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The Laser Cutting Process
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At Brown McFarlane we produce laser cut steel parts in-house with the latest laser cutting technologies. Our state-of-the-art Durma 10kw Fibre Laser can cut up to 12m by 3m plates, has one of the shortest cutting times that can be offered. With this machine, we can deliver first-class quality across a range of steel sheet thicknesses with the newest cutting and piercing technology. The Durma 10kw Fibre Laser can comfortably cut carbon steel up to and including 12.5mm and stainless steel up to and including 25mm.
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Laser cutting is an extremely precise profile cutting method used to create designs from a given material using a CAD / CNC file to direct movement. With this cutting method you can achieve really fine levels of detail on a wide range of different materials, including steel.
A laser machine works by focusing the energy of a high-powered laser onto one fixed point, usually through an optic.
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Excess material is blown away from the cut using a strong jet of gas; this leaves behind edging with a high quality surface finish. This gas is usually oxygen, but nitrogen can also be used for stainless steel cutting as it also protects the hot metal from being oxidised.
The laser will usually measure between 0.15 and 0.2 centimetres in diameter and is intensified by a lens/mirror to focus onto a spot measuring approximately 0.002 centimetres. Laser cutting also has many advantages over plasma cutting as the process is more precise and uses significantly less energy; although plasma cutting is still more effective when cutting through thicker materials.
