When to Use Laser Tube and Sheet Cutting Services？

Laser tube cutting has opened up previously untrodden paths in the fields of construction, building and structural metalwork. With conventional tube cutting processes, it had been unthinkable to design certain structures or components using steel or other materials.

Link to Furui

Industries and companies are finally able to provide the market with new solutions – or support technological innovation – because of the countless solutions provided by laser tube and profile cutting systems.

If you have not looked into the many advantages of laser cutting of metal tubes and profiles, this is the article for you.

What sectors are involved in the cutting of metal tubes and profiles?

There are countless markets and sectors involved in the technological development of laser tube cutting.

There are many machining and cutting processes that can be performed on metal tubes. The most widespread and most popular include perforations, slots, notching and end cuts, which allow joints to be made with other tubes or sheets.

These range from the construction of assembled frames for buses and agricultural machinery, to furniture and quality designer lamps, to complex systems using square cross-section tube frames in machine and plant construction.

Where large to medium-sized tube constructions are used, 90% have been laser cut to achieve the end results. This should come as no surprise! There are no tools as flexible as laser cutting systems for metal tubes and profiles.

There is no end to the number of innovative products that can be obtained by laser tube cutting systems, in short time frames and with no tooling costs. 

Components used in the furniture industry, construction, the automotive market for commercial vehicles and heavy goods vehicles. Customised, replicable processes in machine and plant construction, agriculture, fitness, air conditioning and energy technology.

What is the truly innovative aspect of laser tube cutting?

One of the most important processes involved in metal tube cutting is chamfering. The technological advancement brought about by laser systems for tubes makes it possible to program the adjustment of the cutting angle of edges.

Machines equipped with a 3D laser cutting head have made laser cutting of tubes simpler in metalwork where full penetration welds are required.

Another unique feature of laser cutting for metal or steel tubes is the processing of metal profiles. Unlike round or rectangular cross-section tubes, profiles have distinctive geometric shapes and are usually produced for different applications. 

To name just one, control cabins for earth-moving machines are assembled using a metal profile structure. Or special parts for lighting systems, door or window frames.

Workable sizes for cutting steel tubes

The uniqueness of tube cutting with the new laser systems lies in their ability to process not only steel parts, but also carbon alloy or stainless steel metals. Innovative fiber-optic technology makes it possible to cut aluminium, copper and brass tubes.

As mentioned earlier, laser cutting enables the processing of round tubes, as well as special profiles of various angle openings. 

• Round tubes
• Square or rectangular cross-section tubes
• Oval or elliptical tubes
• Specialist closed or open profiles
• Joints, positioners and connectors of various types

But most importantly, it allows the cutting of square and rectangular cross-section tubes, by means of innovative fiber laser processing, which has made it possible to process shapes other than standard tubes, with no need for special equipment. 

Innovative laser tube cutting processes allow the cutting of complex profiles with a high degree of accuracy, reducing lead times for new products and optimising waste.

Advantages of laser cutting for metal or steel tubes

We have described in detail the benefits of using a FIBERTUBE laser machine, Cutlite Penta’s innovative laser cutting system for metal tubes.

The main advantage of opting for laser cutting for metal tubes is the high degree of flexibility in usage and high processing performance. Both in terms of speed and quality of the finished product. The laser provides a freedom of processing that no other tube cutting tool can match.

Compared to traditional metal tube cutting systems, lasers guarantee a better finish of the job. Because of the response of the beam on the metal surface and the regularity of the etching.

Cutting tubes using a laser system is now the go-to choice for all companies that require a high-quality cutting execution, along with the ability to mass-produce prototypes easily, rapidly and inexpensively.

The high productivity and high degree of automation make laser cutting systems for tubes and profiles the key factor for manufacturers and distributors. Two features which, nowadays, make the difference in market competitiveness.

Are you interested in learning more about Laser Tube and Sheet Cutting Services(it,ar,de)? Contact us today to secure an expert consultation!

Not only rapidity and speed of execution. Cutlite Penta’s fleet of machines designed for cutting metal tubes is characterised by systems that also provide the option of creating long, complex machining operations. Such as those required by manufacturers of industrial and agricultural vehicles.

The tremendous versatility of the machine, which allows tubes of different cross-sections, materials and thicknesses to be processed with no need for costly specialist tooling, is esteemed by companies operating in the contract machining sector. In particular for the execution of tasks in structural work.

Cutlite Penta laser tube cutting machines are capable of handling multiple cutting assist gases. Oxygen and air are usually used for cutting iron pipes and nitrogen for cutting stainless steel pipes. The machine’s CNC manages the execution of all cutting operations required by the program as well as the unloading of finished parts.

The laser cutting process uses a tightly focused high-energy light/radiation laser beam to create rapid, high-temperature-gradient heating of a single, small-diameter spot. This triggers rapid melting/vaporization of the target material, allowing the spot to travel down through the material thickness rapidly and precisely. 

The hot spot is blasted with gas, blowing away the melted/vaporized material. This process exposes the cut bottom to allow renewed melting and localized cooling, enabling the cut to proceed. For lighter and more reactive metals, the gas assist uses nitrogen to minimize oxidation. Alternatively, for steel, oxygen assistance accelerates the cut process by locally oxidizing material to assist in slag clearance and reduce the reattachment of melted/cut material.

