A laser cutter is essentially a laser that moves back and forth on a flat table and cuts through wood, metal, or plastic according to computer-drawn designs. As the technique is called, photochemical cutting is thousands of times better than trying to cut those things with brute force.
What’s a laser cutter?
A laser cutter is a device that precisely cuts, drills, engraves, and burnt metal and other materials using high power focused beam of light. The beam comes from a laser, which sends its energy to a tiny, thin, highly focused spot. The beam is so focused that it hits the target at thousands of times the speed of sound.
Laser cutters cut metal by melting it with a focused beam of light. Most laser cutters use a CO2 laser, which puts out a wavelength of 10.6 micrometers. The beam is focused by directing a lens or mirror at it. The laser melts the metal by ionizing it. The ionized metal then acts as an electric current. The current produces heat, which melts the metal.
How to use a laser cutter
A laser cutter is a device that draws lines on a sheet of paper. Laser cutters come in two basic varieties: desktop and table-top. Desktop laser cutters are small enough to fit on a desk, and table-top laser cutters are bigger. Desktop laser cutters are also known as plotters. Most desktop laser cutters have a cutting area of about 6 inches by 6 inches. Table-top laser cutters have a bigger cutting area. Table-top laser cutters are also known as laser cutters.
Laser cutters have a simple, if somewhat complicated, operation. The first one loads the sheet of paper onto the cutting table. Then draws what one wants to cut on a piece of paper. Then, one finally turns on the laser and pulls the sheet of paper out of the cutting table. Laser cutters can’t cut anything in shapes other than lines. The simplest shapes that can be made are squares and circles. Laser cutters also can cut dots, but dots are harder to make than lines, and dots tend to be too small to be useful.
Because a laser cutter can’t cut shapes other than lines, a sheet with shapes will be very difficult to cut neatly. To create a good sheet, draw their shapes carefully.
The cutting table must be perfectly flat. Any wrinkles or bumps will force the laser to arc (bend), and this arc will ruin the line one drew.
How a laser cutter engraves and cuts
A laser cutter is an expensive tool but worth the trouble. Its working principle is relatively simple. A low-power laser, whose light travels in straight lines, is focused by a mirror into a pencil-thin beam. A computer directs the beam’s movement, working the laser beam’s power up and down and back and forth to slice off small bits of material. The beam leaves the laser cutter as tiny dots, called “dots per inch,” or DPI.
The laser cutter works by melting thin layers of material, usually plastic. Like the sun’s, the beam’s heat is concentrated, making it a powerful heat source. The laser cutter is powerful enough to melt even very thick materials, like wood or metal. But thick materials resist melting, so the laser cutter is usually limited to engraving or cutting thin materials.
