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Fiber laser cutting speed chart

Starter cutting speeds in m/min by material, thickness and laser power. They are the lower bound of published charts, so a quote built on them errs high. Time your own machine and replace them.

Price a part with these speeds →

Each cell is the lower of the Raycus and IPG lower bounds at that power class, from the tables MachineMFG published. A dash means neither table lists that thickness at that power.

Mild steel, oxygen (m/min)

Thickness (mm)1 kW1.5 kW2 kW3 kW6 kW
177778
255555
32.52.833.53
422.52.833.5
51.21.522.53
611.31.81.82.5
80.811.21.82
100.50.71.11.11
120.40.60.70.81
14—0.50.60.60.8
16—0.50.50.50.7
18——0.40.50.7
20——0.40.40.6
22———0.30.5
25———0.40.4

Stainless steel 304, nitrogen (m/min)

Thickness (mm)1 kW1.5 kW2 kW3 kW6 kW
11510203545
24.5591220
3234714
412346
50.511.52.55
6—0.71.21.64
8—0.50.60.93
10——0.50.61.5
12———0.31
14————0.8
16————0.5
20————0.3

Aluminium, nitrogen (m/min)

Thickness (mm)1 kW1.5 kW2 kW3 kW6 kW
11010132545
224.571020
30.523513
4—1.22310
5—0.5125
6—0.50.61.54
8——0.60.52
10———0.41
12———0.30.8
16————0.5

Pierce time (s)

The time to pierce before the cut starts, from Aston Precision's estimator table. Zorocut adds 0.5 s per pierce for the head to move.

Thickness (mm)Mild steelStainless steel 304Aluminium
0.50.10.10.1
10.10.10.1
1.50.20.10.2
20.30.10.2
2.50.350.1—
30.40.10.7
40.50.21
50.750.752
610.752.5
81.513.5
1021—
1231.5—
1642—
209——

Starter plasma values: Hypertherm Powermax45 XP, mild steel, air

Best Quality settings from Hypertherm's cut chart. The calculator adds 0.2 s to each pierce delay. Above 12 mm the chart calls for an edge start and gives no pierce delay. For other materials and other torches, enter your own speed and pierce time.

Thickness (mm)Speed (mm/min)Pierce delay (s)Kerf (mm)
25,5600.21.3
33,9600.21.4
42,8000.4—
61,4300.61.5
81,0200.6—
107800.81.7
125401.0—
16310edge start2.1

How to use these numbers

Published charts disagree by up to 2× for the same cut, so every value here is a starting point, not a promise.Chart speeds are straight-line speeds. Real parts slow down at corners and small holes.When your thickness is not listed, use the next thicker row: the quote then errs high, never low.Galvanised steel has no published chart; Zorocut uses the stainless nitrogen row as a placeholder. Brass and copper have no starter values.

The ranges behind each value, and why the charts differ, are in the cutting speed guide.

Sources