Oxy-Fuel Cutting Service | Flame Cutting

Oxy-fuel cutting, or oxy cutting for short, is ideal for cutting metal plates that are too thick for plasma cutting. It is important to note that flame cutting is not suitable for cutting just any material, as it has its limitations.

When looking to cut other thick materials that fall out of its scope, you can consider turning to waterjet cutting.

Maximum material thickness

Carbon steel 6 inches

Cutting area Up to 120 x 470 inches

How to Order?

While we have automated the quoting process of many other fabrication methods, like laser cutting and metal bending, flame cutting still needs a manual quote from our sales engineers. So please send your enquiry to them to get a manufacturing quotation.

US-Wide Delivery

We deliver your parts right to your selected address all over the United States. We take care of organizing transportation, so you can focus on engineering.

Our Manufacturing

Fractory’s manufacturing partners use state-of-the-art oxy cutting machines. This means CNC capabilities for accurate results and automation for quicker turnaround times. The maximum metal thickness is 6 inches. Our oxy cutting service is in accordance with quality classification EN ISO 9013.

Although plasma cutting has its advantages over flame cutting in terms of precision, the thickness limitations for flame cutting are higher. While plasma cutting’s maximum is around 2 inches, flame cutting can perform up to triple of that.

An important side note here is that the oxy cutting process involves oxidation of the material. Therefore, it is only possible to cut ferrous metals.

What is Oxy Acetylene Cutting?

As you have already probably noticed, we are using many names interchangeably for this cutting process. Oxy cutting, oxy-fuel cutting, flame cutting and gas cutting all allude to the same fabrication method. It is a process where different fuel gases (most commonly acetylene) and pure oxygen are used for cutting.

Oxy cutting uses preheating the metal. So the first step is heating up a spot on the metal. Next, a high-pressure stream of pure oxygen hits this spot. This results in the ignition of oxygen and the cutting can start. The cutting flame temperatures reach upwards of 6000° Fahrenheit.

The cutting torch has a central hole with more holes surrounding it. The latter holes are for guiding oxygen and fuel gas onto the workpiece during the preheating phase. The central hole is for producing an oxygen jet that cuts the metal.

Flame cutting is suitable for steel cutting. Other metals are not available for this manufacturing method. The reason lies with the process itself. During cutting, the metal melts and forms iron oxide when reacting with oxygen.

The high-pressure jet blows the oxide away, forming a cut. So oxy-fuel cutting is not available for metals that do not react this way. This means that stainless steel, for example, is not suitable for this method.

The preheating phase brings about another limitation. The temperature requirements are pretty high to ignite the oxygen flame. If the metal’s melting temperature is lower than the necessary preheating one, problems may arise. Therefore, aluminum is another metal not suitable for flame cutting.

For these reasons, it is necessary to find an alternative when thick plates from materials other than carbon steel need cutting. One possibility is waterjet cutting.

Advantages of Flame Cutting

Material thickness – The biggest advantage of using an oxy cutting service. Enabling cutting thickness up to 6 inches comes really handy to complete your engineering project according to the needs.
Portability – Besides contemporary CNC machinery, flame-cutting offers other options as well. As the requirements are pretty low, compact cutting stations can weigh as little as 30 pounds. This makes flame cutting a viable option for on-site cutting and welding.
Cutting speed – The speed of oxy-acetylene cutting is especially evident with really thick materials. For thicknesses over 2 inches, it comfortably beats the other thermal cutting methods.
Flexibility – Oxy-fuel torches have more applications besides cutting. These include welding of ferrous metals, heat treating, riser cutting and brazing.

Oxy Cutting FAQ

What fuel gases do you use?

Our manufacturing partners are primarily using acetylene but other gases like propylene and propane are also available.

What role does oxygen play in the cutting process?

Oxygen and fuel gas are combined in order to provide the necessary elements for heating the metal.

The cutting head has several holes where the gases flow out of. First, a combination of oxygen and a fuel gas comes out of the surrounding holes to preheat the metal.

Then, an oxygen jet is directed onto the work piece via a central oxygen valve. The metal oxidises and the pressurised jet blows away the slag.

How big is the heat affected zone?

The area of HAZ depends on the speed of cutting. But compared to other cutting methods, the heat-affected zone is larger because of the preheating process.

What is the quality?

Flame cutting produces a rough edge that may need post-processing to achieve a desirable result. This, of course, depends on the requirements on the final finish. The angular deviation of the cut, though, is better than with plasma cutting.

What are the material requirements?

We would advise considering flame cutting only for metals starting with a thickness of 2 inches. Also, only ferrous metals are available for this process.