When discussing technological advancements, it is impossible to overlook laser technology. The laser has a phenomenal capacity for energy absorption. The laser primarily establishes itself in the laser-cutting device.
Due to the laser’s high level of precision and accuracy, it has become clear that it is the best option for all other technologies. Laser-cutting equipment works incredibly quickly and with the highest level of precision. Although there are many aspects of lasers that can be discussed, we will focus on laser-cutting machines in this article.
What Exactly Is Laser Cutter?
Laser cutters produce the cut or etch required for your unique patterns, designs, and shapes by melting, burning, or vaporising certain materials using a thin and concentrated laser beam. Since its introduction in the early 1960s, laser cutting has gained applications in a variety of fields, including electronics, medical, aerospace, and the automotive industry.
Cutting metal, whether it be steel, tungsten, aluminium, brass, or nickel, is one of the most popular uses for lasers because they produce precise cuts and finishes. Lasers are also excellent at cutting other materials, including certain gemstones, glass, paper, metal, and plastic. They are even more versatile because they don’t require any specialised equipment to create complicated designs.
Any equipment that uses a laser to physically remove or cut the material to form designs and patterns is considered a laser cutting machine. The substance can be melted, burned, or vaporised with the laser beam employed in these devices.
How Laser Cutting Operates
The light we typically observe is composed of a variety of wavelengths that are out of phase and travelling in all directions. In general, laser light is produced when particular materials have the capacity to receive an energy input and transform it into energy in the form of light with a specific wavelength. Smaller wavelengths have the maximum energy and will always be emitted by the same substance.
How to Select a Laser Cutter
The laser beam, which makes up the majority of the laser cutter, controls the material that it may cut or engrave by determining its wavelength and power. Solid-state lasers, fibre lasers, and CO2 lasers are the three major types of lasers used in laser cutting.
Fibre Laser
The market for metal cutting with solid-state lasers is expanding quickly, particularly fibre lasers. The large surface area to volume ratio of the fibre, which enables effective cooling, supports high output power for fibre lasers, which are supplied by semiconductor laser diodes. The fibre laser works well for engraving and cutting metal, but not non-metal. Despite being more expensive, this kind of laser’s exceptional optical performance and rapidity makes it the best option for cutting and marking industrial metal.
Solid-State Laser
One of the oldest technologies, solid-state lasers, uses a glass rod or crystalline that has been “doped” with ions to provide the necessary energy states. Nd:YAG lasers and diode lasers are the two most popular types.
A laser diode is a semiconductor technology that emits light at its junction, much like a light-emitting diode. This method is typically used in laser pointers and DVD, CD, and Blu-ray disc recording and reading. The intensity of a diode laser is typically lower than 10W; for example, the FLUX Australia Delta+’s laser engraving module employs a 200-diode laser.
Diode lasers are perfect for engraving small amounts of non-metal due to their low power, slow engraving speed, and dark colour of the finished product. Although the laser power is often lower than that of other kinds of a laser engraver, it is quicker as well as stronger than diode lasers, making it perfect for engraving metal.
FLUX HEXA CO2 Laser Cutter & Engraver
One of the first gas lasers to be created was the carbon dioxide laser, which produces light by passing energy through a tube filled with gas.
High Power CO2 Laser of 1000W+
Additionally, the 1000W–5000W CO2 laser can also cut metal. Although it uses more power, this approach is more advanced than others and produces greater results and precision than fibre lasers.
CO2 Laser, 40W to 150W
This laser’s wavelength, 10640 nm, is well suited for cutting and engraving non-metals like leather, wood, acrylic, paper, rubber, and more because it can be absorbed by the majority of organic materials. On the glass, pebbles, and anodised aluminium, engraving is possible. Materials with greater melting points cannot be cut while a 50W machine operates at full power since the focal point temperature is close to 300° C. Still, metals such as stainless steel and titanium can be marked if they are covered with a specific coating.
The newest product FLUX Australia proudly offers the FLUX Beambox CO2 Laser Cutter & Engraver, which is ideal for laser etching and cutting on non-metal materials. Beambox has a camera alignment function, a thriving user community, and proprietary software that supports Mac OS X, Windows 7+, and Linux. You can even engrave on metal with a special coat. For makers, designers, schools, and studios that wish to fully utilise laser engraver technology to bring their concepts to life at a very affordable price, Beambox is the perfect option.