Laser Engraving Machines and 3D Printers: Different or Similar?

3D printer and laser engraving or cutting are currently the two most popular terms in the laser industry. They have lots of things in common and differences too. 

These machines are useful for large third-party houses to provide products to companies and individuals to meet their needs. They use parts like Fanuc parts and Fanuc spare parts in these machines for efficient results. The progress in technology and miniaturization helps to put both these tools together for everyone to easily make their own toys, engrave their objects, and use for business purposes.

These machines are computer-driven and run a program to create the type of project the user requires.

In 3D printing, the key is to mold the product and help users to create various types of objects, toys, devices, or projects. 

Whereas, in laser engraving, programming makes sure that the laser fires at the perfect place and follows the given directions. And machines having parts like Fanuc parts or Fanuc spare parts gives perfect results.

Initially, laser machines and 3D printers were costly and useful only if you are either rich or own a business that requires the use of these machines frequently. But, now there are inexpensive 3D printers in the market. Similarly, laser machines were too costly too but with time they became affordable.

Let's look at each of them in brief:

3D Printer:

In 3D printing, three-dimensional object creation happens through forming layers of materials on top of each other. You can create any size of object be it small or large using 3D printers and computer-aided software. They are also known as additive manufacturing. One of the major benefits of it is that you can create custom objects for different uses and it is also fast in manufacturing these objects.

The constant increase in the level of complexity and efficiency gave birth to different and exciting ways to create parts for various products. These printers are useful to create parts or objects at a cheap rate.

You can create almost anything using 3D printers. Adidas is using 3D printing to create custom soles for shoes to give consumers perfect and better fits.

The US Navy is using this to print a submersible hull for future military vehicles. Some organizations are using 3D printers to manufacture parts of aircraft or spacecraft. Whereas, some are using it in the healthcare sector to make prosthetics.

These are just some of the basic innovations that have surfaced with the rise of 3D printers.

Laser Engraving:

Laser engraving is the process in which the laser beam removes parts of a materials’ surface to create an image that we can see and feel. The laser, having Fanuc parts or Fanuc spare parts, emits high heat during the engraving process which causes the material to vaporize. You can use a laser beam to cut through different materials like wood, acrylic, leather, cork, etc.

Initially, laser engraving was used only by big businesses, for awards or trophy shops, for personalizing items for corporate use. But, today laser engraving is used by small businesses as well because of the rise in the maker spaces and ecommerce business. 

You can customize things like jewelry, craft supplies, pens, wallets, glassware, photos, phone covers, musical instruments, bottles, and many such things.

Mostly laser engraving is useful to personalize an object with the logo, brand, or some names. With the demand in personalization, there has been an increase in the use of laser engraving.

Lasers can cut through the materials and so there is a rise in popularity for creating prototypes, architectural models, and much more. 

It has also become a great market for industrial businesses that use the process for engraving serial numbers, time stamps, part numbers, barcode etching, etc. These industrial businesses are using laser engraving as an additional layer for securing devices, preventing fraud, and easily tracing the inventory.

The constant increase of the use of laser machines in the industries helped to achieve a compound annual growth rate of 5.5% over a period of five years. Different purposes require different types of laser engraving machines.

Final Words:

Using laser engraving machines or 3D printers depends on your requirements. But, it is essential to know the difference and similarities between them. They are here to stay and be an essential part of the industry.

Source: https://altpartsinc.wixsite.com/altpartsinc/single-post/2020/06/03/Laser-Engraving-Machines-and-3D-Printers-Different-or-Similar

Revisiting the Basics of Laser Cutting

Laser, a technical word, is one of the most common words which we have been using and hearing for a long time.

But,

Did you know that laser is an acronym for “Light Amplification by Stimulated Emission of Radiation”? It is a byword for efficiency and quality in materials processing since its emergence in the sixties.

It offers an entirely new way of using energy which helps manufacturing, medicine, and communications. You can heat, melt and even vaporize materials using lasers. It is an ideal medium for channelizing intense but controllable energy.

But they are most popular for cutting.

So, let’s brush up the basics of laser cutting and its uses?

Laser cutting is the thermal process that focuses laser beams on a particular area to melt material. It uses a coaxial gas jet to eject molten material and create a kerf.

As the laser beam or workpiece moves continuously under CNC control, it produces a cut.

There are three varieties of laser cutting:

1. Fusion Cutting
2. Flame Cutting
3. Remote Cutting

Let’s look at each in brief.

Fusion cutting: This cutting uses molten material to expel the kerf. Nitrogen gas does not react with molten material and as a result, it does not contribute to the energy input. It is advisable to use lasers with Trumpf spare parts and Fanuc spare parts for the best quality work.

Flame cutting: This laser cutting uses oxygen along with other gases and exerts the mechanical force on the molten material. This, in turn, creates an exothermic reaction which increases the energy input process.

