Tube Cutting Basics
OSH Cut offers precision laser tube cutting for circular, square, and rectangular profiles, in steel, aluminum, and stainless. Edges can be bevel cut at angles up to 45 degrees. We can cut tube profiles up to 10 inches in diameter.
Why Laser Tube Cutting?
Metal tube is relatively cheap and strong, especially compared to similar parts made by CNC machining. But historically, one if its biggest drawbacks has been that it's difficult and labor intensive to fabricate products out of metal tube. If you've ever had to drill holes, make precision angle cuts, or cut out non-circular features in thick steel tube, you'll know exactly what we mean. It's messy, labor-intensive, challenging, and often imprecise.
A tube laser solves those problems: state of the art machines can cut complex profiles with accuracies within thousandths of an inch. Features can be beveled. And clever design allows tube-cut parts to self-fixture, making downstream fit up and welding processes faster and easier. The problem is that these machines are expensive, costing millions of dollars. Usually, companies with that capability are aiming for enterprise-level mass production. On a machine of this class, downtime between small jobs is expensive.
OSH Cut launched laser tube cutting in October 2023 to fix that problem. We've democratized laser tube cutting so that anyone with a valid 3D model can price and order parts in minutes. This is a massive improvement compared to days-long quoting times from traditional shops.
How Does Laser Tube Cutting Work?
Tube lasers feed metal tube through a chuck. A laser positioned above the chuck pierces and cuts through the material while the chuck rotates and feeds the material in and out, allowing the metal tube to be cut with precision. Advanced machines like OSH Cut's tube laser can also angle the cutting head, allowing beveled edges up to 45 degrees.
