Fiber Laser Cutting Vs Traditional Cutting: A Comprehensive Comparison

Manufacturers have several metal cutting methods to choose from, each having their own benefits and advantages. Worldwide, more and more manufacturers are cutting with fiber lasers due to their increased uptime and throughput, lower operating costs and overall improved quality. Fiber laser cutting machines and traditional cutting methods, such as mechanical cutting or oxy-fuel cutting, represent two different approaches to material cutting.

The choice between fiber laser cutting and traditional cutting methods depends on the specific requirements of the application, the type of material, the desired precision, production volume, and available budget. In many cases, fiber laser cutting has become the preferred method for its precision, speed, and versatility.

CO2 Laser Cutting vs. Fiber Laser Cutting

CO2 lasers provide smooth cutting edges for some thicker materials (>25 mm)

With recent breakthroughs, fiber lasers provide high quality cuts with thicker materials. Fiber lasers also cut thinner materials faster than CO2 and are superior in cutting reflective metals, which provides a much lower cost of ownership.

Plasma Cutting vs.Fiber Laser Cutting

Plasma cutting equipment is among the cheapest alternatives to choose from in the market.

Fiber cutting has lower consumables cost. Cutting with fiber lasers improves cut precision, quality and production yield, providing superior parts at lower prices.

Waterjet Cutting vs.Fiber Laser Cutting

Waterjet cutting is effective for cutting extremely thick materials (>25 mm)

In all other cases, fiber lasers provide higher throughput, more consistent quality and decreased downtime compared to waterjets.

EDM Cutting vs.Fiber Laser Cutting

Electrical discharge machine cutting provides excellent accuracy and minimal heat damage to materials.

Fiber lasers offer comparable precision AND are up to 10x faster than EDM cutting – delivering much higher output and productivity.

Laser Cutting

The high-precision, high-speed and quality of laser cutting has made it the technology of choice for advanced manufacturing across countless industries.

With fiber lasers, laser cutting has become a reliable and highly cost effective solution, resulting in increased adoption throughout the metal manufacturing world.

Benefits of fiber laser cutting include:

Precise and repeatable high-quality cuts
High-speed cutting
Non-contact cutting – no degradation in cut quality
Minimal maintenance – high tool availability
Variety of lasers to cut non-metallic materials
Scalable process from micro cutting stents up to shaping structural steel
Easily automated for maximum productivity

Advantages of Fiber Laser Cutting Technology

Fast Cutting Speed

The speed at which an fiber laser cuts metal is higher than competing technologies. The 1 µm wavelength couples with higher efficiency than traditional lasers, and the excellent beam quality (focusability) of the lasers provides greater energy density on the part, resulting in faster cutting.

High Availability

Unlike other laser technologies, fiber lasers are zero maintenance. There are no consumable gases and no optics to align, so no preventative maintenance downtime. Utilizing rigorously tested long lifetime laser diodes and an entirely solid-state architecture, fiber lasers have the best warranty in the industry.

Repeatable Process

Unlike competing lasers that may have poor short-term stability and suffer from long-term power degradation, fiber lasers provide continuous repeatable performance. With power stability typically better than 0.5% of setting over 1000 hours of operation, you get the same cutting performance on every part.

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