Cutting techniques
Discover the power of Stako.
Oxy-fuel cutting
Oxy-fuel cutting is a combustion process, i.e. the material is locally burned with pure oxygen, propane or acetylene. When cutting steel, a temperature of around 1500 °C is reached at the cutting surface as a result of the combustion process. Unalloyed and low-alloyed steel is one of the few metals that can be cut using this cutting process.
Advantages:
- Easily manageable
- Wide applicability
- Good quality and cheap
- Indispensable when aiming and stretching
- Cutting from 10 to 1000 mm

Fast cutting with plasma
For a number of years now, plasma cutting has emerged as an economical process in cutting technology. For this process, fast machines are a necessity, since feed rates of up to 8000 mm/minute are very common. Cutting with plasma stands for high precision. The process is only suitable for cutting electrically conductive materials in thicknesses of 0.05 to 80 mm. The largest application for plasma cutting is in non-ferrous metals, but thinner steel plates can also be cut with it. Non-ferrous metals can be cut with a plasma cutting machine up to a maximum thickness of 180 mm.
Advantages:
- High speed (8000 mm/min)
- Cutting material thicknesses from 0.5 to 180 mm

Precise cutting with water
For precise cutting work in all materials and in various thicknesses, the waterjet cutting process has made its appearance. The accuracy of the waterjet cutting process is 0.01 mm. The cutting speed depends on the material and the thickness of the material. A very thin water jet achieves an accurate contour run. Under a pressure of 6200 bar, the water cuts through the material.
Water jet cutting can be used to cut both hard and soft materials. Soft materials include paper, leather, plastics, etc. In order to cut hard materials, an abrasive must be added to the water jet. Abrasive is a kind of fine cutting sand. This addition makes it possible to cut through steel that is 150 mm thick.
Advantages of waterjet cutting:
- Exceptional cut quality
- The water jet can cut through several layers of material at once
- Virtually no heat input into the material to be cut
- Non- and conductive can be cut with water
- Hard and soft materials can be cut with water
- Water cutting is possible up to material thicknesses of 150 mm

Laser cutting
For a very fine cut and little material loss
A laser is an electromagnetic radiation source that emits light in an almost parallel beam. In order to cut with the laser beam, it must be focused to a circle of light with a diameter of only fractions of a millimetre. This makes the intensity of the beam so great that very narrow and precise grooves can be made by melting and evaporating the material. The sharp laser beam can be used to cut a wide range of metals and non-metals such as plastics, glass, wood and textiles.
Laser cutting with a laser cutting machine offers great freedom of shape. It is an interesting option when cutting complicated shapes from products, which are less easily possible with conventional processing, such as punching. Laser cutting machines therefore make it easier to perform such cutting tasks.
Since titanium has a very low ignition temperature and is very sensitive to oxidation, this material can be cut very well with a laser cutting machine. Since titanium is a very expensive material and little material is lost during laser cutting, a laser system in aerospace will quickly pay for itself.
With a CO2 laser, glass can be cut. This capability is used in cutting quartz tubes for lamps. Another application is the fully automatic cutting of car mirrors. Due to the melting process of the laser, the quality of the edge is very poor, but in this case it is an advantage because it is less likely to cut yourself when mounting the mirror in the rubber ring.

Slant cuts become child's play
Many companies first cut the products out of a sheet metal field using a perpendicular cut and then go on to finish the products by milling or cutting them by hand, which is very labour-intensive. Since the production costs for this are very high, Stako has anticipated this and is currently one of the few companies with a perfectly programmable solution, the so-called bevel head. This rotary cutting head can handle any job and will save you a lot of working time!
This Stako bevel cutting head is perfectly capable of making precise bevel cuts using the plasma process up to 65 mm in thickness and using the oxyfuel process up to 300 mm in thickness via AC digital servo control.
The oxy-fuel bevel cutting head can be composed of two or even three cutting torches that can cut V, X and K seams fully programmed, including side compensation.
By means of a software module, the bevel is easily programmed, including the corner loops. This bevel cutting head can also be used for waterjet cutting. Stako is the absolute specialist in this!

Dry cutting table
Depending on your needs and the type of cutting machine, we can offer you two different types of cutting tables. An optimal working environment for your staff, environmental friendliness and the best possible end product are important factors for this consideration.
Whether it is a custom-designed cutting table or a standard version, Stako cutting tables are suitable for the most challenging cutting jobs.
You can choose between a dry cutting table and/or a water table.
Advantages dry cutting table:
- Basic elements with individual adjustment possibilities
- High carrying capacity
- Segment extraction
- Special extraction channel
- Choice of collection bins or automatic discharge conveyor for cutting waste

Green Label Water Table
Water and fire go together!
- Quality of the products, in and on water less heat affected zone in the products due to cooling during the cutting of the material
- Economy, due to the very low energy consumption of the combination of suction and cutting table, there is a much more economical solution
- Size tolerances By cutting in water, the products remain much better dimensionally stable and the sheet material from which you cut the products will also remain better.
Results:
Binding of pollutants from flue gases by water
Noise reduction possible up to 80% or more
Quick level water control. Irrespective of the volume of the table
Easy to keep clean
Combination of water with steel gives the same chance of rust as normal because the water is low in oxygen and therefore "dead"
Lower investment because no extraction is necessary
The biggest result we have been able to achieve is:
In addition to the positive effect on the environment, there is also an effect on the quality of the cut. This results in higher dimensional accuracy (less chance of warping due to heat) and also means that materials such as Hardox retain their material properties, which is not the case with "dry cutting" due to the slow cooling process. Also milling, drilling and tapping becomes easier because the material is not hardened but cools down quickly.
