Punching Aluminum Parts

A lot of people think that the laser is ultra fast, but in reality, our Amada Vipros CNC punch blows it away in terms of speed. the only downside to the punch is that you need a boatload of tooling (a punch for every conceivable shape). The laser has no tooling needed as it can cut any shape you can draw, but it (in comparison) is a lot slower. We also rarely use the laser for aluminum. Aluminum doesn't cut as well on the laser as it does in a punching situation. If we have aluminum parts that are too thick to punch (over 3/8" then we just waterjet them). The laser can handle up to 1" steel although we rarely do anything that thick. Here's a quick video of the Vipros making some parts.