How does laser cutting machine work? First of all, we need to know why laser cutting is used?
There are many uses for lasers, one of which is for cutting metal. On carbon steel, stainless steel and aluminum plates, the laser cutting process has high precision and excellent cutting quality. The cut width is very small and the heat-affected zone is small. It can cut very complex shapes and small holes.
I think most of you understand the meaning of the word “LASER”, but how does this light penetrate and cut metal? And how does the laser cutter work? Now, I will give you a brief introduction to the working principle of laser cutting.A laser is a series of very high intensity light with a single wavelength or color. For example, a typical CO2 laser has a laser wavelength in the infrared part of the spectrum that is invisible to the human eye. When the beam passes through the beam path of the machine from the laser resonator that produces the beam, the diameter of the beam is only about 3/4 inch. Before finally focusing on the board, it may be affected by many factors and cause reflection in different directions. The focused laser beam needs to pass through the nozzle before it “touches” the cut sheet. There is also auxiliary gas flowing through the nozzle hole, such as compressed air, oxygen or nitrogen, or argon.
The focusing of the laser beam needs to be done through a lens or a curved mirror, which occurs in the laser cutting head (the cutting head generally includes a focusing lens, a collimator lens, a protective lens and other parts, which will be described in detail in other articles ). The beam must be precisely focused to make the shape of the focused spot coincide with the energy density of the spot perfectly and be centered in the nozzle. Focusing a large number of light beams to a single precise point where the thermal density is very high. Imagine using a magnifying glass to focus the sunlight on the leaves, which could cause a fire. On the CNC laser cutting machine, the laser cutting head moves above the metal plate according to the pre-designed trajectory in the drawing software, so as to cut the required parts from the plate. The capacitive height control system maintains a very precise distance between the end of the nozzle and the plate being cut. This distance (cutting height) is important because it determines the position of the focal point relative to the surface of the board. The focus position can affect the cutting quality. There are two ways to adjust this distance: manual focus and automatic focus, which are related to the brand and model of the cutting head.
There are many other parameters (such as gas used, cutting material and thickness, cutting speed) that will affect the cutting quality, but we can use the control system to control according to the required processing effect. When properly controlled, laser cutting is a kind of stability , Reliable and very precise cutting process.