Laser cutting machines are built in a variety of formats. The most common type keeps the workpiece stationary while laser optics (mirrors) move in both the X and Y axes. Alternatively, a “fixed optic” format keeps the laser head stationary and the workpiece moves. A third option is a hybrid of the two previous methods. All methods execute 2D and 2.5D G-code patterns using a computer-controlled programming system to deliver fully automated, complex cutting paths. Figure 1 is an example of a laser cutting process:

Laser cutting advantages include: high precision, no material contamination, high speed, unlimited 2D complexity, a wide variety of materials, and a wide variety of applications and industries.

High Precision

The narrowness of the energy beam and the precision with which the material and/or the laser optics can be moved ensures extremely high cutting quality. Laser cutting allows the execution of intricate designs that can be cut at high feed rates, even in difficult or fragile material substrates.

No Material Contamination

Traditional rotary cutter processing of materials requires coolants to be applied. The coolant can contaminate the cut parts, which must then be de-greased. Grinding processes may also require coolant/lubricant to be applied. The ablation of the grinding wheel, a natural part of the process, leaves carbide granules that are a hazard in many products. Similarly, water cutting leaves garnet residues. Laser cutting involves only energy and gases and poses no risk of material contamination of the resulting parts.

High Speed

Few production methods can come close in processing speed to laser cutting. The ability to cut a 40 mm steel sheet using a 12 kW oxygen-assisted laser provides speeds some 10x faster than a bandsaw and 50–100 times faster than wire cutting.

Unlimited 2D Complexity

Laser cutting allows intricacy through the nature of the G-code movement control method of positioning and the small size of the applied energy hot spot. Features that are only weakly attached to the main body are cut without any application of force, so the process is essentially limited by material properties, rather than process capabilities.

Variety of Materials

Laser cutting is a flexible technology that can be adapted to cut widely different materials efficiently, including: acrylic and other polymers, stainless steel, mild steel, titanium, hastelloy, and tungsten. This versatility is increasing as technology develops. For example, dual frequency lasers can be applied to cut carbon fiber reinforced composites—one frequency for the fiber, one for the bonding agent.

Variety of Applications and Industries

Laser cutting finds application in many manufacturing industries because of the combination of versatility, high processing speeds, and precision. Sheet materials are key to production across most manufacturing industries. Applications of laser cutting across industries include: airframes, ships, medical implants, electronics, prototyping, and mass production.

Laser Cutting Disadvantages

Laser cutting disadvantages include: limitations on material thickness, harmful gases and fumes, high energy consumption, and upfront costs.

Limitation on Material Thickness

Most laser cutting machines sit in the <6 kW range. Their cut depth is limited to ~12 mm in metal thickness—and they accomplish that only slowly (~10 mm/s). It requires the largest and most powerful machines to reach the practical limits of cutting. However, similar limits apply to waterjet and wire erosion cutting. All three processes perform these deeper cuts faster than can otherwise be achieved.

Harmful Gases and Fumes

While many materials—particularly metals—do not produce harmful gases in the cutting process, many polymers and some metals do. For example, PTFE and various fluoropolymers produce phosgene gas (which is incompatible with human environments) when heated to high temperatures. These materials require controlled atmosphere processing.

High Energy Consumption

Laser cutting machines have a higher energy consumption rate than other cutting tools. A 3-axis CNC machine cutting out 40 mm steel plate blanks will consume around 1/10th of the power of a laser cutting machine extracting the same part. However, if the processing time is 1 minute on the laser cutter and 20 minutes on the CNC, the net power usage is 2:1 in favor of the laser cutter. Each part will have a different profile in this regard, but the differentials are rarely simple to analyze.

The alternatives to laser cutting are wire cutting, plasma cutting, waterjet cutting, and CNC machining.

Plasma Cutting

Plasma cutting is similar to electrical discharge machining (EDM) in that it erodes material by applying an arc to ablate the substrate. However, the arc is conducted from an electrode on a superheated gas plasma stream that directs the arc and blasts out the molten material from the cut. Plasma cutting and laser cutting are similar in that both are capable of cutting metal parts. Additionally, plasma cutting is suited to heavy materials and relatively coarse processing, for example, preparing heavy steel components for architectural and ship projects. It is a much less clean process and generally requires significant post-cut cleanup to make presentable parts, unlike laser cutting.

Waterjet Cutting

Waterjet cutting is typically a small machine process for the precise processing of a wide range of materials. The garnet abrasive employed is considerably harder than the majority of processed materials, but the hardest workpieces do pose a challenge for the process. Waterjet cannot match the processing speeds of laser cutting on thicker, hard substrates. In terms of similarities, both waterjet cutting and laser cutting produce high-quality cut parts, are suitable for working with many materials, and both processes have a small kerf (cut) width.

CNC Machining

CNC machining is considered one of the more traditional methods of extracting parts from flat material stock. It is similar to laser cutting in that both produce high-precision parts, are fast, reliable, and provide excellent repeatability. Compared to laser cutting, CNC requires more setup and more processing time. CNC also delivers lower throughput/capacity and requires greater manual intervention. However, results can be of similar quality, albeit at a generally higher cost. Rotating cutting tools apply considerable forces to the cut material and can result in more extensive local heating. The main advantages of CNC processing are the ability to accommodate complex 3D designs and to perform partial depth (rather than through) cuts.

If you are looking for more details, kindly visit Custom Metal Hardware Supplier.