Let's Discover the Behind the Scenes of Laser Cutters

Laser cutters help you produce products with high standards of precision. They are accurate and capable of providing you detailed and complex cuts. Overall, they provide you the freedom to design your products the way you want. You can cut materials using these machines according to your designs. And 99.9% of the time there are no chances of error.

These are fully automated and saves a lot of your production time. As your worker just needs to move materials, it leads to low material wastage with lower production costs. They can also provide laser engraving services to develop your projects and find a solution for your production. You can produce different depths and dimensions of your projects.

Let’s find out how.

The Working

It is a digital manufacturing technology, working on 2D vector files. The laser cutter has a laser resonator that depends on the cutting method, containing a mixture of a crystal body or glass fibers. When there is a force of energy applied to the mixture of the cutting process, the force sends the beam through different mirror lenses which focus on the laser.

The laser beam travels through the nozzle straight at the material. When it contacts the surface, it vaporizes the material in the shape of the vector file. There is a part of the material which melts with the laser, that is Kerf.

Basically, the laser beam is a column of very high-intensity light of a single wavelength or color. For a typical CO2 laser, its wavelength is in the infra-red part of the light spectrum. Hence, it is invisible to the human eye. The beam is about ¾ of an inch in diameter. It travels from the laser resonator that creates the beam on the machine’s beam path. These rays may bounce in different directions by several mirrors, or beam benders before they focus onto the plate. The focused beam will go through the bore of a nozzle right before it hits the plate. Also passing through that nozzle bore is a compressed gas like Oxygen or Nitrogen.

You can focus the laser beam by a special lens, or a curved mirror that takes place in the laser cutting head. It should focus on the spot of the laser material. The focus spot and density of the energy on it should be perfectly round, consistent, and centered in the nozzle. Just like when you use a magnifying glass to focus the sun’s rays onto a leaf, and that soon catches fire. Now when you think about when you focus 6KWatts of energy into a single spot, it can get extremely hot. The laser cutters containing Mazak parts or Bystronic parts can easily handle these high wattages for the best results.

This high-powered density can cause rapid heating, melting, and partial or complete vaporizing of the material. When you are cutting mild steel, the heat of the laser beam is enough to create an “oxy-fuel” burning process, and the laser gas will be pure oxygen, resembling an oxy-fuel torch. When you cut stainless steel or aluminum, the laser beam melts the material. The high-pressure nitrogen is the main component to blow the molten metal out of the kerf.

With a CNC laser cutter, laser cutting head can move over the metal plate in the shape of the desired part. Hence, it cuts the part out of the plate. A capacitive height control system can maintain an accurate distance between the end of the nozzle and the plate being cut. The cut can be affected by raising or lowering the focal point from just above the surface of the plate.

Other than these, many other parameters that work and affect quality. But when you control them properly, laser cutting gives a stable, reliable, and accurate cutting process.

The Endless Opportunities that come with it

You can make the most of this technology in various industries using high-quality laser cutters with Mazak parts and Bystronic parts. Whether it is a mechanical engineering, a technical firm or a creative space. For example, you can combine 3D printing and laser cutting. And after that, you get perfect for production needs and highly customized products.

Dual Source Laser Machines: Does your Business Need one?

Lately, there has been a huge rise in the number of dual-source laser machines. These machines can deliver better results in less time. The main reason is the demand in the market and the ease these machines provide. With such a laser system, you can have more options in one machine. You can choose a suitable laser source for your requirements.

If you are a novice in the laser cutter world, let me give you a brief on this. The dual-source system includes both CO2 and fiber laser sources in a single system. The CO2 laser has a versatile frequency that works well with wood, plastic, glass, marble, and more. But for engraving, you cannot rely on them. That’s when fiber lasers come in the picture. Now when you have a dual-source laser machine, you can switch out between these two sources according to the use and application. These machines are durable if used with the right parts like Amada parts or Trumpf replacement parts. The key is to invest in the right things.

The major benefit you get from this dual laser source is the versatility of the system. But is it really suitable for your business? Do you actually need one?

Let’s find out.

Are you using/planning only one source?