Remote cutting: In this laser cutting, the material partially evaporates because of the high-intensity laser beam. As a result, this cuts the thin sheets without using any gas.

You can use automation in the laser cutting process using offline CAD/CAM systems. It helps in controlling three-axis flatbed systems or six-axis robots for three-dimensional laser cutting.

With the improvements in accuracy, edge squareness, and heat input control, the laser cutting technique is replacing other profiling cutting techniques like plasma and oxy-fuel.

Let’s look at the most vital thing in a laser cutting machine which we tend to forget easily.

Yes, you guessed it right, we are talking about the lens in laser cutting machines. We often forget that lenses can affect the thickness of the cut which is important for the cut.

So, let’s understand how it works.

In laser cutting, you focus laser beams using a lens (sometimes a concave mirror) on a small spot where you need to produce a laser cut.

One can define a lens by its focal length. And what is focal length? It’s the distance from the lens to the focused point.

There are two basic things which affect the efficiency of laser cutting:

1. Focused point diameter(d)
2. Depth of focus (L) - Focal Length

The effective distance which gives you satisfactory cuts is known as the depth of the focus. You can also define it as the distance at which the area of the spot doesn’t increase beyond 50%.

These two things, depth of focus and focal spot diameter, depend on the raw laser beam diameter on the lens and the focal length of the lens. And on the spare parts you use. For best results, use Trumpf spare parts and Fanuc spare parts.

Understand, constant raw laser beam diameter decreases the focal length of the focusing lens which results in smaller focal spot diameter and focus depth.

If there is a constant focus length lens then it increases raw beam diameter which reduces the spot diameter and depth of focus.

To compare lasers with different beam diameters we use focus f-number, which is focal length, F, and then divide it by incoming raw beam diameter, D.

There are two major requirements you need to consider for laser cutting:

1. High power density which focuses on small spot size.
2. Long depth of focus to process thick materials providing a reasonable amount of tolerance to focus on position variation.

But, the problem occurs when we realize that these two requirements are in conflict and you need to make some or the other compromises.

Hence, you need to consider the fact if the focal length is short, then the lens would be closer to the workpiece which can cause damages to the lens during the cutting process.

Wrapping it up:

It is necessary to understand the basics of any machinery part before you buy it. Because as an owner of that product you need to understand why you are investing in that thing and how even a small machinery part can impact highly on your business. Also, make sure to replace any worn out parts with only high-quality parts like Trumpf spare parts and Fanuc spare parts.

How to Achieve Burr Free Laser Cutting

Picture this scenario:

You are offloading a sheet of cut parts from the laser machine. From all these pieces, you will pick up a few pieces to reveal clean edges for the next step. And you leave the rest of the pieces with the burred finish.

In order to avoid such burred finishes, you need to know which parameters you exactly need to work on. Here are some handful of strategies to help you get the burr-free prints the way you want.

What Causes Burr?

During the process of laser cutting, the laser beam’s intense energy brings the metal beyond its melting temperature, and the powerful action of the assist gas leaves the metal from the kerf. When you use nitrogen, the cutting process relies on the beam’s energy to melt the metal. When carbon steel is cut, the oxygen interacts with the hot metal for an exothermic reaction. And that adds extra heat.

This is why you don’t need as much gas pressure to eject the material. With oxygen cutting, you have much lower pressure and slower dynamic flow of the gas. Overall, these burrs form from the molten metal solidifying faster than its evacuation. The solid material becomes a deposit at the bottom of the kerf. You can also control the burr by using the right nozzles, Mitsubishi spare parts, and Fanuc spare parts.

The Gas Dynamic

When it comes to nitrogen assist gas, operators need to make changes with quality, efficiency, and costs in mind. It can make up to 35 to 50 percent of the variable cost in laser cutting. Hence, it is important to control the overall consumption. When you set up cutting parameters, it is important to minimize the nozzle diameter. It is also essential to choose the smallest nozzle diameter that you can use to achieve the anticipated quality and performance.

After determining the smallest nozzle diameter, you need to determine the lowest possible pressure to obtain a quality cut with good molten metal separation with no burrs.

It is not the Speed

A burr-free finish is not something achievable with nozzle diameter and gas pressure. You also have to pay attention to the spare parts you are using. Make sure they are either Mitsubishi spare parts or Fanuc spare parts. Additionally, when you go too slowly, you might end up injecting more heat than needed in the kerf. And this might end up raising the temperature to an extreme level. Eventually, it causes vaporization which disturbs the gas flow

That disturbance, in turn, causes more burrs, not less. This means that an operator can make cut quality worse by slowing the feed rate.

You can prevent such events by increasing the cutting speed incrementally.

