Dispelling Four Common Fallacies Around Laser Cutting

For many people on the fence about whether or not laser cutting services in Toronto can answer the call to their cutting conundrums, their insecurities - in most cases - can be laid to rest after understanding the truths behind some of the mistruths they may have come across.

Our piece today should help oust some of the fallacies out there for all things surrounding laser cutting processes, technology, and capabilities.

Untruth #1: Laser Cutting Is Complicated

Despite what the consensus may be, laser cutting services in Toronto provide solutions that are orders of magnitude simpler than conventional cutting modalities. This is no better demonstrated by the distinct lack of an operator having to cut a die in order to cut the stainless steel in question. Not only that, but the operator’s time is also made more effective by the fact that tool changing from task to task is no longer required.

What exactly is it that laser cutters provide to minimise this wasted time? Most of the praise can be directed towards laser cutters being CNC and programmable machines; once a design has been mocked up via a CAD file, the laser cutter reads the set of instructions to conduct the cutting in record time.

Untruth #2: Laser Cutting Burns the Material

This stems from misinterpreting, in a semantic sense, the processes involved in laser cutting. Burning and charring of a material are fundamentally different phenomena, the latter being what a laser does to the end surface of the material being cut.

We’re not just being nitpicky, charring itself is incapable of burning away the edges of the material. Charring can, understandably, have certain connotations associated with it when it comes to handling materials. So why do lasers do it? Charring, in fact, has a positive role to play for laser cutting services in Toronto; instead of being an unnecessary byproduct, it is a controlled practice which imparts clean, sharp edge. This is why laser cutting is the method of choice for many customers for cutting soft materials like plastic - the charring effect can seal the edges of the material, taking additional processes, such as finishing, out of the equation.  

Untruth #3: Laser Cutting Isn’t Cut out for New Materials

When a technology, such as laser cutting, has been around for a certain number of decades, it can carry develop a stigma of not staying up to par with advances in technology.

Laser cutting, since its inception, has undergone countless developments, and continues to do so, in order to deliver an effortless cut upon a wide range of materials. For example, newer and more complex materials like adhesives and composites pose no issue for laser cutting services in Toronto these days.

The CO2 Mitsubishi laser cutter equipped within our facility is a testament to how laser cutting technologies are rampant with innovative ideas that continue to leave a mark not only on the material, but also on the industry.

Untruth #4: Laser Cutters Cannot Cut Transparent Materials

Opaque or not, laser cutting services in Toronto are more than equipped to handle clear materials such as glass, quartz, plastic, and even acrylic. To understand this we need to understand absorption - the infrared laser emitted by a CO2 laser cutter produces a wavelength around 10.6μm, and clear materials absorb wavelengths ≥10μm, making them ideal candidates for the laser cutting process as they, in a sense, become opaque to the CO2 laser.

Laser cutting services in Toronto are a dime a dozen, but convenient, effortless, quick, and reliable services aren’t – that’s the Metal Tronics difference. With more than 20 years of service to clients throughout Toronto, we’ve become a trusted name for all things metal fabrication; get in touch to find out why!