How to Maximize Efficiency with Fiber Laser Cutting?

When it comes to cutting metals, efficiency is key. Whether you’re working on a massive project or a small batch of parts, fiber laser cutting technology can be a game-changer for your production process. But, how do you ensure you're getting the most out of your fiber laser machine? If you don’t manage its potential correctly, you might not see the results you’re hoping for. Let me show you how to unlock that hidden potential and optimize every cut!

Maximizing efficiency in fiber laser cutting involves a strategic combination of optimizing machine settings, maintaining equipment, and utilizing advanced technology.  By implementing these strategies, you can maximize the efficiency of your fiber laser cutting processes, leading to improved productivity, reduced costs, and higher quality outputs.

Fiber lasers are fast, precise, and cost-effective, but just having one doesn’t automatically mean you're using it to its full potential. To maximize the efficiency of your fiber laser cutting system, you’ll need to focus on factors like material selection, machine settings, and maintenance routines. Below, I’ll dive deep into practical steps you can take to streamline your operations and get the most out of your fiber laser cutter.

Choose the Right Material

One of the most basic but critical steps in maximizing fiber laser cutting efficiency is choosing the right material for the job. Not all metals or materials are created equal when it comes to laser cutting. Steel, for instance, requires a different setup than aluminum or brass. The key is understanding how each material reacts to laser cutting.

Some materials absorb laser energy better than others. For example, carbon steel is highly absorbent and offers quick cutting speeds, while stainless steel requires a bit more fine-tuning. Knowing these material-specific characteristics can drastically improve your cut quality and speed.

Absorption Coefficients and Cutting Speeds of Different Materials

1. Carbon Steel:

   • Carbon steel has a relatively high absorption coefficient for lasers. For example, at a common fiber laser wavelength (such as 1070nm), the absorption coefficient can reach 30% - 40%.
   • When using a 1000W fiber laser cutting machine to cut 5mm thick carbon steel, the cutting speed can reach 3 - 5 meters per minute.

2. Stainless Steel:

   • Stainless steel has an absorption coefficient of about 10% - 20% at the same wavelength.
   • Using the same 1000W power to cut 3mm thick stainless steel, the cutting speed is about 2 - 3 meters per minute.

When it comes to optimizing efficiency, you need to minimize the time spent on material handling. For instance, pre-cut or pre-coated materials can save you time. So, always consider your material and its specific interaction with the laser to achieve optimal results.

The Impact of Pre-Treating Materials on Cutting Time

1. Pre-Cut Materials:

   • Suppose you are cutting a batch of complex-shaped parts. If the materials are not pre-cut, you need to frequently adjust the cutting path during the cutting process, and cutting a single part may take 5 minutes.
   • If the materials are pre-cut into roughly the shape of the blanks, cutting the same parts can reduce the cutting time for each part to about 3 minutes, increasing efficiency by about 40%.

2. Pre-Coated Materials:

   • Taking aluminum alloy cutting as an example, uncoated aluminum alloy easily forms an oxide layer during cutting, which affects the cutting speed. Normally, cutting 2mm thick uncoated aluminum alloy has a cutting speed of 4 - 5 meters per minute.
   • When using aluminum alloy materials that are pre-coated with an anti-oxidation layer, the cutting speed can increase to 5 - 6 meters per minute at the same power, improving efficiency by about 20% - 25%.

Optimize Your Machine Settings

Once you’ve got your material in hand, the next step is optimizing your fiber laser machine settings. Here’s where experience matters. Each material needs specific cutting parameters—like power, speed, focus, and assist gas pressure—to ensure a clean cut.

If you push too much power through thin materials, you could end up with excess heat or a burnt edge. Conversely, cutting thicker materials with too little power might result in incomplete cuts. The right balance of speed and power settings makes a huge difference.

By adjusting parameters like laser power, cutting speed, and assist gas pressure, you can fine-tune your machine for maximum efficiency. Regularly experimenting and adjusting these settings for different materials and thicknesses will help you find the sweet spot.

Examples of optimal parameter combinations for different material thicknesses

Material	Thickness (mm)	Laser Power (W)	Cutting Speed (m/min)	Auxiliary Gas Pressure (bar)	Cutting Surface Roughness (μm)	Kerf Width (mm)
Carbon Steel	6	3000	4	12	Ra6.3 - Ra9.0	0.15 - 0.25
Stainless Steel	6	2200	3	13	Ra9.0 - Ra12.5	-
Aluminum Alloy	5	1800	5	10	Low (no obvious burn marks)	-

Maintain Your Equipment

It’s simple: A well-maintained machine is a more efficient machine. Regular maintenance can significantly reduce downtime and avoid unnecessary costs. Just like your car, your fiber laser cutter needs periodic care to run smoothly.

