How to Buy Metal Laser Cutter for Industrial Manufacturing?

A metal laser cutter comes with a high-density laser beam to scan the surface of the metal, heats the metal to a high temperature in short time, melts or vaporizes it, and then uses high-pressure gas to remove the molten or vaporized material from the slit. Blow away to achieve the purpose of cutting metal. Laser cutting technology is widely used in the fabrication of sheet metal and metal pipes, which can greatly reduce cutting time, reduce processing costs, and improve cutting quality.

Features

Metal laser cutting machine is a technological revolution in industrial manufacturing, and it is the "CNC machining center" in metal fabrication. The CNC laser metal cutting machine has high flexibility, fast cutting speed, high production efficiency, and short product production cycle. It has won a wide range of customers Market. The laser metal cutting system has no cutting force, no deformation, no tool wear, and good material adaptability. No matter it is simple or complex parts, it can be cut with laser precision and rapid forming at one time, with narrow slits, good cutting quality and high degree of automation, easy to operate, low labor intensity, no pollution. It can realize automatic cutting and nesting, which improves the utilization rate of materials, and has low production costs and good economic benefits.

Applications

Carbon Steel

Modern laser metal cutting systems can cut carbon steel with a maximum thickness of up to 70mm. The cutting seam of carbon steel with an oxidizing melting laser cutting machine can be controlled within a satisfactory width range, and the cutting seam for thin sheets can be as narrow as about 0.01mm.

Stainless Steel

Laser metal cutting machine is an effective processing tool for the manufacturing industry. Under strict control of the heat input in the laser cutting process, the heat-affected zone of the trimming can be restricted from becoming small, so as to more effectively maintain the good corrosion resistance of such materials.

Alloy Steel

Most alloy structural steels and alloy tool steels can be used to obtain good trimming quality by laser cutting. Even for some high-strength materials, as long as the process parameters are properly controlled, straight, non-sticky slag cutting edges can be obtained. However, for tungsten-containing high-speed tool steel and hot die steel, there will be erosion and slag sticking during laser cutting.

Aluminum & Alloy

Aluminum cutting belongs to melting cutting, and the auxiliary gas used is mainly used to blow away the molten product from the cutting area, and usually a better cut surface quality can be obtained. For some aluminum alloys, attention should be paid to prevent the occurrence of intercrystalline micro-cracks on the surface of the slit.

Copper & Alloy

Pure copper (red copper) basically cannot be cut with a CO2 laser beam due to its high reflectivity. Brass (copper alloy) uses a higher-power laser cutting machine, and the auxiliary gas uses air or oxygen, which can cut thinner plates.

Titanium & Alloy

Pure titanium can well couple the heat energy converted by the focused laser beam. When the auxiliary gas is oxygen, the chemical reaction is fierce, and the cutting speed is faster, but it is easy to form an oxide layer on the cutting edge, and it can cause overburn if you are not careful. For the sake of safety, it is better to use air as the auxiliary gas to ensure the cutting quality. The laser cutting quality of titanium alloy commonly used in the aircraft industry is better. Although there will be a little sticky slag at the bottom of the cut seam, it is easy to remove.

Nickel Alloy

Nickel-based alloys are also called super alloys, and there are many varieties. Most of them can be oxidized fusion cutting.

Buying Guide

There are many things to consider when buying a metal laser cutter. In addition to the maximum size of the workpiece, the material, the maximum thickness that needs to be cut, and the size of the raw material width, more considerations need to be given to the future development direction. For example, the size of the largest workpiece to be processed after the technical modification of the product, the breadth of the material provided by the steel market, which is the most economical for your product, and the loading and unloading time.

Equipment quality and stability in use are very important metrics. Nowadays, the product development cycle is short, and the update is faster and faster. There are more product diversity, sample trial production, and mass production. How to complete customer orders with quality and quantity, maintain corporate reputation, and enhance corporate competitiveness is also important. The arduous task facing each operator, so choosing CNC metal cutter with stable performance is the prerequisite and basis. Try to choose a brand with a high market share, a sound after-sales service system, a large number of after-sales service outlets, and long-term market testing. Buying low-quality products without after-sales service at low prices will have a huge impact on the production of enterprises.

Increasing the utilization rate of the equipment can properly meet the needs of the enterprise itself is high efficiency. High-power fiber laser cutting machine has fast speed and high processing efficiency. It is more suitable for cutting stations that specialize in foreign laser machining business. It can meet the delivery needs of customers relatively quickly. In addition, large enterprises with mass production of sheet metal are also more suitable for purchasing this type of equipment. However, if the company’s own processing capacity is insufficient, the equipment’s operating rate is insufficient, and the equipment’s potential cannot be fully utilized. Purchasing such equipment will result in a waste of resources. In addition, due to the purchase cost, use cost, and accessories of the high-power fiber laser cutting machine. The maintenance costs are quite high, which puts huge pressure on capital scheduling for small and medium-sized enterprises. Therefore, how to maximize the energy-saving laser cutting machine per unit capacity is the first choice for purchasing a CNC metal laser cutter.

Fiber Laser vs CO2 Laser

The transmission mode of fiber laser metal cutting system and CO2 laser metal cutting system is different. Fiber laser is not transmitted through mirror like CO2, which makes fiber laser technology have no range limit between mirrors. Similarly, when compared with a gas cutting system of the same power, the system is more compact due to the ability of the fiber to bend.

The electro-optical conversion efficiency of fiber laser metal cutting machine is far beyond that of CO2 laser metal cutting machine. Users can use fiber laser cutting machine to achieve higher power efficiency, which is between 25% and 30%, which is the third of the actual utilization rate of CO2 laser cutting system. Times to five times as much. Compared with the carbon dioxide cutting system, the energy efficiency of the fiber laser cutting machine is improved by more than 90%.

In terms of maintenance, the high-power CO2 laser cutting machine needs regular maintenance, such as the calibration of the reflector and the overhaul of the resonant cavity. The fiber laser cutting machine is maintenance-free in the later period.

Due to the short-wavelength features of fiber laser cutting machines, some non-conductive metal materials, brass and copper are more likely to absorb fiber laser beams. Because the fiber laser beam is more concentrated and the spot is smaller, the cutting speed of the fiber laser cutting machine is faster when cutting thin and medium-thick plates. When cutting materials up to 6mm thick, the cutting speed of a 1000W fiber laser cutting system is equivalent to that of a 2000W CO2 laser cutting system.