Based on your needs, you might use fiber laser less often than CO2. But there has been a surge in the applications of these fiber lasers and you will find yourself using these lasers more & more in the near future. Hence, having a dual source laser in place can prepare you for the future and you can add additional material processing capabilities. You can do all this without having to invest in the second machine.

However, it is important to remember that with the dual-source, you can use one type of laser source at a time. If you wish to use both simultaneously, then a dual-source laser machine is not the right choice for you. In such cases, opting for the systems separately would be a better option. You can make use of your single-use machines to the fullest too by using Amada parts & Trumpf replacement parts.

What’s your work area look like?

When you have limited floor space, a dual system makes perfect sense for you. It can be an appealing option having a system that can produce results of both CO2 and Fiber laser without expanding your physical workspace. Hence, if you have space for only one machine, a dual system would maximize the capabilities of your machinery.

What is the nature of your products?

After these factors, it is important to consider if the products you work on contain dual material. For example, does it contain plastic and steel? Or metal and leather together? In such cases, a dual-source can be the perfect choice for your application. With a dual system, you can engrave using both the CO2 and fiber laser in a single job.

Benefits:

Has the Best Features

When it comes to dual source laser machines, it allows you to process a variety of materials in a single operation. For example, the CO2 laser course is best for engraving, cutting plastics, wood, rubber, leather and other materials. And the fiber laser is correct for marking metals and staining plastics. You get a blend of these features in dual-source laser machines which makes it a perfect combo for your business.

Fewer Laser Jobs with High Output

Depending on your material, you can get your job done easily using a dual-source laser without manually changing laser tube, lens or focus. In such machines, you can easily assign sources to the associated software with just a touch and get the job done. You can do each of the laser applications, annealing marking, metal engraving, etc. in no time. It saves a lot of time providing you more flexibility to help you grow business.

Before investing in such a machine, it is important to describe your requirements. Decide if your system needs such a type of laser system or not. When you go into the purchasing process, ask the right questions to yourself and make sure you are prepared to make an informed decision.

Automated Laser Cutting: A Hit or Miss?

Automation has been a common factor in all the industries now. And the metal fabrication industry is just one of them. The common goals of a fabrication company include increased production speed and boosted capacity to meet the growing demand.

Can automation help you meet these requirements? Let’s find out.

Is Automation Right for Your Business?

It solely depends on your short-term and long-term needs. By applying laser automation, you get:

Speed: With automation in place, material loading speed accelerates up to 35%. 

Capacity: You can achieve the highest production results with your machine.

Consistency: With automated laser cutters, you can perform precisely and get everything (time between cycles, load and unload times) down.

Finding the Right Type

Loading/Unloading System: When you add such type of system with the existing machines, it enables them to function unattended for a longer period of time. You might see an increase in productivity by 2.8 times. It includes a single load and separates unload tables. It restricts you to one material type/thickness at a time, making it an ideal choice for batch productions where you require fewer changes.

Flexible Manufacturing System (FMS):

Such a system makes it possible to run a variety of material types and thicknesses without any assistance from an operator. FMS has multiple storage shelves that let you load materials into one or more laser cutting machines. These systems typically deliver a beam on-time of roughly 92% and 14.7 hours of cutting per day. They can be an ideal choice for small-batch productions and frequent material changes.

Your Initial Stage Configurations

The Types of Materials

With simple systems like the load/unload system, it uses a single table. With FMS systems, you can load a range of materials into different shelves.

The Number of Machines

A compact system can work well with the machines you already have. In the future, when you want to expand your business to a certain extent, a modular solution will be a more logical option. 

The key here is designing your system to handle a bit overcapacity. And you would not want to go overboard, as it might tie up too much operating capital.

The Considerations

Most systems have a maximum capacity of 1” sheet of the mild steel. You can design systems to run single sheets without using any transceiver which will give more flexibility. In case if you need parts automatically sorted, you can build some systems to cut parts from a skeleton, depositing them on a specific offload table or you can deposit them in a bin.

How would you like to control your automation system?

Load/Unload systems are typically simpler. They use a basic cell controller to load the program sequence-wise on your machine. An FMS will need a more sophisticated system which prioritizes tasks, manage inventories, provide data about the cuts, when, and more.

