What Are the Four Special Qualities of a Laser Cutter Light?
Lasers are being used increasingly as machine tools. The heat from its intense light can cut many materials. The light is precisely guided by a computerized machine, making the laser cutter adaptable to many uses. Given a careful match between the laser and the material type, pieces can be cut at speeds up to 500 inches per minute. The small beam diameter minimizes waste.
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Description
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A laser cutter is a machine tool used to cut various materials, from fabric to metals, usually in sheets. The material rests on a flat bed with the laser pointed down at it, moving on a parallel plane, controlled by a computer.
Power
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The laser must have sufficient power in order to cut materials. The power ranges up to several kilowatts for cutting metals. For safety reasons, most other lasers are limited to under five milliwatts. Soft materials requires much more power than this to be cut.
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Coherence
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Light from a laser is coherent, that is, it has a single color and phase. The light also has low divergence; it remains a thin beam and doesn't spread out. The light can be piped through a flexible fiber optic cable efficiently. Many laser cutters use this layout. By moving the cutting head instead of the whole laser, mechanisms can be smaller, simpler, and quicker.
Wavelength
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In optics, light is reflected, transmitted, or absorbed. A laser cutter delivers it energy to materials by absorbancy. The material to be cut and the wavelength of the light should be matched to avoid excessive reflection or transparency. If the material has low absorbancy, you can possibly use a more powerful laser to compensate.
Diameter
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The laser's light is focused to a typical diameter of .008 inches. This increases the intensity of the light to enable efficient cutting. The light cuts by heating; if it's too widely dispersed, even a high-power laser won't melt the material. Focusing to a small area makes for more precise cuts and reduces the waste of material cut by the beam, called kerf.
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