This means cleaning the lenses, checking the mirrors, and inspecting the cutting head for any wear and tear. It’s also crucial to check for gas leaks, monitor the cooling system, and ensure that the cutting nozzle is always clean.

Neglecting routine maintenance can lead to performance degradation and unexpected breakdowns, which are both time-consuming and costly. Please click here to get the guide about how to maintain fiber laser cutting machine.

Use High-Quality Assist Gases

You probably already know that fiber lasers rely on assist gases, like oxygen or nitrogen, to help the cutting process. But did you know that the quality of these gases can directly impact your efficiency? For example, nitrogen produces a clean edge, which is perfect for non-ferrous metals, while oxygen helps increase cutting speed when cutting steel.

You’ll want to match the right gas to the material and cutting requirements. But beyond just the type of gas, ensuring that your gases are high-quality and free from contaminants can significantly boost your machine's efficiency.

Also, remember that gas pressure should be optimized for each material and thickness. This, in turn, reduces the amount of time spent on each part, allowing you to increase throughput.

The Impact of Different Assist Gases on Cutting Quality (Using Aluminum Alloy and Carbon Steel as Examples)

1. Aluminum Alloy (3mm Thick)

   • Using High-Purity Nitrogen (99.999%): When using nitrogen gas with 99.999% purity as the assist gas, and setting the laser power to 1000W and the cutting speed to 8 meters per minute, the cut surface does not show any signs of oxidation. It has a shiny metal color, and the surface is smooth with a roughness of Ra1.6 to Ra3.2 micrometers. The edges are neat, the heat-affected area is very small, about 0.1 to 0.2 millimeters wide.

   • Using Lower-Purity Nitrogen (99%): If the nitrogen purity is reduced to 99%, with the same cutting settings, the cut surface will show slight oxidation colors. The surface roughness increases to Ra3.2 to Ra6.3 micrometers, the edges are not as neat, and the heat-affected area becomes wider, around 0.2 to 0.3 millimeters.

2. Carbon Steel (5mm Thick)

   • Using High-Purity Oxygen (99.99%): When using oxygen with 99.99% purity as the assist gas, a laser power of 2000W, and a cutting speed of 4 meters per minute, the cut surface is smooth with a thin and even oxidation layer. The edges are neat, there is little slag attached, and the cutting efficiency is high. The cut width is about 0.2 to 0.3 millimeters.

   • Using Lower-Purity Oxygen (99%): If the oxygen purity decreases to 99%, with the same cutting settings, the cut surface will have more oxidation, and the oxidation layer will be uneven. More slag will appear on the edges, and the cutting efficiency will drop by about 15% to 20%. The cut width will increase to 0.3 to 0.4 millimeters.

The Effect of Gas Pressure Optimization on Cutting Time (Using Stainless Steel as an Example)

• 4mm Thick Stainless Steel: When cutting 4mm thick stainless steel using a suitable assist gas like argon, with a laser power of 1500W and a cutting speed of 3 meters per minute, increasing the gas pressure from 10 bar to 12 bar improves the cut quality. The slag is removed more smoothly, and the time to cut each part is reduced from an average of 2 minutes to about 1.5 minutes. This increases the efficiency by approximately 25%.

• 6mm Thick Stainless Steel: For cutting 6mm thick stainless steel with a laser power of 2500W and a cutting speed of 2 meters per minute using argon, increasing the gas pressure from 12 bar to 14 bar reduces the cutting time from an average of 3 minutes to about 2.4 minutes. This improves the efficiency by about 20%.

Maximize Sheet Utilization

Efficiency isn’t just about speed—it’s also about reducing waste. The more you can optimize the way your sheets are laid out, the less material you’ll waste and the more parts you’ll be able to cut per cycle.

There are many nesting software options out there that can automatically arrange parts on a sheet in the most efficient way. By using these tools, you can ensure that the cutting path is optimized for minimum scrap and maximum productivity.

Smart nesting doesn’t only reduce waste; it also cuts down on the time spent repositioning or reloading material, which saves you both time and money.

Properly Align Your Laser Beam

Laser alignment is crucial for ensuring the highest efficiency. Even slight misalignments can result in poor cuts and, ultimately, a waste of time and material. Regularly calibrating and aligning the laser head is a key step in maximizing your fiber laser cutting efficiency.

The laser beam should be precisely aligned to focus on the right spot of the material. A laser that is even slightly out of alignment can lead to inaccuracies in the cut, causing you to waste material and time.

Using advanced diagnostic tools or the built-in alignment systems on your fiber laser cutter can help you monitor and correct alignment quickly, preventing errors before they become bigger problems.

