Whats the difference?

Well i was just searching on various answer tools/portals on the internet and was going through various blogs,forums and other user generated media . On Laser Technology people are trying to find out the comparison between mechanical cutting and laser cutting , to be honest you will surely find many articles on this but things differ from situation to situation the kind of material which you wish to cut, its quality and the volume as in the size of overall lot which you wish to cut.


Advantages of laser cutting over mechanical cutting vary according to the situation ,but two important factors are the lack of physical contact (since there is no cutting edge which can become contaminated by the material or contaminate the material), and to some extent precision (since there is no wear on the laser). There is also a reduced chance of warping the material that is being cut as laser systems have a small heat affected zone. Some materials are also very difficult or impossible to cut by more traditional means. One of the disadvantages of laser cutting may include the high energy required.


Laser cutters usually work much like a milling machine would for working a sheet in that the laser (equivalent to the mill) enters through the side of the sheet and cuts it through the axis of the beam. In order to be able to start cutting from somewhere else than the edge, a pierce is done before every cut. Piercing usually involves a high power pulsed laser beam which slowly (taking around 5-15 seconds for half-inch thick stainless steel , for example) makes a hole in the material.