Hello,

I am to order some laser cut sheet metal of steel, and got some technical questions, maybe someone can help:

– Tolerances

From what I have heard, the diameter of the laser beam is typically 0.2-o.3mm (?). Is the laser beams usually set to follow the center of the cut lines (making parts a bit under size), or does the cutting process try to adjust for the diameter of the laser beam, placeing the beam on the side of the cut lines?

– Marking of laser cut parts 

What is common practice regarding laser engraving of part numbers? Can one place the cutting lines on 1 lawyer of the dxf file, and numbers/letters to be engraved as part numbers and ore, on a seperate file? Will the manufacturing company easily see there is both lines to be cut and lines to beengraved in a file? Or it is better to specially inform about it when putting in an order for lazer cutting?

– Minimum diameter of holes vs plate thickness

What is common practice regarding minimum diameter in relation to plate thickness? As an example I like to have 1.5mm diameter circular hole cut in 1mm thick steel plate (material DC01) Will there be cut a quite accurate tolerance hole of 1.5mm diameter, or the manufacturer regarding such small holes prefer to burn a small dot at the center, and one can use a drill bit to drill the hole to accurate diameter?