What is the most cost effective way of cutting lamination for small machine prototypes (~1kW, 1500rpm)? I would like to get feeling how much would it cost to cut lamination for small prototype and what method would be most effective? Wire erosion, laser cutting, photo etching...

/Nenad

Hello.
I am not sure what facilities or suppliers you have access to where you are, but I would recommend laser cutting for a small prototype. In my past experience - a European supplier we used was probably the most experienced and proficient: LCD in Switzerland. Good luck.
Take care.
Robert.

Hi Robert,

Thanks. Surprising for us was the cost of laser cutting. To cut a machine laminates (stator and rotor of induction machine) with OD ~20cm and ~1000 laminates of 0.35mm we got a quote of ~3500EUR. And this is only for service where we provide the sheets of steel. That seemed bit pricy so I thought to ask around... We used wire erosion for our previous construction and that was in the same price range.

The cost of each design cut will vary naturally depending on the complexity of design, but it would help if anybody has any ballpark estimate for such a small machine...

Thanks,
Nenad

Hi Nenad,

One year ago we made cutting lamination for two small machine prototypes of outer rotor and PM, 400 W @ 400 rpm and 5 kW @ 320 rpm. We made this through a laser machine and the approximate cost was of $900 USD for machine of 400 W and $4,500 USD for machine of 5 kW.

For us the laser cutting was the best way.

We are in Guadalajara, Mexico.

Best regards.
Javier de la Cruz

Hello JAVIER,
When you say " laser cutting was the best way" you mean that you performed a study on cutting laminations methods costs? I understand using same lamination microstructure.
Best regards paisa.

Hi Nenad (Members).
It is understandable that this is still an expensive method, but I suspect you will find that traditional methods are not much less expensive for one-off prototypes (because machine set-up is already a significant cost portion, and laser-cutting of insulated laminations is still new and of sufficient technical risk and difficulty to justify this)).
If you could make use of standard stator slots etc. you would maybe find a better price there, but the nature of prototypes is of course inherently non-standard.
I do however suspect that laser-cut laminations will drop in price in time, with increased penetration and use of Fibre-based laser machines.
Sorry I can't help you more. If you were in South Africa- I could make a suggestion but you're obviously in Denmark.
Good luck!
Robert.

@Javier

Thanks. In our case wire erosion and laser cutting costs were comparable. It seems the bulk of prototyping cost comes from lamination cutting regardless of the cutting method. I wounder does anybody has any experience with photo etching (chemical cutting)?

@ Robert,

I agree. Do you know about companies selling standard lamination shapes? It could be possible to adopt future prototypes to standard stator design. Thanks in advance.

/Nenad

Nenad: This is also not straightforward but I would suggest asking manufacturers near you for stator laminations that they would be prepared to sell to you. Otherwise, if there are any punched lamination vendors near you - ask them what tooling they have already such as core inner and outer diameters, and standard slot sizes. This is what I would try if I was in the same situation as you.

Hi

I only made cost study between tradition method and laser cutting. Obviously laser cutting was the cheaper, as said Robert.

I don´t have experience with photo etching and wire erosion, in fact i think that wire erosion could not function. However I am not sure

Best regards!
Javier de la Cruz