If we look at the major categories, there are a total of three types of laser machines available.
- CO2 laser cutter: They are useful on plastics, foam, leather, paper products, wood, acrylic.
- Fiber laser cutter: They are useful in metals and plastics.
- Crystal laser cutter: They are useful on materials like plastics, metal and some types of ceramics.
Each of the laser machines being unique in their own way and have advantages of their own.
If you are a shop owner then you can use laser machines to engrave and customize the products of your shop according to your customers’ needs. You can even collaborate with some of the NGOs and help customize their products.
Fiber and CO2 cutting machines have been a mainstream cutting solution for the fabricators. But if you look closely, they both have differences in terms of applications.
For example,
Speed – Fiber laser machines are faster than CO2 lasers in thin materials as a slight lead in speed absorbs laser with when cutting with Nitrogen.
Cost per part – Fiber ones cost less than the CO2 laser depending on sheet thickness.
Beam guidance – fiber optics.
The workflow:
Fiber laser cutting is a method which makes use of focused high power density as the main heat source to illuminate the workpiece.
The use of laser cutting with parts like bystronic parts, precitec nozzles is increasing day by day because of its ease of use and advancements.
Let’s look at the advantages it has to offer:
Fiber laser cutting machines are less expensive. This is the major advantage of having a laser machine. The focus lens comes covered within the cutting head.
So, if you use a focus lens with care then there are more chances of it staying for a long time and you will not need to replace it continuously.
This, in turn, helps in maintaining the machine and decreases the operating costs. Fiber optic cabling passes the light pulses hence it does not require moving mirrors to generate the laser.
Another form of laser parts like bystronic parts, precitec nozzles uses a moving mirror in order to heighten the laser’s power. You need to maintain the mirror on a regular basis to use it for a long time.
If you do not maintain the machine then the chances of material damaging may increase. This makes the laser machine offline but it may even increase the operational costs.
The main advantage of fiber laser is its speed. Suppose you are cutting a straight line of 1mm in thickness then, a fiber laser will cut three times faster than traditional laser.
However, while cutting through 2mm thickness the speed may decrease twice and not less than that.
It represents the sizable changes.
The major problem of using traditional laser can be its reflective material. There are chances of laser to bounce back the reflective material, which in turn damages the equipment.
Because of this reason the traditional lasers are no more useful when you want to cut brass, aluminum, and copper. But, with the help of fiber optic lasers working on reflective material becomes easy.
Conventional CO2 laser needs energy to produce the laser beam. In fact, the 2kW fiber laser cutting setup uses a third power as a 4kW CO2.
However, the fiber optic is not efficient every time but, due to the low energy requirements, it increases the life expectancy of hardware.
Fiber laser machines have cooling systems in comparison with other laser machines. This maintains the overall health of the machine by keeping the heat low and does even distribution through the setup.
Conclusion:
Laser cutting machines have been in the market for a year now and they are here to stay. The use of these machines is beyond our imagination.
Each laser type has its own time and a place. However, these are the most substantial benefits a fiber optics laser has over other conventional lasers.
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