full time job is lead man on a bank of laser cutting machines. The new unit cost $300K ($600K with the accessories) and it cuts to 1 thou tolerance with a mirror smooth edge. They put a lot of stuff on that laser that used to be CNC milled. Karl A lot of the stuff I saw was hair line thickness, with very little kerf, and very little start up residue. Apparently, either plasma CNC or laser has made it to the tourista market, but I ain't paying $50 for one fish, nor $100 for a small school of fishes, and in the days and days of shopping, I didn't see anyone else ponying up the $$$. Fine looking stuff. But at those prices, it was "WHOA!". I can see some time there on either a plasma or laser cnc, and some airbrushing, but the prices were way out of line. In San Jose Cabo, the prices were way out of line on everything. It seems like these guys meet every Thursday and discuss the price of the week. Steve www.heartsurgerysurvivalguide.com Steve www.heartsurgerysurvivalguide.com This reminds me of a story an old boss of mine told me. His aunt and uncle bought a seaside souvenir shop to run as a venture and when they looked at the prices of the goods and what they cost they thought they were way overpriced and so reduced the prices to a level they thought good. Business wasn't great and then they ran into the previous owners and said as much and then mentioned that they had reduced the prices as they had thought the stuff was over-priced, the previous owners said that was not a good move as although the stuff was cheap if you priced it so then the buyers would think that but if more expensive they would think they were getting something quality even if it wasn't. The aunt and uncle put the prices back up and business improved. This is a common phenomenon in retail. My dad was a store manager for Sears. They had a line of Puch (Austrian) bicycles that weren't selling. Austrian products were dirt-cheap then. So they raised the price by some large amount and they started selling great. A friend of mine used to run a software consulting/job-shop biz. She started out doing everything she could to keep her prices low, to get a foothold and to be nice. When she raised prices, her business improved. So it isn't just retail -- anyone buying something where the quality is not immediately evident will tend to gauge the desirability of the product by the pricing. Get it too low and people will think it's cheap sh**. Get it too high and people will find alternatives. Get it right, and people will buy, buy, buy. -- My liberal friends think I'm a conservative kook. My conservative friends think I'm a liberal kook. Why am I not happy that they have found common ground? Tim Wescott, Communications, Control, Circuits & Software http://www.wescottdesign.com |
#8
Posted to rec.crafts.metalworking
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Laser or plasma
On Mon, 30 Jan 2012 14:11:09 -0600, Tim Wescott
wrote: On Mon, 30 Jan 2012 15:02:35 -0500, Ed Huntress wrote: On Mon, 30 Jan 2012 19:54:50 +0000, David Billington wrote: Steve B wrote: "Karl Townsend" wrote in message ... "Steve B" wrote in message news While recently in Mexico, there is a glut of metal sculpture, not a piece of which I saw bought. Schools of fishes, large sailfish, small sailfish, three dimensional trees all cut out of a flat piece of metal, then pushed out to achieve depth. I can see the cuts, and they are definitely either plasma or laser. Some of them are very thin. How is it possible to differentiate between laser cut goods and plasma cut? Just how thin can a plasma cut be? Steve www.heartsurgerysurvivalguide.com I've seen the same stuff in south FL. It looks to be done with an inexpensive CNC plasma. There is a HUGE range in plasma cutter quality. Goes from looking like a cheap Oxy torch all the way to almost laser with the fine cut consumable oxygen units. "The Kid's" full time job is lead man on a bank of laser cutting machines. The new unit cost $300K ($600K with the accessories) and it cuts to 1 thou tolerance with a mirror smooth edge. They put a lot of stuff on that laser that used to be CNC milled. Karl A lot of the stuff I saw was hair line thickness, with very little kerf, and very little start up residue. Apparently, either plasma CNC or laser has made it to the tourista market, but I ain't paying $50 for one fish, nor $100 for a small school of fishes, and in the days and days of shopping, I didn't see anyone else ponying up the $$$. Fine looking stuff. But at those prices, it was "WHOA!". I can see some time there on either a plasma or laser cnc, and some airbrushing, but the prices were way out of line. In San Jose Cabo, the prices were way out of line on everything. It seems like these guys meet every Thursday and discuss the price of the week. Steve www.heartsurgerysurvivalguide.com Steve www.heartsurgerysurvivalguide.com This reminds me of a story an old boss of mine told me. His aunt and uncle bought a seaside souvenir shop to run as a venture and when they looked at the prices of the goods and what they cost they thought they were way overpriced and so reduced the prices to a level they thought good. Business wasn't great and then they ran into the previous owners and said as much and then mentioned that they had reduced the prices as they had thought the stuff was over-priced, the previous owners said that was not a good move as although the stuff was cheap if you priced it so then the buyers would think that