Some Basic Knowledge on Laser

Cutting Machine and NCT

With rapid products renewing, it has much higher flexibility demands on

the processing equipment. The application of laser cutting machine brings

new vigor to processing industry. Compared to traditional NCT, laser

cutting machine features advantages as cool, clean, calm, sure, safety

and saving. However, they have equal shares of market, why?

Below are five basic knowledge points of laser cutting machine and NCT.

1. Processed material

Laser cutting machine can cut metal material including ferrous metal and

nonferrous metals, such as carbon steel, stainless steel, silicon steel,

galvanized sheet, aluminum alloy, etc.. It can also cut non-metallic

material like acrylic, plastic, wood, cloth, leather and carpet. The

cutting thickness of carbon steel can reach to 20mm. NCT are generally

applied in metal with thickness no more than 6mm.

Source : ulsinc

2. Processed flexibility

From the aspect of flexibility degree, laser cutting machine has more

advantages which can cut holes of any shapes or sizes; while punching

machine can be applied in limited specifications (the largest is 32

location turret), when it works on deformed or large holes, it will meet

problems as low efficiency and serious abrasion on mould by small step

mould processing.

In order to meet different demands of various products, it is necessary

to purchase plenty of moulds in different size and thickness as well as

a warehouse for storage, which increases the work load of mould management.

Besides, NCT has higher requirement on the board plainness and cleanliness.

3. Precision and roughness

Laser cutting machine is non-contact processing, which features stress

free, no deformation, positioning precision of ±0.03mm, workpiece

precision of ±0.1mm and smooth cutting section; while NCT has slightly

poor processing precision, burrs on cutting surface and some deformations.

4. Efficiency and cost

A factory once adopted punching machine plus plate shearing machine, which

needed more labor than laser cutting machine. There is a comparison on

the cost of laser cutting machine (3kw fiber laser) and punching machine

considering the following items: electricity, consumable items (focus

lens, ceramic body, spray nozzle, gas for laser cutting machine; moulds

for punching machine), labor and depreciation of equipment. The result

is that laser cutting machine costs 179 yuan per hour and punching machine

costs 174 yuan per hour. When processing all the sheet metal parts of a

product, laser cutting machine needs 0.2 hour while punching machine needs

0.7 hour.

Obviously, laser cutting machine has significant advantages on efficiency

and cost. Certainly, for huge quantities of product, specially designed

mould will enhance the efficiency of NCT significantly, such as porous

mould which has damage on flexibility.

5. Function and limit

Both of them have limits of their own. NCT is the only choice for functions

like window-shades, shallow-drawing, countersink, flanged hole,

reinforcing rib and coining; while for noise damping saw blade, only laser

cutting machine can realize it.