Hot To Align Your Laser Beam

Use Debugging Paper and Scrap to Determine the Focal Length Position

You can use debugging paper or scrap from the workpiece to check the accuracy of the focal length. Move the laser head up and down to change its height; the size of the laser spot will change. Adjust the position several times in different places and find the position with the smallest laser spot to determine the best focal length and laser head position.

Install a Marking Device to Check Cutting Precision

After installing the fiber laser cutting machine, attach a marking device to the machine’s nozzle. Draw a test shape, such as a 1-meter square with a 1-meter diameter circle inside it and diagonal lines on each corner. After drawing, use measuring tools to check if the circle touches all four sides of the square and if the square’s diagonal is about 1.41 meters (√2 meters).
The circle’s center line should split the square’s sides in half, and the distance from where the center line meets the square’s sides to the square’s edges should be 0.5 meters. By testing the distance between the diagonals and the meeting points, you can determine the cutting precision of the machine.

Adjust Mirrors and Focus

During calibration, you need to adjust the mirrors and the focus. Use a mirror alignment tool to adjust the mirrors so they correctly guide the laser beam. Use a focus tool to adjust the focus to make sure the laser beam accurately passes through the material.

Check Stability, Cutting Seam Width, Coaxiality, and Roughness

• Stability: A stable fiber laser has key parts that last up to 100,000 hours and very little deviation during work. If the laser is unstable or the output has problems over time, it is likely out of the calibration range.
• Cutting Seam Width: Normally, a laser cut makes a narrow and horizontal seam. If the laser head is not calibrated correctly, it cannot make a good seam, and the whole line will not be horizontal.
• Coaxiality Check: During calibration, if the airflow center and the beam center are not on the same axis, sparks will splash unevenly when cutting carbon steel. You can perform a drilling test on carbon steel and observe if the sparks are even to adjust coaxiality. Repeat this several times until it is ideal.
• Roughness: The depth of the vertical lines made by the laser cut determines the surface roughness of the cut. The shallower the lines, the smoother the cut surface.

Adjust According to Machine Features

For example, for a single-platform fiber laser cutting machine, check the cutting height. It is recommended that the actual cutting height is between 0.8-1.2 mm. Check the nozzle model, size, and if it is damaged. When checking the optical center, it is recommended to use a nozzle with a diameter of 1.0 mm and set the focus between -1 and 1.

Reduce Setup Time

Setting up your fiber laser machine doesn’t need to be a long, tedious process. The more time you spend setting up, the less time you’re actually cutting.

One way to streamline setup is by using pre-programmed cutting parameters for common materials and thicknesses. Many modern fiber lasers come with the ability to save presets, which makes switching between different jobs quicker and more efficient. This reduces the time spent adjusting parameters manually for each new job.

Also, consider automating material handling. Robotic systems or material loading/unloading equipment can drastically reduce the manual labor involved in setting up each job. The more automation you incorporate, the more you can reduce human error and increase overall efficiency.

Analyze Cutting Data

Finally, don't forget to track the performance of your fiber laser cutter. By regularly analyzing cutting data, you can identify trends and areas that need improvement. Many modern fiber laser systems come equipped with software that allows you to track key performance indicators like cutting speed, material consumption, and part quality.

Using this data, you can continuously fine-tune your operations. Data-driven decisions are often the most powerful when it comes to maximizing efficiency.

In Conclusion

Maximizing efficiency with fiber laser cutting doesn’t happen overnight, but it’s totally achievable with the right strategies. By optimizing material selection, machine settings, and maintenance routines, you can boost your throughput and reduce downtime. Don’t forget the importance of quality gases, proper sheet nesting, laser beam alignment, and reducing setup time.

By combining these steps and consistently analyzing your data, you’ll see your fiber laser cutter becoming an even more valuable asset in your shop. If you need any help with optimizing your machine’s efficiency, feel free to reach out to me at Kirin Laser. Let’s work together to unlock the full potential of your fiber laser cutting system!

References:

1. "Daily Maintenance and Use Issues: How to Keep Your Fiber Laser Cutting Machine Running Smoothly?", from Kirin Laser.
2. "Top 5 Features to Look for When Buying a Metal Cutting Laser for Your Business", from Kirin Laser.
3. "The Benefits of Using Laser Cutters for Industrial Projects", from Kirin Laser.
4. "Why Are Laser Metal CNC Machines Essential for Modern Manufacturing?", from Kirin Laser.
5. "A Comprehensive Guide to the Parts of a Laser Cutting Machine?", from Kirin Laser.
6. " How to Select the Best Laser Cutter for Metal Applications?", from Kirin Laser.
7. "How to Improve Fiber Laser Cutting Efficiency
   ", from Bystronic.
8. "Fiber Laser Cutting Best Practice and Pro Tips – EagleTec CNC", from Eagletec.