Why Laser Engraved Rubber Stamps Are the Best

For any type of business, identity is a mandatory thing. It makes a business unique and more visible to its users. Just like your logo, packaging, uniforms, you need a unique stamp for the manual work which represents your business. 

What’s wrong with regular stamps?

If you are using regular stamps, there is always a threat of other people replicating the stamps and your identity. So, having a unique stamp always goes a long way. When it comes to creating personalized stamps for your business, laser engraving machines can do wonders. The laser engraving machine creates a high-resolution stamp and makes it hard to replicate your identity. You can have a micro-sized inner signature to make copying even harder for others. Plus, it will look good and leaves a good impression on your colleagues.

Why Laser Technology for Stamps?

Stamps are for the public identity. Hence, they must be high resolution. With laser cutting technology, you can cut rubber with a precise resolution and finish. Even if you are okay with low-resolution stamps, it might take a long time and effort to finish the job. Plus the lasers containing Mitsubishi machine parts or Amada spare parts will last longer and save a lot of your money.

The Benefits You Get with Laser Cutting Machine

A Neat and Clean Impression

If you are pitching your business to potential partners, they always look for the details that make your business look like its one step ahead of you. When you use laser technology, it helps you leave a great impression. These small things would make a big difference. Having a laser which has Mitsubishi machine parts or Amada spare parts can give help you neater finish to the logo.

Increase Efficiency

When you have a laser cutting machine in place, it becomes easy to try different things. You can always revise your work in no time and manufacture more products according to your convenience & requirement. This way it helps you increase your efficiency.

Competitive Advantages

When it comes to laser cutting, it has set a benchmark in the industry for some time now. It is cost-effective as if you are producing products on your own time & have no other costs to bear. When you have other cutting methods, you will have to calculate every single millimeter offset in the large design stage for the better cutting stages. It might lead you to messy and frustrating situations. But laser technology is not only better in cutting, but it is cost-effective, easiest and adjustable.

Saves Time

With this machine in your ownership, it becomes easier for you to create art. The rubber-stamp process is as easy as printing a picture from your regular office printer. These machines save a lot of time in cutting and engraving rubber stamps.

Reduces Production Times

You can automate laser cutting technology for producing a large number of stamps. It helps you get your job done much faster. As with the laser machine, you will never need to work for an extra hour.

Steps to Create Your Own Stamp with Laser Engraving

Step 1: Gather the Materials

• Laser rubber sheet
• Wood for mounting
• Glue
• Laser engraver

Step 2: Design

Draw a rough idea for an idea about how your stamp would look. If you scan it, make sure that it is a high resolution; around 600DPI.

Step 3: Engraving Preparations

• Export your art into Corel draw.
• Once you have an image, draw a “hairline” box around the art.
• Choose your engraving type “stamp’ and enter dimensions.
• Select the engraving effects. Majorly there are two options: Mirror and Fence.
• Use a sharp blade with a straight edge.

Step 4: Start Engraving

• Position your rubber in the laser cutter.
• Focus the machine and turn on the fab.
• Wash your rubber with soap and water.

And ready!

Conclusion

Laser engraving technology is the fastest growing technology. If you are running a design company/agency, you will definitely need this technology as the world is changing and nobody would want to pay high rates for small productions to the production companies.

5 Ways to Improve your Flow of Laser-cut Parts

Being a fabricator is not an easy job. One of the hardest tasks you might have is to maintain the efficiency of your laser cut machine. And you can do so by following adequate steps to improve the flow of laser-cut parts through a fabrication shop. Using quality parts like Bystronic laser parts, Mazak laser parts will benefit you for a streamlined flow. Here is how you can speed up your laser production by maintaining the flow of laser cut parts.

1. Shop Layout

From all the areas of concern, it is most important that the layout you are working is efficient. Your shop’s layout can make or break even the most versatile production plan. A point to note is that the more time your parts spend in transit or waiting for delivery, your overall efficiency will reduce and can affect the production and overall the plant.

In the ideal scenario, the incoming material should load directly into or nearby the main machinery and all the secondary operations should happen near the laser output area. You must be wondering this is such an obvious thing. But sometimes fabricators do not pay much attention to the layout while installing the laser machine. To overcome this layout mistake, usually, fabricators or owners use a patchwork approach. And when a patchwork approach to shop is inefficient, the entire shop layout would need a redesign.

Any layout’s basic objective is ensuring the smooth flow of work, material, parts, and information through a system. When you understand the overall flow of the shop, it can help the material move efficiently. 

