mHub Monday: Laser Cutting
As some followers may know, our Principal and Founder Dr. CC is currently participating in the Landis Hardtech Fellowship at mHub in Chicago. This fellowship is specifically used to help independent contractors develop new skills and build their portfolios for additional client work.
One new skill Dr. CC has acquired is the operation of CO2 laser cutting equipment.
What is a laser?
As an acronym, laser stands for light amplication for simulated emission of radiation.
Depending on the laser power and emission wavelength, cat safety can be preserved (CArtLab Solutions does not condone cat cruely).
CO2 laser cutters utilize the laser beam (spot size <1mm) to vaporize materials, resulting in a cut edge on a variety of materials such as titanium, stainless steel, mild steel, aluminium, plastic, wood, engineered wood, wax, fabrics, and paper.
In one project, Dr. CC used the CO2 laser cutter to cut craft paper for an adhesive backed label, see image:
In another project, Dr. CC used the same CO2 laser for engraving to distinguish her work notebook from other moleskines, see image:
The two main advantages of using a laser cutter over traditional mechanical cutting include:
- no contamination of surface edge with this precision cutting
- less chance of material warpage as laser cutter heat affected zones are minimal
These two points are important, particularly with plastic materials used by CArtLab Solutions that may be sensitive to thermal strains.
A change from a CO2 laser source to a Nd, or Nd:YAG laser source brings higher energy to expand the applications to micro-welding and boring.
The options discussed thus far are pulsed lasers that are paired with advanced optics and CNC positioning software. In comparison, fiber lasers have increased focusability (100x smaller spot size) with selectable beam quality, i.e. multi-laser beams are possible. The fiber laser is particularly useful for highly reflective metals like copper or bronze, that are not able to be cut as easily with the optics of CO2 or Yd:NAG lasers.
Please reach out today to CArtLab Solutions if there is a need for laser cutting your products so we can help bring your brand to life with this fun technology!