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

Laser or plasma
 

"Steve B" wrote in message
...
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

Laser or plasma
 

"Karl Townsend" wrote in message
...

"Steve B" wrote in message
...
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

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?

Laser or plasma
 

Steve B wrote:
"Karl Townsend" wrote in message
...

"Steve B" wrote in message
...

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.

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
...

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

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
...

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

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
...

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

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
...

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.

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