2. Proper Maintenance

It is important to consider that maintenance is an equally important part when it comes to laser machinery. To be honest, some fabricators don’t pay much attention to the maintenance of their parts. Unless they experience some problems in the speed or accuracy, they will not feel obligated to maintain their lasers or their quality Amada parts. 

It is important to stay on top of the recommended maintenance activities. Because once a problem occurs, the equipment operator won’t be that much more productive. You don’t have to pay much attention because today’s manufactured lasers come with enhanced options that make it easier to practice healthy maintenance. You can schedule and set a regime that allows you to stay on top of your maintenance schedule.

3. Programming

It becomes crucial to program automated material and part handling, majorly for maintaining efficiency. In the production industry, it has become a necessity to have automation. It yields double or triple results. A shop that upholds a manual sheet can vastly have different outputs than a shop that has a completely automated system.

To help avoid downtime, it is necessary to optimize your plant layout, maintaining your equipment on a schedule, programming, and automation, monitoring your production.

In the past years, program software developers used such algorithms that homed parts with as little waste as possible. This saves you more money which means more money left in the pocket of the manufacturer. It is important to maintain integrity in laser nests while unloading them automatically so that they can render at various locations. It is true in cases where high-capacity carts are in use. Because a stack of cut sheets can become a tangle of parts and scrap.

4. Automation

Technology never stops providing better tools for increased efficiency in the workflow. After optimizing your shop layout, performing maintenance and programming, it is important to set out to stride toward laser automation.

If you can operate your industrial laser with 50 percent efficiency then it is pretty much good! The most common beam-on times for an average mix of materials have hovered between 30 and 40 percent historically. But your laser could be capable of more than that. If you add a very basic load and unload automation system, it can increase your beam-on time to more than 80 percent.

If you use standard cart unloading, it might create denoting bottlenecks which can delay the arrival of parts downstream. Conveyors are popular as they allow denesting to occur at the same rate as production. It enables you to react more quickly to production issues. It gives you more time to downstream operations.

5. Monitoring the Production

To make some revolutionary improvements to your laser-cut-part flow, it is important to understand and track all the jobs. When you get statistics like beam-on-time, transit delays, maintenance schedules, and process bottlenecks, it can help you in achieving continuous improvement.

There some laser cutting equipment that comes with a production monitoring option. When there are robust production monitoring and support system intact, you can design and provide transparency to your machine process anytime. it will enable you to achieve real-time access to an extensive amount of data through your desktop or mobile device. To find quality laser parts you can go for Bystronic laser parts and Mazak laser parts for the quality outputs.

Fiber Laser: An Economical & Effective Choice for A Perfect Edge

In the laser cutting, there are two main types of lasers used in producing exceptional machinery parts. CO2 lasers and fiber lasers. While CO2 lasers have the advantage of producing superior edge quality, Fiber lasers are rising as innovative cutters in the industry. They are beneficial in metal cutting due to their non-reflecting beam. They cut quicker than their alternatives.

One of the major benefits of using fiber lasers is the clean, oxide-free edge you get as an end result. You can obtain it with nitrogen assist gas. As there will be no oxidation, it improves the downstream processes such as welding and powder coating which in turn helps achieve better adhesion and weldability.

You can further improve Fiber Laser's cut edge by making optimal changes in the assist gases and nozzle technologies.

Here is how to start!

Nitrogen Purity

Purity levels play a major role in the quality of edge and other parts. If you want to buy new ones, try searching for Amada Parts or Fanuc Parts online for quality products. If you know and understand what kind of expectations to set from purity levels, it can help achieve the desired quality for any part and other end goals. If you are working for industries such as medical and food-grade equipment which require a bright silver finish, then you need to set the purity levels to 99.9 percent.

If your targeted market is agricultural implements and powder coat adhesion in which your main focus areas include producing parts per day, then a lower nitrogen purity level between 98 to 99 percent will suffice the requirement. It is important to understand what you need in terms of level. This helps in sizing your nitrogen generator properly, at the beginning itself, to avoid edge quality glitches which later affects the overall performance. Moreover, using quality laser parts like Amada parts would also benefit in the longer run. You can also search for Fanuc parts online which fall into the same quality parts category.

Nitrogen Consumption and Costs

While operating any laser cutting machine, be it fiber or CO2, the consumption of nitrogen is always high. Several factors cause this issue. With the fiber’s upgraded technology, you have higher wattage ratings available which can easily process most of the materials. It might have been possible that your CO2 laser had a limitation in cutting mild steel with nitrogen assist gas at 3/16-inch-thick, or 7-gauge material. For example, A 4-kilowatt CO2 laser may have used 1700 SCFH (standard cubic feet per hour) to cut 3/16-in-thick or 7-ga. mild steel. And to cut ⅜ in-thick material, the gas consumption will double to 3,400 SCFH.

