Metal laser cutters are an ideal tool for fabricating metal items at high speed. They are mainly used in applications where a smooth finishing is required, where intricate detailing is required and where little material handling is required. This type of machine offers the user several options for designing products with fine details like small badges for identification or small parts for production.
There are various types of metal laser cutters available in the market today. The most popular form is the CNC machine. It is programmed through software to carry out a particular task. CNC can be programmed to do milling, drilling, cutting, routing, engraving or etching and also to perform other types of similar operations. The only limit to the CNC machine is the operator’s skill and experience in using the program. It can only cut shapes but not for jewelry yet.
Another metal laser cutter that comes to mind is the full-scale plasma cutter. This machine is used for heavy duty industrial cutting and uses the most advanced technologies like carbon dioxide laser power, UV light and extreme heat. Other metal laser cutters are available as single machines or as large machines that can process numerous pieces of metal per hour. They come as stand alone units or as automated machines that need to be connected to other machines for processing. They may require regular feeding of laser power or continuous supply of laser power.
These types of machines employ different forms of technology including direct gas importation and the CO2 laser cutting machines. In the first case, molten metal is fed into the chamber along with a cutting tool and in the latter the metal is fed through a die and then into the molten chamber. The metal will be melted to a specific temperature with CO 2 laser cutting machines. This process is suitable to cut thick metal.
Moving material laser cutting machines feature a fixed work area and have movable platforms that move vertically. There is a thin metal sheet that is attached to the platform. When the user moves the platform upwards, it pushes the sheet upwards and this causes the metal to be pressed into the workpiece. This type of machine is suitable to cut soft metals like brass and nickel alloys.
Fiber laser cutting machines are used to perform metallic cutting tasks that involve cutting layers of metal together. There are two processes that can be performed; one involves feeding the hot fiber laser beam from the workpiece forward to form a hole in the metal, and the other involves pushing the fiber ribbon through the metal and exposing the metallic layer at the other end. Either method can cut different kinds of metal; stainless steel and fiber brass alloys are just some of them. You can search online for shops that offer metal processing services to find suitable metal fabricators for your projects.