What the hell cut this?

[TexasTight]

Is this laser drilled?
face in pic is 2”x1”

[SweetMK]

"Drilled" usually indicates a round hole, I do not see a hole,,

As far as those letters, IMHO,, they were stamped in somehow.

[TexasTight]

I was thinking laser drilled as perforation and then punched
laser drilling can get pretty small but I’d never seen it used like this
i don’t think it a straight punch because the material thickness and the lack of deformation
the Deformation present in this pic looks like it was due to a punch being used after another initial process

[jpump5]

I was thinking stamped, but those little pieces holding the blank
inside the A are pretty thin. Maybe laser or water jet?

[TexasTight]

Waterjet is possible too but I’ve never seen one make quite that precise of a cut. From what I’ve seen, a waterjet going to make an incision at least a mm. The letters on this piece are 1/4”x1/4”. Whatever making made those cuts is very small. Thinking more and more that it was a laser but I’m wondering if anyone knows specifics.

[SweetMK]

You would be amazed at what a toolmaker from 1979 could do with punch tooling.
With an exact, specific, correct clearance between the punch and die, the punched part would far exceed the accuracy of a laser cut part.

Our toolmakers made electrical contacts that were so accurate, you had a hard time measuring any tolerance variation among 100,000 parts,,

If you want to see accurate,, go to Richmond VA and tour a cigarette factory.
Those machines have tooling that the heat treatment oven alone cost over $1million,,

I saw a prototype cigarette machine in 1990,, hit the go button, then immediately hit stop,,
the machine would fill a pallet size box (like 48" X 48") over a foot deep with cigarettes,,
That machine was considered "slow",, as it only made prototype cigarette samples.

Think how accurate the tooling was to be able to operate at that speed,,

[smithdoor]

A better question is why.
I seen water jet cutting that good very costly.
A good die maker can make dies too but again why.

Dave

Is this laser drilled?
face in pic is 2”x1”

[Shootr]

Maybe EDM?

[Welder Dave]

Looks like part of the 2nd A is still there. Ultra fine water Jet maybe. I'm guessing Mag Mate gets a lot of those pieces made so would need to be done by something that is fairly quick rather than a 1 off type experiment to see what would work.

[TexasTight]

Edm is plausible too but isn’t that more expensive than waterjet, lasers, and/or a die?

[TexasTight]

So there are waterjets that can cut that fine? That’s pretty amazing

[Broccoli1]

Local steel supply offers Laser cutting that could do that.

They have a display but no images on their website.

[walker]

I can get close to that with my cnc plasma. Otherwise laser or water jet.

[Munkul]

It's far from unusual in this modern world... A high definition CNC plasma, waterjet or laser could all do that with similar results.

[jpump5]

Maybe EDM?

Wire EDM would need at least one hole drilled for each letter
and would be slow.A die sinker EDM would be really slow.

I’ve seen accurate stamping in heavy gauge steel before,but I’ve
never seen a stamping operation that left a thin section like the
ones holding the triangular blanks inside the OP’s letter “A”.

[filetobeef]

would think either laser or water jet. what do the outer edges of bracket look like? this may indicate what was used assuming the same company cut, bent and lettered it.
don't think a die would leave the tiny center of the A in place .

[farmersammm]

It's far from unusual in this modern world... A high definition CNC plasma, waterjet or laser could all do that with similar results.

Absolutely right.

Pics of laser cut steel lettering. One from some outfit in China, another from some outfit on Amazon. Fast image search

[jpump5]

I’m thinking this one was stamped.
Anyone know how they do this?

[Welder Dave]

Don't think it was stamped but that's an interesting 90* fitting for the regulator. I'm thinking a CNC plasma or something along those lines.

[Yofish]

Is this laser drilled?
face in pic is 2”x1”

What does it tell you that the 'A' under the right 'M' has metal on the right leg that isn't removed?

[Rondo]

A Fiber Laser can easily do this. I'm wondering how old the part is. It it's 20 years old or older the mystery remains.

[shasti]

I think it is laser cutting.

[jpump5]

I was wondering how the “retest” marking was made on the
propane tank because I thought it was done during retesting.
After thinking about it, it seems it was probably done before
the tank was assembled, and would be easily stamped in a
press.