And with the Fiber’s technology, this limitation will no longer be a limitation as it can help expand the mild steel nitrogen procession range.

Nitrogen Consumption & Cut Edge

Nitrogen-generation systems reduce the cost of nitrogen and eliminate gas supply contracts. If you purchase your own nitrogen-generation system, it becomes easier for you to take advantage of the capital equipment depreciation which accelerates your ROI.

You can generate nitrogen by separating air into argon, oxygen, nitrogen, and CO2. It might come as a surprise, but the air we breathe contains only 21% of oxygen, a whopping 78% of nitrogen, 0.9% argon and some traces of Carbon dioxide & other gases.

Here are the most commonly used gas separation systems: Pressure swing adsorption, cryogenic fractional distillation (used to separate liquid air), and membranes.

1. Adsorption system is the best method when higher delivery pressures and flow rates are a necessity. This system uses a carbon molecular sieve to absorb the oxygen molecules and produce the desired nitrogen assist gas. It can deliver higher gas pressure as well as higher SCFH flow rates.
2. In the process of cryogenic fractional distillation of liquid air, the separation of gases takes place by cooling the air until it liquefies. These are the bulk tank systems that provide assist gases to the lasers and can deliver high purity levels. But these are usually energy-intensive.
3. The membrane system contains hollow fiber membranes for creating a mechanical process to separate the air. It is possible because of the molecular-sized variance of the nitrogen and oxygen molecules. The structure of the membrane polymer allows the fast-moving water vapor and oxygen molecules to distribute through the membrane. And then captures the nitrogen as the product gas.

 Generating your own nitrogen may accelerate your ROI. In most cases, you can achieve the ROI in less than two years. For the manufacturing units using multiple machines or running multiple shifts, achieving such ROI will be in less than 2 years. And once the company achieves ROI, they will be saving a lot on delivery fees, equipment rental fees, etc.

Not only an economical choice but for better results also, Fiber Lasers have it all. Also, using Amada Parts for your machines would maximize its productivity. There are cost advantages, superior quality and are safer than CO2 lasers.

Glass vs. Metal CO2 Laser Tubes: Which one to Choose?

When looking to buy a CO2 laser machine, it is important to consider a number of primary attributes. One of the primary attributes that bifurcate the type of laser tube which machine uses is its laser source.  There are major two options including water-cooled glass tubes and air-cooled metal tubes. Let’s look at the differences between glass and metal laser tubes. 

Metal Laser Tubes

Metal laser tubes use radio frequency to fire a fast pulsing laser with quick repeatability. Most of the metal tubes use air cooling system excluding higher wattages. They perform the engraving process with ultra-fine detail as they have a smaller laser spot size. They have a longer life span of 10-12 years, given they have premium parts like bystronic parts or prima spare parts, before the need for the refurbishing of gas arises. Its turnaround time in some cases can be quite long.

Glass Laser Tubes

Glass laser tubes come at a lower cost. They produce laser with the direct current. It produces good-quality beams which work well for laser cutting. However, here are some of its drawbacks.

There are some safety issues as it operates with a water-cooling system. The DC power supply excite the CO2 gas in a glass laser tube. It needs high voltages for the operations. And combining such levels of voltage with a water-cooling system, it might create some safety hazards.

Glass tubes need water-cooled temperatures as it is a poor thermal conductor. Hence, in order to remove the heat from the system, it is important to keep water circulating. If there is no water-cooling system in place, a glass laser tube would overheat and become inoperable. It might increase your production cost. It also introduces other points which can come as your maintenance cost.

The DC process limits the rate at which the laser tube can work. While the laser engraving process is running in progress, it doesn’t fire in one continuous burst. Rather, it “pulses” while moving and working across the material. When DC-excited laser tubes work on the piece, they tend to pulsate less. It significantly reduces engraving speeds and lowers quality.

Plus, there will be concerns over the lifetime of DC-excited glass tubes if they don’t have premium parts like bystronic parts or prima spare parts. Glass is naturally a fragile element. After a period of time, DC-excitation process can bombard a tube’s optics and electrodes with ions. It increases the chance of deterioration over time. Most of them come with a 6-month warranty. At the time of system failures, you will have to purchase a brand-new laser tube, which will increase your costs and waste. 

Here’s the one-on-one comparison between two:

Cost: DC laser tubes are cheaper than metal tubes. This cost difference is a result of lower technology and manufacturing cost.