but if more expensive they would think they were getting something quality even if it wasn't. The aunt and uncle put the prices back up and business improved. This is a common phenomenon in retail. My dad was a store manager for Sears. They had a line of Puch (Austrian) bicycles that weren't selling. Austrian products were dirt-cheap then. So they raised the price by some large amount and they started selling great. A friend of mine used to run a software consulting/job-shop biz. She started out doing everything she could to keep her prices low, to get a foothold and to be nice. When she raised prices, her business improved. So it isn't just retail -- anyone buying something where the quality is not immediately evident will tend to gauge the desirability of the product by the pricing. Get it too low and people will think it's cheap sh**. Get it too high and people will find alternatives. Get it right, and people will buy, buy, buy. Right. In retail products, my impression is that the availability of comparative info on the Web and elsewhere has made people better comparison-shoppers, so perhaps the effect isn't as strong as it once was. When I was a kid I used to hear a lot of "you get what you pay for." Sometimes it's even true. d8-) -- Ed Huntress |
#9
Posted to rec.crafts.metalworking
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Laser or plasma
On 1/30/2012 1:11 PM, Tim Wescott wrote:
On Mon, 30 Jan 2012 15:02:35 -0500, Ed Huntress wrote: On Mon, 30 Jan 2012 19:54:50 +0000, David Billington wrote: Steve B wrote: "Karl wrote in message ... "Steve wrote in message news While recently in Mexico, there is a glut of metal sculpture, not a piece of which I saw bought. Schools of fishes, large sailfish, small sailfish, three dimensional trees all cut out of a flat piece of metal, then pushed out to achieve depth. I can see the cuts, and they are definitely either plasma or laser. Some of them are very thin. How is it possible to differentiate between laser cut goods and plasma cut? Just how thin can a plasma cut be? Steve www.heartsurgerysurvivalguide.com I've seen the same stuff in south FL. It looks to be done with an inexpensive CNC plasma. There is a HUGE range in plasma cutter quality. Goes from looking like a cheap Oxy torch all the way to almost laser with the fine cut consumable oxygen units. "The Kid's" full time job is lead man on a bank of laser cutting machines. The new unit cost $300K ($600K with the accessories) and it cuts to 1 thou tolerance with a mirror smooth edge. They put a lot of stuff on that laser that used to be CNC milled. Karl A lot of the stuff I saw was hair line thickness, with very little kerf, and very little start up residue. Apparently, either plasma CNC or laser has made it to the tourista market, but I ain't paying $50 for one fish, nor $100 for a small school of fishes, and in the days and days of shopping, I didn't see anyone else ponying up the $$$. Fine looking stuff. But at those prices, it was "WHOA!". I can see some time there on either a plasma or laser cnc, and some airbrushing, but the prices were way out of line. In San Jose Cabo, the prices were way out of line on everything. It seems like these guys meet every Thursday and discuss the price of the week. Steve www.heartsurgerysurvivalguide.com Steve www.heartsurgerysurvivalguide.com This reminds me of a story an old boss of mine told me. His aunt and uncle bought a seaside souvenir shop to run as a venture and when they looked at the prices of the goods and what they cost they thought they were way overpriced and so reduced the prices to a level they thought good. Business wasn't great and then they ran into the previous owners and said as much and then mentioned that they had reduced the prices as they had thought the stuff was over-priced, the previous owners said that was not a good move as although the stuff was cheap if you priced it so then the buyers would think that but if more expensive they would think they were getting something quality even if it wasn't. The aunt and uncle put the prices back up and business improved. This is a common phenomenon in retail. My dad was a store manager for Sears. They had a line of Puch (Austrian) bicycles that weren't selling. Austrian products were dirt-cheap then. So they raised the price by some large amount and they started selling great. A friend of mine used to run a software consulting/job-shop biz. She started out doing everything she could to keep her prices low, to get a foothold and to be nice. When she raised prices, her business improved. So it isn't just retail -- anyone buying something where the quality is not immediately evident will tend to gauge the desirability of the product by the pricing. Get it too low and people will think it's cheap sh**. Get it too high and people will find alternatives. Get it right, and people will buy, buy, buy. so, walmart is wrong? seems that they, and lots of others, are on the way to the bottom. |
#10
Posted to rec.crafts.metalworking
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Laser or plasma
replying to Steve B, BikerTom wrote:
Same pricing scheme in Thailand guys on this kind of stuff and other Artisan crafts.... they think any white guy has bags of money and no brain!! ha ha ha I offer a reasonable price, and if they balk, just walk away. -- for full context, visit http://www.polytechforum.com/welding...sma-51890-.htm |
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