Cutting speeds

Steps 1–2 · Machine & material

Cutting Speed Lookup & Shop Factor

Chart speeds by fiber power, material, and thickness — interpolated between rows, then scaled to 90% for realistic shop feed rates.

The cutting speed table resolves feed rate from your machine preset and material profile. Non-tabulated thicknesses interpolate between chart rows; a 90% shop factor converts catalog speed into production minutes for cutting, overhead, and gas.

From chart speed to billable minutes

You do not maintain a spreadsheet of feed rates. The calculator resolves speed from your machine power and material profile, then drives laser, overhead, and gas dollars.

1

Chart lookup

Cutting speed table by power, material, and thickness.

2

Interpolation

Between bracketing chart rows when your gauge sits between published thicknesses.

3

Shop factor

90% of chart speed applied — realistic floor time, not catalog peak feed.

4

Minutes

Cut length ÷ speed + pierce count × pierce seconds → production minutes per part.

Example resolution

6 kW fiber · Mild steel · 4 mm → interpolate between 3 mm and 5 mm chart rows → apply 0.9 shop factor → cut time for 2,400 mm contour ≈ 1.8 min (+ pierces)

When shops rely on this

  • →Quoting a new thickness without looking up an old Excel tab.
  • →Explaining why two similar parts have different minutes (pierce count and cut length).
  • →Keeping estimators aligned when machine power changes after a laser upgrade.

More Calculator features

Machine rates

Set hourly cutting rate, shop overhead, pierce time, and laser markup on step 1 — with 13 laser machine presets from 500 W to 20 kW and saved profiles per account.

Material pricing

Six common alloys, metric thickness presets, price per kilogram, scrap allowance, and assist gas — material cost from each part’s bounding box mass.

DXF for quotes

Step 3 of the five-step wizard: upload DXF, review cut length and pierce counts per part, then set quantities before results.

Quote breakdown

Results step shows laser cutting (cutting, overhead, gas, markup on laser), sheet material by type and thickness, and aligned part and job totals.

Try it in the calculator

Walk through machine → material → upload → quantities → results with your next DXF job.

Calculate cutting cost

Feature: Cutting speeds