Cutting Performance: To be realistic, both laser tubes are appropriate at their place. However, because the RF lasers work on a pulse base, these materials show a slightly rough edge. With that difference, the quality of the final results is hardly noticeable to most of the users. 

Performance: Metal laser tubes generate a smaller spot size out of the output window of the laser. For high precision engraving, this smaller spot size would make a difference. There are various applications where this advantage would be clearly visible. 

Longevity: RF lasers last 4-5 times longer compared to DC lasers. Its longevity can help offset the initial higher cost of the RF laser. Due to its capacity of refilling, the process can be more expensive than the replacement cost of a new DC laser.

Comparing the overall results, both of these tubes are perfect at their own place. Understand their use cases, their making, their parts like bystronic parts, and choose which is more perfect for your business model.

Types of Major Laser Cutting Methods and Laser Cutters

Laser cutting is a process which uses a computer-administered process. It cuts the material with a computing process which generates a beam. The interface integration cuts the material along with the directions. Any of the material which comes in between the route will vaporize, burned, melted, to produce high-quality surface finish material. These machines are efficient as they reduce the production cost and provides with the quality material.

Here are the major 5 types of Laser Cutting Machines available in the market:

Rotary Laser Cutting: It is mainly good to perform cutting activities of steel tubes and pipes. Drilling, sawing, milling, etc. were the major conventional ways to process pipes in the past. Nowadays, you can process the cutting of pipes using updated rotary laser cutting machine at substantially reduced production cost. It helps to process ellipse tube, round tube, rectangular tube, and D-type tube materials. Manufacturers extend Rotary machines to process high speed, accurate, and precise laser work. These machines usually have premium Mazak parts and Fanuc parts.

5 Axis Laser Cutting: It is helpful to those who want to perform three-dimensional profile cutting and cutting of two-dimensional metal sheets. It yields highly effective and inexpensive outputs as compared to the conventional means. It helps you reach areas which would be difficult to cut using other conventional methods.

Robotic Laser Cutting: It is a modern-day 3D laser cutting innovation. It extends outstanding flexibility and provides great power control. You can monitor this process and access it from anywhere. It involves high precision with a specialized cutting head which has advanced autofocus sensors. The cutting system manufacturers provide robotic laser cutting machines which give effective outputs with a multi-axis mechanical arm.

Small Format Laser Cutting: It is majorly useful for metals and nonmetals. It has adjustable z-axis to cut through thick materials with high accuracy. You can adjust the height to maintain the focal length for high-quality material. With fewer maintenance requirements when compared to the conventional methods, it produces perfectly finished outputs.

Large Format Laser Cutting: Large Format Laser Cutting Systems provides 2D large format profile laser cutter. They are mainly good to yield a high level of efficiency required for Automotive, Aerospace, Sheet Metal Fabrication, Ship Building, and other materials. They provide accurate and efficient results.

Types of Laser Cutters:

1. The CO2 laser – For engraving, cutting and boring.
2. Fiber lasers – It belongs to the solid-state group.
3. Neodymium (Nd) laser and Neodymium yttrium-aluminum-garnet (Nd-YAG) laser – Best when required high energy and low repetition. Also used for boring. When it comes to style, Nd-YAG is best for boring and engraving with high power.

CO2 Lasers:

The CO2 laser is best for industrial cutting of various materials such as wood, glass, acrylic, leather, wax, plastics, wood, and other fabrics. It uses a carbon dioxide gas mixture stimulated by electricity. The most popular CO2 lasers are those which uses the radio frequency excited tube.

CO2 lasers are gas-based made with parts like Mazak parts and Fanuc parts. Nd and Nd-YAG lasers are crystal lasers. They are important for cutting materials, and ceramics since they are more powerful. Pumped by diodes, they contain expensive parts like Mazak parts or Fanuc parts which replace minimum 8000 to maximum 15000 hours of use.

Fiber lasers

They generate a laser beam with the so-called seed laser and amplify it is glass fibers. With a wavelength of 1.064 micrometers, fiber lasers can produce small focal diameter. As a result, its intensity is up to 100 times higher than that of CO2 lasers. They are suitable for metal marking by way of annealing, metal engraving, and high-contrast plastic markings.

MOPA laser is a special type of fiber laser. Its pulse durations are adjustable. That’s why it is one of the most flexible lasers suitable for many applications.

Nd-YAG

These crystal lasers belong to the solid-state lasers. Pumped with diodes they are crystal laser machines. The names of Nd and Nd-YAG laser is after doping element neodymium and the carrier crystal. Unlike fiber lasers, these include expensive pump diodes, which are wearing parts. The crystal ones  also have a shorter service life than a fiber laser.