That’s why we are seeing metal fabricators buying one high-powered laser cutting machine to replace two or even three older lasers. They can get parts off the laser bed faster and cheaper than they ever could before.

A closer look at how we got here

It was only in the mid-2000s when high-powered CO2 laser cutting machines were deemed the tool necessary to process the plate quickly and efficiently. Only a few years later fiber laser technology was introduced and its adoption rate exploded by the middle of this decade. Without the need to worry about mirror or lens cleaning, bellow checks and beam alignments, fabricators found a new cutting tool that required little maintenance and that cost about half of what a CO2 system cost to run.

The fiber laser also produces a beam wavelength that is about 10 times shorter than the 10-micron beam wavelength associated with a CO2 resonator. This focused beam produces a higher power density that, when coupled with the technology’s higher absorption rate, translates into cutting speeds that greatly outpaces that of a CO2 laser, particularly in material thicknesses less than 6mm.

With fiber laser technology manufacturers can increase the power of these machine tools with the addition of laser-producing modules. (In the modules, light emitted from semiconductor diodes are excited in ytterbium-doped fiber optics until the laser is produced; all of the modules are spliced to an active fiber, which is then used to deliver the laser beam.) That’s why the recent rise in wattages has occurred so quickly. From a pure technology point of view, adding power is not complex. In fact, fiber laser welding systems today can exceed 100kW in some instances.

The reason that fabricators don’t have 100kW systems on their shop floors is that the beam delivery systems just can’t handle that much power. That’s why so much research is being done in cutting head design. Each laser cutting system manufacturer is looking to produce a reliable cutting head that can deliver the fiber laser beam for an extended amount of time in the face of harsh cutting conditions, which is more than likely to occur when cutting thick materials.
In recent years those same machine tool manufacturers have developed cutting head optics that can modulate the beam size during cutting. This technology development has propelled fiber laser cutting machines from being strictly a tool for cutting thin sheet metal. As material gets thicker, a wider beam is needed to create more kerf so that molten metal can be removed.

What high-powered fiber lasers mean for a fabricating shop

So how powerful of a fiber laser does a fabricator need? A company should look at the typical thickness range that makes up 80 per cent of its work. If it’s really thin gauge, a 15kW laser is not likely needed. (Even if a shop had a 15kW fiber laser, it would turn down the power to 6kW and cut that thin material at a very fast speed and at low cost).

Keep in mind that a fabricator with a high-powered machine can produce more parts per hour and the part cost plummets as the power goes up. But this occurs only if the laser cutting machine is quick enough to maximise the power of the machine.

What is meant by quick?

Operating costs probably will go up as the power level on a fiber laser cutting machine goes up. Generally, doubling the power increases laser operating costs by 20 to 30 per cent. That’s why it’s so important that the fiber laser is operating at peak efficiencies, so that part cycle time can be decreased to offset the higher operating costs. By decreasing cycle time, a fabricator can reduce the impact of variable and fixed costs and increase profitability.

Luckily, fiber lasers cut fast. Just watch them race up and down a piece of sheet metal at an exhibition.

Why did Fast Flame Profiling purchase a high-powered 30kW Penta fiber laser?

“Very few real job shops exist today. That is job shops that offer the variety of services that can process metal from flat sheet to profile cutting. Most fabricators prefer to engage in producing multiples of the same product, which minimises engineering time and tooling costs. Facilities are organised for an assembly line-type of production, and quality control can be automated. Paperwork becomes so repetitious that the only change may be the date and customer information. Cost studies are simplified and rarely required. Personnel training can be standardised. All this combined allows the mass producer to know the cost of everyday operation,” said Mike van Zyl, MD and founder of Fast Flame Profiling.

“Conversely, job shops must calculate the costs on almost all projects. The shop’s machinery can sit idle during some jobs, while other jobs require using every piece of available equipment. This equipment can cost millions of dollars, and only a few shops have equipment large enough for some projects,” continued van Zyl.