Using high-quality compressed air or gas ensures clean edges, faster cuts, and lower maintenance costs with your laser cutter. But what is the best laser-cutting supply option for your specific needs, compressed air or nitrogen?
Today, we introduce our new skid-mount Nitropak nitrogen generator and compare it with our established Airpak15 Air-Assist compressed air system. We'll also briefly cover our containerised Nitropak option to give you a complete picture of our laser cutting supply solutions.
Compressed Air for Laser Cutting: The Airpak15 Solution
With laser cutting, your assist gas must be clean, dry, and aligned with ISO 8573.1.2.1 standards. This ensures a precise cut as no contaminants will impact the laser's accuracy or cause build-up on the workpiece. Compressed air provides many benefits:
- Cost-effective operation
- Compatible with existing setups
- Suitable for many metals
- High-quality cuts on aluminium
- Faster cuts on thin materials
At Industrial Air Systems, we specialise in laser-cutting air compressors, complete with filtration and air treatment. Our flagship compressed air solution is the industrial Airpak15 Air Assist.
Airpak15 Air-Assist
The Airpak15 Air-Assist is specially designed for laser cutting applications, offering high specification, contaminant-free, reliable air supply for your laser cutter. Featuring an adsorption dryer, the Airpak15 compresses air down to -40°C dew point or lower.
Key features include:
- 15-bar rotary screw compressor reliability
- 15-bar air buffer receiver
- Activated carbon tower
- Oil/water separator condensate management
- Coalescing filter with auto drain
- Particulate filter with auto drain
- Heatless adsorption dryer with dew point control and PLC display
- Optional skid base with fork mounts
With exceptional air quality, the Airpak15 Air Assist requires fewer engineering services and maintenance. Find out more about the Airpak15 and get compressor specifications in our free brochure.
Nitrogen Generation for Laser Cutting: New Skid-Mount Nitropak
For applications requiring nitrogen rather than compressed air, we're excited to introduce our new skid-mount Nitropak nitrogen generator. Designed for accessibility, this compact system starts from $125,000, which is significantly more affordable than our larger containerised version. It's ideal for small to medium gas users who typically consume one to three high-pressure N2 manpacks per week.
The skid-mount Nitropak delivers extremely high-quality nitrogen with up to 99.999% purity. This complete package incorporates the entire plant set-up, including the compressor, drier, filtration, receivers, generator, booster compressor, high-pressure N2 storage, and integral piping.
Containerised Nitropak Option
For larger operations requiring greater capacity, we also offer our containerised Nitropak system, which provides the same high-quality nitrogen generation capabilities for more demanding industrial environments.
Comparing Laser Cutting Supply Options: Compressed Air vs Gas
To help you choose between compressed air and nitrogen gas for your laser cutting applications, here's a simplified comparison of our main options - the new skid-mount Nitropak nitrogen generator vs Airpak15 air-assist vs our containerised Nitropak option:
| Airpak15 Air-Assist | Skid-mount Nitropak | Containerized Nitropak | |
| Supply type | Compressed Air | Nitrogen | Nitrogen |
| Configuration | Optional skid base | Skid-mount | Containerised |
| Installation | Plug and play | Plug and play | Plug and play |
| Filtration | Coalescing filter, adsorption dryer, activated carbon tower, particulate filter, oil/water separator | 7-stage low and high-pressure filtration system, large carbon tower, real-time oxygen monitor | 7-stage low and high-pressure filtration system, large carbon tower, real-time oxygen monitor |
| Dew point | -40°C or lower | Varies | Varies |
| Air/gas purity | High | Up to 99.999% nitrogen purity | Up to 99.999% nitrogen purity |
| Approximate cost | $35,000 | $125,000 | $229,000 |
Case Study 1: Airpak15 for Priest Sheetmetal
When the team at Priest Sheetmetal decided to upgrade their laser cutting setup, they found that hiring nitrogen was proving too expensive. To reduce operational costs, we installed the Airpak15 Air Assist package. By cutting thin materials with compressed air instead of nitrogen, they significantly reduced their gas consumption costs.
Case Study 2: Nitropak for Gas Manufacturer
A gas manufacturer needed reliable, high-purity nitrogen to meet growing client demand across New Zealand and Australia. We supplied a containerised Nitropak system delivering 99.999% pure nitrogen at one-fifth of their previous costs, giving them a consistent 24/7 gas supply.
Air and Nitrogen Solutions for Laser Cutting
As your industry experts, we stay informed of the latest laser-cutting technologies. Reach out today or explore the best compressed air or gas solution for your laser-cutting needs. We also offer comprehensive repair services and maintenance to ensure your systems always operate at peak performance.
In our complete laser-cutting brochure, we've compiled all our solutions for your laser-cutting applications, including:
- New skid-mount Nitropak nitrogen generator
- Airpak15 Air Assist compressed air system
- Containerised Nitropak systems
Download your free copy of our Laser Cutting Solutions Brochure to learn all about specifications, key benefits, and more.
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