I am no expert, I just used google as I was interested in finding out what it would take. The Amada 2514 (2.5kW) I found cutting info for earlier has been around since the late 90’s and I saw one listed for $35k.
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Good point. Aluminum does cool quickly compared to other metals. Maybe something could withstand it for a moment… like walking on hot coals. 
Normally for metal casting you’d make your buck (the positive) out of plastic or whatever, and then mold the casting sand around it. Then you burn out the plastic with the molten metal (i.e. The Lost Wax process). But a Water Jet or CNC Mill with coolant would be the instrument of choice probably. Casting large amounts of aluminum is dangerous as hell. Also be sure to NOT use an iron crucible if you decide to go that route as aluminum dissolves iron… You need a carbon crucible…
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How imprecise are you thinking they are? I use mine to cut custom auto & motorcycle parts where some amount of precision is required (likely more than needed by someone with a 40W CO2 laser being asked to cut aluminum blocks).
Although the kerf is about 10x the laser’s, it’s easy enough to compensate for. The torch makes a fair amount of difference in obtaining quality results as well (I use a Hypertherm now).
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Precision for me is generally within about 0.01 inches. While the positioning of the torch may allow that, the cut edge itself often has more deviation in my experience.
Not with a Hypertherm fine torch. THC is critical because Hypertherms need to be about twice as far off the material to pierce than is optimum for the subsequent cutting.
Plasma has come a long way and Hypertherm is pulling cleannnnn smooth cuts with .5mm tolerances. In the past you simply could not CNC plasma cut a proper bolt hole, you’d have to drill it afterwards to clean up, but that’s not the case anymore.
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Thank you everyone, you have been of great help. I will def not try this then. Have a great day
Which in the CNC world would be abysmal (may be great for plasma) since most “good” CNC milling machines are typically in the handful of microns level of tolerances. (and yes, technically 0.5mm is also microns, but you know what I meant)
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Depends on the use case. For everything I’m doing it’s more than good enough.
My buddy though needs higher tolerances so he’s got a $300,000 machine to do it. The parts I’m making would not be cost competitive made by him so he wouldn’t make them.
Not sure you have to jump to $300,000 to get that level of precision, I mean even a Tormach can do that level of precision, at a fraction of that. Obviously what you get in that expensive a machine is the ability to do it much faster or tougher materials.
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Yep he’s doing some good volume. It’s fun seeing pallets of really pretty steel being prepped for shipment.
There’s something very artistic in finely machined stainless parts.
(Sidenote, the waiting room at the joint institute my wife had her hip replaced at had this really cool sculpture of replacement joints of all kinds & sizes that just glowed - it was just incredible looking at the precision and finish in a part that was cheap enough to install in people and yet last for decades.)
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I realize others have answered in part or whole that the Glowforge CAN’T do this. Our family is currently in a project that IS using the Glowforge to help setup molds, to make sure the tolerances do work for a special Aluminum jewelry box. Each of the parts will be final formed by casting the Aluminum in Graphite molds, the molds made by a CNC router. Aluminum has such a low melting point and with a proper foundry which isn’t hard to make or setup, were able to make a very usable and beautiful end product. With Graphite molds you can make just about anything that you had in mind with the Laser, just more steps. And without having to buy Thousands of $ in equipment. Hundreds yes Thousands no. It comes down to having the imagination and proper tools. Best of luck.
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Yeah, we do custom orthopedic implants (plates, guides) and it’s pretty cool. Thea ability to custom manufacture extreme precision parts for not a lot of money is amazing nowadays. Also the software toolchain has really improved.
The low melting point makes it ideal for sand castings, but I did know someone that had a torch feed of wire that would melt it and spit it out on to foam he painted with white glue, eventually he had huge sculptures covered in a layer of aluminum that looked to weigh a ton, but might be 40 pounds.
I had done something similar with an electric feed and stainless steel that I would spray on a model and build that up perhaps a quarter inch and back the rest up with epoxy making complex injection molds. It would be interesting to use either to make art work. This is a similar machine to what I used.
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