6 Tips to Enhance the Laser Cutting Process

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6 Tips to Enhance the Laser Cutting Process
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• Laser cutting is an amazing manufacturing process
  mainly used
• by engineers in the manufacturing industry. Laser
  cutters use a focused beam to pierce a material
  speci?ed by the designers.
• Apart from cutting, laser cutters can also raster
  onto a workpiece by heating the surface of the
  workpiece. This process makes the prototyping
  quick.
• Laser cutters are a convenient tool for
  prototyping and manufacturing they are mainly
  used in machine shops on an industrial scale to
  cut huge pieces of materials. They are also used
  to create cheap and quick prototypes.

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Also, laser cutters produce harmful fumes that
are very risky. One way to reduce the risk
is by using good quality parts like Bystronic
laser parts or prima laser parts. Here are some
other tips you can use to enhance your laser
cutting. Select a Software and Master it Do you
use Adobe Illustrator? Or are you handy with
CorelDraw? There is no software that's the best,
but if you like one, just stick to it. There are
many design software that supports laser cutter
drivers. Such software are pretty standard among
the 2D designs or some 3D designs. Here are a
couple of software that you may already be
familiar with or you may want to try out.
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2D Design Inkscape Open source software and
free to use CorelDRAW Graphic design software
with a huge number of tools and
features AutoCAD Drawing software, primarily
used by engineers and architects Adobe Illustrato
r Graphic design software for high-quality
designs 3D Design SketchUp 3D designing
software comes with 30 days free
trial SolidWorks 3D design software with
multiple design package Autodesk Fusion Cloud-bas
ed platform for manufacturing process
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Settings of Laser Cutting Before performing the
laser cutting process, it is good to know the
settings of it. A laser cutter comes with primary
settings as per the above image. The power
represents the strength of a laser. Speed is how
fast your laser will go. If it is too quick, it
may not cut all the way, but a low speed can
lead to melting or burning. So most of the time,
you can stick to the moderate settings for the
cutting to be ?ne. Frequency determines the laser
pulses during a cutting operation. The higher
the frequency the cleaner the slash would be.
But it is also okay to keep the frequency low to
prevent ?ammable materials from catching ?re.
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Use the Quality Spare Parts When it comes to
laser cutting, lasers majorly depend upon the
consumables and parts. So whenever you are using
any part or replacing it, make sure you are
using top-quality parts. Bystronic laser parts
and Amada laser parts are some of the best
ones. Amada and Bystronic parts come in a variety
of ranges like focus lenses, nozzles, lens
wizards, and much more. You can also check out
other brands such as Hypertherm, Mitsubishi,
Mazak, Prima, etc. Know the Material You Are
Using While designing with laser-cut, you should
start thinking about what materials you will
work upon. Are you designing a prototype? Then
you should consider cheap materials like
cardboard. Else you can use wood or any other
metal.
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Talking about wood, type matters! Wood could be
soft or hard. A harder wood can produce a darker
appearance than a softwood. Another common
material is acrylic. It is more fragile than
wood. So be mindful of the spacing between the
lines. To keep acrylic material nice and clean,
putting on protective tape is the best way to
go. Types of Laser Cutters There are three types
of laser cutters CO2 Lasers The generated
lasers have stimulated gas mixtures (majorly
consists of carbon dioxide). CO2 is one of the
most common types of laser cutter because it is
inexpensive and can cut most materials like
leather, acrylic, glass, wood, plastic,
etc. Neodymium Lasers The laser consists of
neodymium doped crystals. These lasers have
small wavelengths as compared to CO2 but they
are highly intensive. Which means they can cut
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through much thicker materials like plastics,
metals, and some ceramics. Fiber Lasers The
laser is usually doped with rare-earth elements
such as erbium, dysprosium, and holmium. The
laser has a wavelength similar to neodymium
lasers. But they are built in such a way that
they require less maintenance and can cut
materials like metals and plastic. Though they
look very similar, they are distinct in terms of
power or how they cut materials Thickness of
Materials and Kerf The focal point of the lens of
the laser cutter cuts the material. On the other
side of the material, the laser isn't as focused
and the beam is slightly larger as compared to
the focal point. This gap that the laser makes
is basically known as kerf. For example, the kerf
on the saw blade is usually a rectangle. The
laser cutter's kerf is slightly trapezoidal
because the laser
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beam gets wider after its focal point. The kerf
of the given laser determines the maximum
thickness of the material it can cut. Because
the laser will get thicker after its focal point.
When the beam is thicker, then it is unfocused
to cut it well. Time to Cut Now you might be
ready to cut the material. It can take a few
tries to ?nd the ideal settings to cut your
materials. Also, don't lose hope if your ?rst
few projects don't turn out to be successful.
Keep in mind the above tips and use good quality
consumable parts like the Bystronic parts. If you
are happy with the results, don't forget to note
them down for future reference. Source
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