What Happens is Really Quite Simple
  • A laser is simply a source of light. In this case, we use a flashlight as an analogy
  • The light can be one of many different wavelengths – Fiber, C02, Green, UV, etc
  • Material determines which laser is best as laser energy will “absorb into” or “bounce off”
  • Laser light can be delivered many ways such as flatbed, galvanometer (galvo) or fixed head
The laser beam is delivered primarily using 3 methods
Galvanometer
  • Marking
  • Annealing Steel
  • Deep Engraving Metal (fiber)
  • Thin Material Cutting
Flatbed (XY Plotter)
  • Marking
  • Annealing (fiber)
  • Engraving
  • Cutting up to 1″
Fixed Head
  • Cutting
  • Welding
VERY General Overview of Differences
Galvanometer
  • Speed
  • Vectoring (hotter beam)
  • Typically greater focus range
Flatbed (XY Plotter)
  • Batch process (start and forget)
  • Open Architecture (use any design software
  • Larger, continuous process area
  • Better for cutting compared to galvo
Fixed Head
  • Parts translate using XY table
  • Clean thin metal cutting
  • Gas jet nozzle
  • No alignment issues