Can you make your own nitrogen for laser cutting?
Yes. A nitrogen generator makes nitrogen from compressed air, in your own shop, and it is reliable technology that thousands of companies around the world already use.
Yes. A nitrogen generator makes nitrogen from compressed air, in your own shop, and it is reliable technology that thousands of companies around the world already use. Per 100 ft³, cylinder packs run about $5.32 and bulk liquid about $1.55 at industry standard prices (CAD); a generator makes it for about $0.32 before the system's cost, up to 94% less. Against bulk liquid the saving is about 80%. Delivered prices vary by supplier, volume and contract, so we use your own invoices where you have them. The full cost table is in How do you size a nitrogen generator for laser cutting?
Why it matters
Most companies are looking for ways to be more competitive, and lowering what it costs to make their products is one of them. Nitrogen for the laser is a cost that can come down.
Who benefits
A shop that buys nitrogen as cylinder packs or bulk liquid for a fiber laser, and cuts on nitrogen enough to cover the cost of a system. A laser owner can come out ahead on one shift a day depending on what they are cutting. The more they use their laser the higher the potential for savings. Each extra hour of cutting on nitrogen adds to the saving while the main system cost stays fixed.
What decides it is payback. Customers generally buy when the system pays for itself in under about three years; shops planning more volume sometimes buy beyond that.
When it is not for you
A generator does not always pay back. The main system cost is fixed, so a shop that uses little nitrogen has little saving to set against it. A system sized to a worst case you will never run can push the payback out of reach on its own. If a generator will not pay back for your shop, we tell you up front.
What decides the answer for your shop
A few things: the mix of thicknesses and materials cut, how many lasers are in use, how many shifts per day/week and what you pay for nitrogen today. The method that turns those into a system, including purity by material, is in How do you size a nitrogen generator for laser cutting?
Where to start
Our nitrogen products come from MSS Group (Nitrocubes), Purity Air, Parker Hannifin, Atlas Copco and Kaeser, and we configure them for your application. AC Machinery can supply the complete system, installation included. The first step costs nothing: send us what you cut and what you pay for nitrogen now, and we show you what a generator would save, or tell you it will not pay back.
About Adam Bender
Adam spent roughly twenty years as a field technician servicing plasma and laser cutting machines before taking over AC Machinery. These notes come from that work.
Adam Bender on LinkedIn