Laser Cutting Basics

Everything you may need from logo design to engraving services for your products or gifts, can be done flawlessly with the use of lasers. As an industrial procedure, laser cutting is frequently used in industries that produce precision parts and elements for machines, as well as smaller businesses that create logos and offer engraving services on metals.

As a procedure, laser cutting comes down to cutting or etching into flat material to design and cut out various patterns and geometries. Cutting is simply done by using a laser with a powerful laser beam, whereas etching is done by heating up the surface of the material you plan on working. This is done by burning off the top layer of the material so that the appearance and structure of the material is changed for easier conduction of the procedure.

What are the advantages of it?

The advantages of laser cutting are various; you can cut everything with them and make any shape you wish because there’s no limit to the directions in which the beam can move. Therefore, all complex designs can be made without expensive tooling costs or long lead times. Also, the process is non-contact and non-force, so fragile parts can be cut with little to no support at all, since lasers are extremely strong and stable cutting tools that have no parts that can easily break.

How is laser cutting done?

Laser cutting is done with the use of laser beam technology – there’s a concentration of high amount of heat energy into a single well-defined point. This energy point burns through the surface of the material making it vaporize. To eliminate this vaporized material, a gas or some mixture of gases like oxygen, CO2, nitrogen or helium is used for blowing it out of the kerf, which is the width of the groove the laser beam created.

What is it done with?

To cut materials with laser technology, a laser cutter is used. Laser cutters are types of CNC or computer numerical controlled machines. This means, the designer just needs to draw and design the shape they want and send it for cutting. The machine then does its part with a single push of a button. Laser cutters are very precise and fast, almost like 3D printers – showing results in a matter of minutes. You can use these devices for a wide range of work including cardboard prototyping or rastered artwork.