What type of material unloading system will you need?

There are so many options available which you can consider. It could be any of the following: fixed tables, scissor-lift tables, multiple offload tables, rail systems, and conveyors. Also, make sure you are using either Prima spare parts or Mitsubishi laser spare parts when converting to automated lasers.

The Challenges

Here are some of the challenges to keep an eye on:

• Labor: You will need highly skilled operators to monitor production if you want superior quality results.
• Morale: When your team supports the transition of production from manual to automation, it will help you become a greater success in the long run.
• Effects on Other Machines: If laser cutting is a bottleneck, it is important to make sure that operators and machines downstream are prepared to handle the increased production time, when your automated laser cutter is fully functional.
• Laser Parts: There are some medium quality parts available in the market which could seem like an economical choice but will hurt you in the long run. So, whenever doing the transition from manual to automation, make sure you are using Prima spare parts or Mitsubishi laser spare parts.

If you as a fabricator wish to accelerate the overall flow from automated laser cutting, it is important to choose the right laser machine with the right partner by your side to make this implementation a success for your business.

How to Maximizing Your Laser Production

With laser engraving and cutting system, there is one thing that comes as an absolute benefit: the speed. These systems render the fastest results to etch a pattern or cut the piece with the design. But when you have such a system in place, it is important to maintain efficiency otherwise it can hamper your overall growth. So, here are six hacks to help you with maximizing your Laser Production. 

1. Make a Batch

A basic thing to pay your attention to. When you print multiples at one time, it reduces production time. This can be possible in the cases when you require the same engraving or cutting on more than one item. When you engrave in batches, you can experience an increase of 37% in the time savings. When you are working in the batches, how many products would go in once depends hugely on the table size. You need to enlarge the page size in your graphic design program to match the full table size where you place your laser. In such cases, you can use a jig to space out the items. The output from any batch would be a result of using the right nozzle which includes a Trumpf nozzle or Precitec nozzles.

Adjusting Resolution

This is another factor to consider when you want to increase production. Especially in engraving jobs, it is important that the final image output is adequate. When you keep your DPI(Dots per inch) higher, it will take longer to engrave the item. And if your DPIs are higher, then the dots are going to be closer together. This will produce a detailed image, but it might take a bit longer time. If you lower your engraving resolution a bit, it can increase your time savings by 33% or more. The key here is to find the right combination of resolution and pattern which render achievable results with good quality in less time.

Color Mapping

Using color mapping can save your engraving time. For example, there is a design with three columns and in it, there are 30 names. At first, the laser will see it as one image and the laser head will travel over the white space columns to engrave the graphic. When you have a color mapping in place, it enables you to skip all the white space as it assigns each column a different color and an associated engraving order. This way, the laser will engrave one column at a time, traveling over white space. It will save you almost 43% time depending on the item you have put for the job. For better results of this technique, you can use a Trumpf nozzle or Precitec nozzles in the implementation.

Center engraving

This makes it easy to work with the various sized items, as you can create a custom template for each one. It allows the user to move the laser by hand to the center of the project. Set the center point as the new home position and the laser will utilize that point to properly place the graphic. Compared to other items it will save you a lot of time.

Pre-engrave Items

Customization is a great opportunity to give your business a new customer base. But singular jobs can prove to be very inefficient. Because if you load and produce the same design over and over in your engraving machine, it consumes a lot of your production time. To overcome this obstacle, you can pre-engrave and create an inventory of your popular items. This way you can just load pre-engraved material and save a lot of money & time.  Thus, pre-engraving can help you to engrave the same items in one go to decrease the production time. It becomes easy to pre-engrave the major graphics of the design onto a batch. Once the order comes in, you can simply use one of the pre-engraved boards back in the machine.

Using Job Manager

Using a job manager will help in keeping track of the regular jobs done in your laser machine. It becomes easy to streamline your laser processing workflow. It saves your time by giving you access to job time records, databases, status and more.

In a Nutshell

It is important to maximize your laser production for long-term production benefits. When it comes to laser machines, keeping these little things in place would help you eliminate unnecessary gaps in your system. Plus, an increased rate of the job will be your additional advantage.

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.