Laser Cutting 101: The Basics
Many options exist for cutting the parts and components your business needs. Which will serve your purposes best will depend on different factors, such as the volume of parts needed, type of material you need cut, design complexity, the shape of the part, and other variables.
To hone in on the cutting technologies that will give you the results you require, we think it might help to revisit the basics about the types of cutting we do here at BenCo. Let’s start with laser cutting!
Laser Cutting 101
Laser cutting involves using a high-power laser beam, guided with sophisticated CNC control software, to melt a specific area of metal and blow the molten material out of the way, thereby leaving a clean cut. This cutting technology comes in several flavors to accommodate various needs.
Read on to learn more about the three types of laser cutting we offer here at BenCo!
1. Flat Sheet Laser Cutting
When you need to cut a large quantity of simple parts from steel, stainless steel, or aluminum, flat sheet laser cutting does the job fast and accurately. You get a high level of consistency and very tight tolerances even when cutting thousands of parts.
Our Trumpf flat sheet lasers cut a maximum sheet size of 83″ x 162″ and up to a thickness of 1″ for hot-rolled steel, .75″ for stainless steel, and .5″ for aluminum. By enabling us to cut and etch parts in the same step, flat sheet lasers offer exceptional efficiency.
2. Fiber Laser Cutting
This type of flat sheet laser cutting equipment enables us to cut a wider range of materials, such as copper, tin, and brass, than we can with traditional flat sheet lasers. And it’s faster, too! Let us know what type of material you need to cut, and we’ll determine if our fiber lasers are up to the task.
3. Tube Laser Cutting
With a 3D rotating laser head, our tube lasers allow us to cut more than just flat metal. And they handle cutting complex geometries with precision, up to a maximum outside dimension of 8.66141″.
Round tube, channel, angle, square tube, and open profile stock—our tube laser equipment can do it all. And it can cut, bevel, countersink, and chamfer in one step, saving time and manual effort.
From single prototypes to full production runs, laser cutting delivers precision and enables us to produce your parts quickly. To learn if it’s the right fit for your next project, contact us today. And stay tuned for our next post, all about water jet cutting!
