Laser cutting provides precision cutting via a laser-guided by a CAD file. The process involves firing a laser that cuts by melting, burning or vaporizing a workpiece or base material. Laser cutting offers a fine level of cutting detail on many different types of materials.

Materials

Laser-cutting machines will cut carbon, stainless, aluminum and red metals, in round, square, rectangular and irregular shapes.

Benefits

Laser-cutting technology has advanced to the point that parts can be produced from one continuous piece of raw material and cut to exact specifications with tight tolerances to help avoid secondary machining operations. Laser-cutting machines can facilitate smaller lot sizes and combine multiple operations into a single step.

Notes

One question that you should be asking with regards to any metal-cutting technology is whether your project necessitates the ability to hold very tight tolerances. Oftentimes, tolerances specified on projects are tighter than necessary. In some instances, the option of plasma cutting with a looser tolerance can be less expensive than laser cutting with tight tolerance.