The Benefits of a Fibre Laser

As a laser user, should you be replacing a CO2 laser with a fibre laser? While there are still some applications which may benefit from a CO2 process, there are several persuasive arguments for moving over to fibre, not least the power consumption with current electricity costs. Additionally, fibre lasers have become more cost effective in recent years, greatly reducing the initial investment.

While this is a subject that can be examined at depth, there are four key areas where fibre laser offers significantly more than CO2, bringing savings in both operating costs and time-saving efficiency.

Lower Operating Costs

The fibre laser benefits from both lower electrical consumption as well as efficiency in power conversion. In addition to this a CO2 laser has a long warm up cycle which results in them often being left on continuously, therefore using even more power. In some cases a CO2 laser will use as much power on standby as a fibre laser will while cutting.

Higher Cutting Speed

When processing thinner gauge materials, there is no comparison between fibre and CO2, with fibre cutting up to two or even three times faster. The much smaller kerf of a fibre laser is capable of cutting intricate shapes at high speed with excellent results. 

Less Maintenance 

A CO2 laser has a system of mirrors, bellows and gases to deliver the laser beam to the cutting head; this requires a lot of time consuming cleaning and maintenance. The beam delivery system is very sensitive to dust particles. A fibre laser source and fibre optic cable require no maintenance ongoing. 

Cutting Reflective Materials

Highly reflective materials such as copper and brass are considerably more suited to fibre lasers and are cut with much more difficulty on a CO2 machine, with the danger of back reflection significantly damaging the machine. The laser sources of today monitor back reflection greatly reducing the risk.

Conclusion

Fibre laser technology continues to progress and the argument in favour of CO2 is becoming much less prevalent. The cost of electricity alone is pushing many users away from CO2 technology. What better way to find out whether a fibre laser will meet your requirements, than having a live demonstration cutting parts you are familiar with?

Please get in touch with us to arrange a visit to our showroom; you can visit our contact page, call us on 01785 336732 or drop up an email to sales@bisonmachinery.co.uk