Why Embracing Laser Cutting Makes Sense
Have you ever tried to cut a piece of metal to the right size? Making the cut evenly and in exactly the right place isn't as easy as a skilled craftsman can sometimes make it look and the more intricate the design you need the more likely it is that an error will occur and the material will be wasted. The complexity of the task and the likelihood of error are some of the key reasons that CNC laser cutting has now become the preferred means of cutting material to size.
What Is CNC laser cutting?
While a craftsman may be able to measure and cut a piece of material to the desired size, they must measure each piece individually and even if they set up a cutting tool to make the cut they will still need to place the material at the right point and perhaps rotate it to make every cut. CNC laser cutting takes away all of the hard work. An operator programs the cutting machine with a set of instructions which tell the machine where each cut is to be made. The machine then makes each cut using a laser and there is no further input from the operator until they collect the finished job when the last cut has been made.
The benefits of repeatability
The significant advantage of this approach is repeatability. The cutting instructions for each pattern are stored in the memory of the machine so that every time that pattern is needed, it only needs to be loaded up and it is ready to cut anything from one pattern to thousands of patterns. Since the entire operation is controlled by a computer you can have complete confidence that every cut will be in the correctly programmed place and there will be no wastage or delays throughout the laser cutting process.
The benefits of laser cutting
When you cut metal by hand then you must think not only about where and how you are to make the cuts but also about the state of your tooling. You may need to buy tooling for the job which introduces an additional fixed cost. If you already have the tools you need you must check that the blades are sharp enough and well maintained. With laser cutting, all of these expenses and maintenance issues are eliminated since the machine generates a laser beam to carry out all of the work.
For more information, contact a laser cutting service.
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