Plasma Cutting Service
Rapid Manufacture’s CNC plasma cutting services allows for efficient and precise cutting of a wide range of metal to your exact design specifications.Rapid Manufacture offers cost-effective cutting solutions whether you need a single part, batch of prototypes, or a production order.
Affordable & Professional CNC Plasma Cutting Services
Rapid Manufacture’s precision CNC plasma cutting service offers a state-of-the-art 400-amp plasma cutter to produce high-quality plasma cut parts, featuring full-contour beveling capability saving time and money by eliminating the need for a second operation. It is a very cost-effective, precise method to cut complex shapes out of the metal plate cleanly. Our plasma cutter cuts thicker materials, including steel, mild steel, aluminum, and stainless steel on an 11’ x 28’ burn table.
Custom online plasma cutting service
Rapid Manufacture’s custom, online plasma cutting service offers a cost-effective on-demand fabrication solution for your sheet metal needs. Thanks to our Instant Quoting Engine, we can provide instant pricing for any size fabrication run from low-volume prototyping to high-volume production. Rapid Manufacture also offers a laser cutting service and a waterjet cutting service.
You can get an instant quote from a 3D CAD file or DXF file in our Instant Quoting Engine.
Plasma Cutting Materials
| Aluminum | Copper | Steel |
|---|---|---|
Aluminum 5052 | Copper 101 | Stainless Steel 301 |
Copper C110 | Stainless Steel 304 | |
Copper 260 (Brass) | Stainless Steel 316/316L | |
Steel, Low Carbon |
Our Plasma Cutting Solutions
What Rapid Manufacture does is high quality production based on the specific requirements of the project and done efficiently within competitive lead times.
Our CNC plasma cutting machines can cut a variety of metal materials up to 36mm thick while operating at high speeds without compromising accuracy.
Our metal cutting services cater for a range of plasma cutting requirements, from large cutting panels to smaller components in a variety of designs and sizes. Our equipment can process materials up to single piece size: 3000 mm x 1500 mm.
Our plasma cutting solutions can be manufactured as individual components. Alternatively, with our other service range, the final product can be further made by welding or assembly and finished by galvanizing.
Rapid Manufacture provides CNC plasma cutting services to a wide range of industries including mining, construction, public infrastructure, telecommunications and agriculture.
Gallery of Plasma Cut Parts
At Rapid Manufacture, we let our work speak for us. We produce plasma cutting parts for various industries with excellent tolerance, high precision, and dimensional stability. Here are some plasma-cutting projects we have worked on.
Plasma Cutting General Tolerances
| Description | General Tolerance |
|---|---|
Distance Dimensions | For features of size (Length, width, diameter) and location (position, concentricity, symmetry) + 0.125″, -0.000 is typical. Material length and thickness may affect tolerances. |
Thickness Dimension | Thickness tolerances are determined by the material blank. |
Minimum Recommend Part Size | 1.000″ |
Minimum Feature Size | 2X material thickness with a minimum of 1.000″ |
Kerf (slit size) | Approximately 0.50″ |
Edge Condition | Plasma edge will have vertical striations and be tapered. Upper edges may have a rounded area with top splatter. |
Finishing Options Plasma Cutting
Parts made using plasma cutting usually feature excellent finishes. At Rapid Manufacture, we offer various custom finishing options that boost the produced part’s functionality, appearance, and durability.
The machined or deburring finish is the standard finish where unwanted attach chips are removed with deburring tools, and sharp edges are chamfered to smooth the surface (3.2 μm).
Bead blasting produces a matte texture, removing all the marks of machining tools. It applies to ABS, Aluminum, Brass, Stainless Steel, and Steel parts.
Anodizing involves adding an aluminum oxide coating to aluminum and its alloys. The layers, which come in various colors, increase strength and shield the surface from corrosion.
Powder coating is the electrostatically applying of dry powder to the surface. It produces a thin layer providing excellent resistance to wear, corrosion, and abrasion.
Physical rubbing of a metal surface to create a shiny surface is called a polishing surface finish. It increases the reflectivity and does not affect the dimensional stability of parts.
Brushing is achieved by applying an abrasive brush to the metal surface, which produces a unidirectional satin finish. And it is not recommended for highly corrosive materials.
Smooth machining is done by controlling the machining process, such as feed rate & cutting speed. It minimizes the tool marks and risk of corrosion.
Black oxide finish reduces surface reflectivity and offers mild corrosion protection. It involves adding a thin layer of magnetite to the surface.
The higher-precision machines produce delicate machining surfaces by utilizing sharper tools and regulating feed rate and cutting speed. Surface roughness up to Ra 0.8 μm can be maintained with smooth machining.
Provides a random, non-linear texture with a shiny, high gloss finish. However, it might be unable to create sharp corners and pockets
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What is plasma cutting?
Plasma cutting is a process where we cut 2D shapes from sheet metal using a high temperature, high velocity stream of ionized gas. The metal is heated to a molten condition and the high velocity gas blows the material away.
Plasma cutting is a low cost alternative when you don’t need any tooling. It’s especially cost effective for thick metal sheets of stainless steel, carbon steel and spring steel. We generally use plasma cutting to cut 2D shapes that don’t require fine detail. Applications include metal brackets, parts for heavy machinery, signs, panels, etc.
How Plasma Cutters Work
When energy and heat are applied to a gas, the molecules travel faster and collide more violently, turning the gas into a plasma. Using compressed air or other inert gas, the plasma is accelerated out of the plasma torch toward the workpiece where it completes an electrical arc with the conductive workpiece. Similar to Electrical Discharge Machines, plasma cutting machines use electricity to melt and cut the workpiece.
Why Use Plasma Cutting For Your Parts?
Plasma cutters are a good all-around sheet metal fabrication tool, though they lack the material cutting diversity of waterjet cutters and don’t have the precision of laser cutters. For larger sheet metal parts, plasma cutting machines are more cost-efficient than CNC laser cutters and can cut thicker materials easily. Plus, they are easy to operate and can cut at high speeds while maintaining precision.
Sheet metal offers a cost-effective way to fabricate product device panels, boxes and cases for a variety of applications. We build enclosures of all styles, including rackmounts, “U” and “L” shapes, as well as consoles and consolets.
Plasma Cutting for Industrial Applications
Plasma cutting affords both machinists and industries extensive benefits—little wonder why it has become the go-to process for metal fabrication. Plasma cutting facilitates the high-precision production of prototypes and parts regardless of volume.
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