How does it work?
Almost all laser cutters work similarly. It all starts with the laser source.
The laser source produces a powerful beam of focused and redirected light. It passes through focusing and reflecting mirrors and converges into a narrow beam, which greatly increases the energy density of the laser.
When enough light is gathered together, powerful energy instantly penetrates the material. This also shows that only sufficiently powerful energy can penetrate materials.
How to use a metal laser cutter
Laser cutting metal usually produces a high-quality cut without secondary finishing processes.
However, many metals are reflective, so how do you overcome these challenges?
You need to set the optimum parameters to cut the metal.
Firstly prepare the design for laser cutting the metal. It is always recommended that the cutting element’s thickness be greater than the workpiece’s. This ensures the structural integrity of the design.
It also helps to reduce heat shadows in specific areas and prevents the metal from overheating.
Set the optimum parameters according to the type of metal so that the metal laser cutter can keep working well.
Laser Power
Power is one of the most important laser parameters of a metal laser cutter and determines the laser’s ability to cut different materials.
The higher the power, the better the cutting ability of the laser.
If you want to cut metal sheets of more than 10mm, choose a cutting power of more than 1KW.
Cutting speed
The cutting speed of your Metal laser cutter determines your productivity. The faster the speed, the shorter the processing time and the higher the productivity.
Try to use high power and low speed when cutting thick metals.
Slowing down the cutting speed increases the dwell time of the laser, which increases the amount of energy absorbed by the metal and generates more heat to vaporize it.
Auxiliary Gases
The auxiliary gas plays a vital role in the laser cutting of metals. It protects the focusing lens from debris generated during cutting and facilitates good cutting results.
Auxiliary gases also help to increase productivity.
Common auxiliary gases are oxygen, nitrogen, and air.
Air is the cheapest of these auxiliary gases and generally protects the focusing lens, but it has no significant effect on the quality of the metal cut or the speed.
Oxygen accelerates the evaporation of the metal and can increase the cutting speed. However, oxygen is not recommended for metals highly susceptible to oxidative reactions with oxygen, as it can produce an oxide layer.
Nitrogen is good for providing the best cutting results and can be used with all metals, although it is more costly.
Exhaust system
The exhaust system deals with the fumes generated during the cutting process. Smoke generated during the cutting process can harm the operator’s health and affect the cutting results.
Laser Focus
The laser focus affects the cutting results of the metal laser cutter. When cutting thick metals, you can set the laser focus at 1/3 of the thickness of the workpiece. This gives the best results.
Cutting Tests
Metal laser cutters have different parameters for cutting different metals. You should always test cuts on the same metal scrap before cutting the workpiece. A cutting test before cutting helps you understand the material’s processing characteristics and find the optimum cutting power, speed, focus, etc. This also helps to reduce your production costs.