Laser Cutting Speed

Laser cutting speed is an important consideration for anyone looking to acquire a laser NC glass cutting machine. Having more speed is unarguably a valuable asset as it often translates to higher productivity but greater speeds are usually associated with greater costs and for some businesses the most expensive, fastest laser may not necessarily be the most practical for their needs.

When considering production speed one should take into account the following factors:

Cutting speed: refers to the speed at which the laser cuts through material.

Traverse speed: refers to the speed at which the laser head moves in between cuts from one position to the next.

Acceleration: how fast the laser can reach high cutting speeds

Deceleration: how fast the laser can slow down and/or stop.

Complexity of cut: for more complex glass production line manufacturers the speed differential becomes progressively less significant as the rapid start / stop, acceleration / deceleration over such short distances does not allow the laser to reach maximal speeds.

Changeover time from sheet to sheet: time taken to transfer sheets from cutting table. One must combine the above factors to calculate the real production time.

Among the many different brands of laser, a laser's power in kilowatts will determine the actual cutting speed. So whilst other factors may influence the overall production time, most current high-end lasers are capable of achieving the same cutting speed when the power in kilowatts is equal. Traverse speed however can vary between machines irrespective of power in kilowatts and quite often when companies speak about their machines being faster than others they are referring to traverse speed. Quite often however, even with very high traverse speeds the time saved in fabricating a sheet of metal is only several seconds as the majority of the fabricating process is the actual cutting.

The difference in price however can be as much as a few hundred thousand dollars and significantly more expensive servicing, repairs and spare parts.

For the potential laser buyer one needs to evaluate whether this extra production time is commensurate to the higher cost, not only in the Glass Loading machine suppliers, but also in the ongoing service and maintenance of operation.

So when considering your Fibre or CO2 Laser cutting machine, and see that the cutting speed is the most important factor for your operation, run through the consideration of the laser source, laser power, laser cutting speed, machines traverse speed, acceleration, deceleartion and then calculate your loading and unloading times and work out for the production time for your nest, to decide what glass cutting line dealers provides you the best value for dollar for your operation.