Consider Oxygen Cuts

When it comes to oxygen cutting for carbon steel, consider the exothermic reaction. It is a fact that with both CO2 and fiber lasers when you increase oxygen global purity to 99.95 percent or above, you can increase the cutting speed in production. Sometimes between 30 to 40 percent.

When an oxygen vacuum flask or cylinder has a drop in purity level, it is usually argon. It happens because the oxygen gets produced cryogenically in an air-separation unit, both oxygen and argon liquefy at similar temperatures.

When you add argon into it, it changes the exothermic reactions. It, in turn, affect the cutting performance. The exothermic reaction works in conjunction with the gas flow rate to burn and evacuate the molten material. If the molten material and oxidized slag aren’t removed effectively, it remains as a burr on the cut edge.

At last pumping

In most laser cutting systems, installers know to avoid elbows in the gas plumbing or to oversize the piping diameter to compensate for pressure drops. With downtime and gas not flowing to the laser, air penetrates and fills the pipe. It can cause problems when the laser is restarted for the next shift or operation.

Final Words!

In order to achieve the burr-free cut, the beam parameters and gas dynamics should work together to ensure the right amount of molten metal evacuates the kerf at the prime time.

5 Avoidable Mistakes of in Laser Engraving

Utilizing heavy machinery demands its proper usage to avoid pitfalls. Whether a novice or an experienced engineer, it is important to learn how you can avoid common mistakes while operating heavy machinery like Laser engraving. It may harm its sensitive parts as not all the parts come with a great resistance power except for Mitsubishi spare parts and Fanuc spare parts.

When issues occur, you might end up just guessing what went wrong while using it. So, to help you we have come up with common mistakes you might be making.

1. Using Wrong Fabrics

Using laser on a fabric which cannot withstand with it will end up burning. Research and understand which fabrics can combat high power settings during the process. Denim, leather, canvas can resist high power settings. When you use delicate fabrics, set your settings at high speed and gradually lower the power to 5%-10%. And to avoid wasting any material, test a small piece, in the beginning, to see if the fabric can withstand. Adjust the power until you get the results.

While attempting direct-to-garment engraving, lower the DPI (dots per inch). Engraving at a lower DPI will ensure the laser vaporizes the top layer and doesn’t burn entirely through the fabric. General engravings work best at 150 to 300 DPI.

2)Using the Wrong Acrylic

There are two types of acrylic used in laser engraving.

1. Liquid Acrylic
2. Extruded Acrylic

Liquid acrylic is best when producing cast acrylic sheets and objects. You pour it into the molds to set into various shapes and sizes. It is the perfect type of acrylic for engraving as it turns frosty white color while engraving. It won’t give your projects flame-polished edges on cutting it with the laser.

Another type of acrylic used for engraving is Extruded acrylic. A machine turns extruded acrylic in sheet format. And because of the high-volume manufacturing technique, it is less expensive.  It cuts clean with smooth outputs and produces a flame-polished edge. And when used for engraving, it provides you with clear engraving. So, if you want a frosted white finish, do your engraving project with liquid acrylic.

3) Inconsistent Glass Engraving

While you are using laser engraving on glass, sometimes it does not get through it properly. As a result, it fractures the surface. Eventually, it will produce the fractured glass surface with a frosted appearance. Rough and chipped.

To avoid that and produce a smooth frosted finish, here are some tips to help you:

• User lower resolution. Up to 300 DPI. As you separate the dots you are engraving, it will produce better results.
• A DIY tip: Apply a thin, wet sheer of newspaper or a paper towel to the area to help with the heat dissipation. It improves the overall process. Make sure the paper you are applying is flat and not wrinkled.
• You can also try changing the color black in your graphic to 80 percent black.
• Polish the area with a non-scratch scouring pad.
• User better laser parts. Mitsubishi spare parts, Fanuc spare parts will increase the efficiency of your machine.
• Apply a thin layer of liquid dish soap in the area.

4) Not Getting Same Results while Wood Engraving

We see maximum engraving happening on the wood. It is one of the most laser-friendly materials available out there. As woods have different types, they might react differently to laser engraving. For example, if you make a large square from a piece of cherry, it would have a uniform appearance. If the same piece was made out of oak, it might vary in height with a non-uniform appearance.

• To smoke and debris, try engraving from the bottom up.
• Wipe off the surface of the wood with a damp cloth when engraving the stained wood.

5) Lack of Efficiency in the Engraver

When it comes to maintenance, it is important to clean the machine on a regular base. You get the manuals along with your machine. It is also important to inspect the optics on a weekly base when needed. Notice when your optics look smudgy. Because that’s when you have to clean them.

Conclusion

These are the most common mistakes you could be making. If you are a manufacturer, designer, or a layman, avoid these mistakes and increase the efficiency of your laser machine.