Certi-flat table tops

[Oscar]

Originally Posted by digger doug

The website made no distinction from the ribs to the "top" materials.

Hot rolled plate is not that accurate in thickness, so saying that the top will be held to the .003 tolerance of the laser cut notches is meaningless, unless you are using the underside.

Is your continued touting of these because you have a financial interest ?

Continued touting? I've never posted anything about these, as I just bought them. So no, I don't work for them nor do I have any financial interest; FYI I'm in South Texas, not anywhere near Certiflat. I'm an educator and work at a public charter STEM school that serves predominately economically disadvantaged students/families. So I hope we can lay that to rest.

[Shade Tree Welder]

Originally Posted by digger doug

Is your continued touting of these because you have a financial interest ?

Lighten up Francis...

[Shade Tree Welder]

Originally Posted by Oscar

Continued touting? I've never posted anything about these, as I just bought them. So no, I don't work for them nor do I have any financial interest; FYI I'm in South Texas, not anywhere near Certiflat. I'm an educator and work at a public charter STEM school that serves predominately economically disadvantaged students/families. So I hope we can lay that to rest.

Thanks for posting, please keep us updated on your progress
and your thoughts on the tables.

[Oscar]

Originally Posted by Shade Tree Welder

Thanks for posting, please keep us updated on your progress
and your thoughts on the tables.

Thanks. The 2nd table came out "great", but at the same time I was only using a box level as a "straight edge" which I know is not optimal. I ordered an actual straight edge on Amazon that will get here Wednesday, more so for the 1st table that had more of a crown to it than the 2nd one. I'm positive I can get both of them to well below the 0.015" spec'd, which turns out is over a 12" span, not the whole length, according to the email response I received this morning. In the meantime I'm working on a unique base/leg design that will hopefully save me floor space when not in use.

[MotorDoctor]

When I worked on airplanes, we had multiple surface plates. The biggest one was about the size of a snooker table. Being aircraft tooling, they needed to be certified periodically. The cert guy used equipment very similar to what is seen in this video: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=VrodNx759oo
It was interesting to see how accurate his equipment was.
Anything we had that measured (micrometers, calipers, torque wrenches, DVMs, straight edges, 123 blocks, V blocks, etc.) all had to be checked for tolerance. I have a 12" set of calipers that I didn't use very often so I bought some cheap Chinese knock off to a Mitsutoyo. It passed certification so I was happy.

[midmosandblasting]

My cheap china measuring tools always passed cert.every six months . a lot of the higher priced stuff had to be reset . The thing was those used by the workers sometimes appeared to have been used as clamps .

[arizonian]

Originally Posted by Oscar

yes, it's a work in progress. I actually ground out many tacks and had to re-do them to try to get it at as flat as I can.



The slats on the bottom are laser-cut to ± 0.003", so when the top is clamped down to them, they help bring it down to their level. Obviously they will flex too, so that is where the judicious selection of clamping pressures comes into play as well.



I will. Initial testing showed pretty close the mfg spec, but then again I was using a box level to check against for flatness, which likely isn't super duper straight on it's own. I ordered a machined straight edge (± 0.003") so I will do a little more testing and loosen up some tacks and re-do as needed.

Well, that's their claim. Before I retired, the company I worked for had 2 6,000 watt lasers and a 3,000 watt laser and the manufacturer claimed .005" but we could never produce that. When cutting long cuts, the matl would heat up and move even if the corners were held tight. Think flame straightening.

[Oscar]

Originally Posted by arizonian

Well, that's their claim. Before I retired, the company I worked for had 2 6,000 watt lasers and a 3,000 watt laser and the manufacturer claimed .005" but we could never produce that. When cutting long cuts, the matl would heat up and move even if the corners were held tight. Think flame straightening.

Yes, that is their claim.

[camdigger]

Originally Posted by arizonian

Well, that's their claim. Before I retired, the company I worked for had 2 6,000 watt lasers and a 3,000 watt laser and the manufacturer claimed .005" but we could never produce that. When cutting long cuts, the matl would heat up and move even if the corners were held tight. Think flame straightening.

I ask because I don't know, but am curious. What is the travel speed of a 6000watt laser cutting 1/4" or 1/2" plate?

From what I've seen of plasma tables, the cut speeds are higher than hand cutting even for a given power supply. Seems like something to do with kerf width as a result of steadier torch movement.

[Oscar]

Originally Posted by camdigger

I ask because I don't know, but am curious. What is the travel speed of a 6000watt laser cutting 1/4" or 1/2" plate?

From what I've seen of plasma tables, the cut speeds are higher than hand cutting even for a given power supply. Seems like something to do with kerf width as a result of steadier torch movement.

I don't know about those, but here is the video from Certiflat's YouTube channel:

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

Takes about 2 seconds to cut out what appears to be a 5/8" hole in 3/16" or 1/4" plate. Doing the math and it looks like Certiflat's laser is cutting at ~ 58 IPM.