If investing in a new laser is beyond your means, how about retrofitting it with a new fiber laser system? Or for thicker materials retrofit a modern more efficient CO2 laser resonator. Realistically the frame of the laser machine doesn’t wear out. Therefore replacing bearings and retrofitting a state-of-the-art resonator may well be a smart cost effective alternative to a new machine.
Generating heat from light in the 1um wavelength, fiber laser cutting has become a new exciting alternative to CO2 laser cutting especially on the lighter guage material where speeds are orders of magnitude faster. Due to better absorption due to the shorter wavelength, fiber laser cuts metals like copper and brass faster than the CO2 counterpart. On the cost side the wall plug efficiency is greatly improved as well as no need for lenses and mirrors. The resonator life is also largely improved from around 20,000 hrs before a overhaul to 100,000 hrs reducing the overall running costs by half. Alternatively, for thicker materials, the widely used CO2 laser system would be a good choice and has been around for many years. Contact us
Although Fiber can cut ¾” mild steel, better quality cuts and speed are still achieved using CO2 laser cutting for this thickness and above. Over the years CO2 resonators have become more and more efficient with significant reduction in maintenance. Some CO2 resonator manfacturers boast a 20-25% reduction in power consumption. Additionally chiller workload is reduced resulting in an overall power reduction of nearly 30%. The Rofin CO2 slab resonator on the other hand uses 50% less lasing gas and a chiller that is much smaller. The generally accepted mantra is when producing quality cut parts whilst maximizing throughput on thicknesses below ¼” in mild steel or 3/16 in stainless or aluminum the Fiber laser retrofit is the better choice. On the other hand, producing quality cut parts in thicker material CO2 would be the better choice. Contact us
