CNC Fiber Laser vs Plasma and CNC router

[robertlaurenson]

Hi All,
First post here, and i am in need of some assistance.

I have an aluminium boat building company, and am looking at getting a machine, or machines to cut the Aluminium, Perspex, Polycarbonate and steel / stainless etc going forward.

I am looking at two seperate options.

1 - getting a 6m x 2m Plasma Table and a 4x8 CNC router

2 - Getting a 6m x 2m fiber laser


The question is to those of you who know or have a fiber laser system,
1, What can it do, can they only cut metal, or can they cut other materials also?
2, I see people on youtube doing laser engraving work (both 2d and 3d) with fiber lasers on anything from Metal to Perspex and wood, can all fiber lasers do this or does it have to be specified?

Any help on this would be greatly appreciated.

Thanks
Robert

[joeavaerage]

Hi,
a laser powerful enough to cut aluminum is likely to be very expensive, think tens if not hundreds of thousands of dollars.
A 100W laser suitable for engraving, etching and cutting thin metals still likely to be many thousands.

A plasma table will cut aluminum, but will still need to be powerful, say 100A to cut aluminum fast enough to be economic, so won't be
cheap but still way less than a laser.

There are of course companies that have large and powerful lasers suitable for cutting thicker metals but such machines are worth millions.
That's not just the laser, which could be expensive on its own but the rest of the machine and the plate handling is large and expensive but is
essential to keep the throughput high otherwise you'd lose money hand over fist.

Craig

[Goemon]

Hi All,
First post here, and i am in need of some assistance.

I have an aluminium boat building company, and am looking at getting a machine, or machines to cut the Aluminium, Perspex, Polycarbonate and steel / stainless etc going forward.

I am looking at two seperate options.

1 - getting a 6m x 2m Plasma Table and a 4x8 CNC router

2 - Getting a 6m x 2m fiber laser


The question is to those of you who know or have a fiber laser system,
1, What can it do, can they only cut metal, or can they cut other materials also?
2, I see people on youtube doing laser engraving work (both 2d and 3d) with fiber lasers on anything from Metal to Perspex and wood, can all fiber lasers do this or does it have to be specified?

Any help on this would be greatly appreciated.

Thanks
Robert

What would you be cutting specifically? If you literally plan to mill boats from a slab of aluminum then you probably wouldn't want a plasma or laser machine. They are usually more suited to 2d work.

If you are cutting 2d shapes from sheet metal then it's a different story.

The budget will have a huge impact too. Given the large cutting area needed, that rules out any of the cheaper VMCs.

A cnc router can cut aluminum but you'd want one that's reasonably stiff to do it well in a business setting. A plasma or laser machine doesn't need to be as stiff but they'd probably be slower...

Water-jet is another option to look at BTW.

[fins]

Hi Robert,

Quite a few things to consider; Assuming you are talking about a 1064nm multi kW fiber laser, it'll work on steel, aluminium, stainless, but not polycarbonte/wood. They are essentially transparent at that wavelength, and will be a major fire risk! How the material absorbs or transmits the wavelength will determine how well it cuts

The thickness of cut and speed required determine the power; Alu takes more power per unit thickness than e.g. carbon steel and stainless, and each have different ideal shielding gasses. e.g. a 1k fiber laser may get through 6mm carbon steel, but struggle with 1.5mm aluminum, or have a much lower feedrate.
A CO2 laser will work on organics/plastics, although there are risks with certain materials. e.g. PVC will release some nasty chlorinated compounds when cut. Theres loads more info on CO2 lasers out there.
Edge finish will be different with plasma vs fibre laser, fibre a lot cleaner. Depends what you next process is.
Also, I use the same laser source for laser cutting and laser welding, just different heads. But not on a table machine like the ones I think you'd be looking at.

[fins]

Engraving wise, lower power fibre lasers (40-150W) using 2d galvo heads are used/marketed quite a bit for rapid engraving. If your cutting machine power can go down low enough/head move fast enough you can probably engrave too. Best to ask the manufacturer.

[Jonathanyanta]

Hi All,
First post here, and i am in need of some assistance.

I have an aluminium boat building company, and am looking at getting a machine, or machines to cut the Aluminium, Perspex, Polycarbonate and steel / stainless etc going forward.

I am looking at two seperate options.

1 - getting a 6m x 2m Plasma Table and a 4x8 CNC router

2 - Getting a 6m x 2m fiber laser


The question is to those of you who know or have a fiber laser system,
1, What can it do, can they only cut metal, or can they cut other materials also?
2, I see people on youtube doing laser engraving work (both 2d and 3d) with fiber lasers on anything from Metal to Perspex and wood, can all fiber lasers do this or does it have to be specified?

Any help on this would be greatly appreciated.

Thanks
Robert

Hi Robert,

Fiber laser can't be used for cutting Polycarbonate, but suitable for cutting Aluminium, Perspex and steel / stainless etc. If you could share the thickness of plates, maybe I can provide more valuable information. BTW, please check some difference between plasma and CNC fiber laser. Hope these can help you.

1. Different working principles

Laser cutting machine focuses the laser emitted by the laser into a laser beam with high power density through the optical path system. The laser beam irradiates the surface of the workpiece to make the workpiece reach the melting point or boiling point. At the same time, the high-pressure gas coaxial with the beam blows away the molten or vaporized metal. With the movement of the relative position between the beam and the workpiece, the material will eventually form a slit to achieve the purpose of cutting.

Plasma cutting machine is a kind of gas heated to very high temperature and highly ionized. It transfers arc power to the workpiece. The high temperature melts the workpiece and is blown off, forming the working state of plasma arc cutting. Then, a plasma arc is used as a heat source to melt the metal. Cutting is an arc, so there is often a certain arc in case of cutting failure. Therefore, when the section we need is right angle, the plasma cutting machine is no longer applicable.


2. Different cutting quality

In terms of cutting accuracy, plasma can reach within 1mm and laser can reach within 0.2mm. Therefore, the precision of laser cutting machine is higher.

The laser cutting machine can realize non-contact cutting with the workpiece surface, with small cutting gap, high precision, small heat affected zone, smooth cutting end face and no burr.

However, the cutting gap of plasma cutting machine is slightly larger, the cutting end face is rough and unsmooth, and the cutting accuracy is low.

3. Different cutting materials

Laser cutting machine is suitable for cutting a wide range of materials: metal, non-metal, ceramics, glass and so on. Plasma cutting is suitable for cutting all kinds of metal materials, mainly thick plate cutting.

4. Different costs

The purchasing price of plasma cutting machine is much cheaper than laser cutting machine, because laser cutting machine is composed of many precision parts, and the cost of mechanical parts is higher.

However, in terms of consumables cost, the consumables cost of plasma cutting machine is very high. For example, the whole cutting torch (nozzle, swirl ring, electrode, etc.) needs to be replaced within a few hours, and the plasma cutting machine consumes a lot of power.

On the other hand, the consumables cost of laser cutting machine is very low, there are few vulnerable parts, and there is almost no need for maintenance.