Compact Fibre Laser Cutting Machines

• 16-05-2023
• Featured Products

Even since the emergence in the marketplace of cost effective fibre laser cutting machines, lack of available floor space is still one common constraint which hinders companies from bringing their laser cutting work in house.

Prevalently a laser cutter will use an exchange or shuttle table for loading and unloading material; this has the benefit of allowing the removal of cut parts and scrap during the processing of the next sheet. While this is undoubtedly an efficient way of working, the downside is that it effectively doubles the required space for the machine, with both the machine enclosure and the shuttle table being able to accommodate a full size sheet.

The Compact Alternative

One solution to size constraints is a compact fibre laser with a manually operated pull out table; this design effectively halves the required floor area but still offers the same cutting features as a full size machine, making it an attractive solution where space is limited. The laser source is often integral to the machine rather than taking up additional floor space, leaving only a chiller and any extraction unit outside of the machine body.

The Integrated Pull Out Table

The benefit of the pull out table is that it is only in use during loading and unloading, leaving the area free while the machine is working. The fact that it slides out from the machine body is essential to allow for the loading of material from overhead and also to access cut parts for easy removal.

Other Advantages of Compact Laser

As well as not having a shuttle table, the cutting area on a compact laser is generally smaller than that on a full size laser. Models are typically offered in bed sizes of up to 1.5 x 1.5 metres, which is half of a common 3 x 1.5 metre sheet. A sheet of this size still allows parts to be efficiently nested with minimum wastage. Due to the smaller bed sizes, they also require less powerful extraction; again saving space on the size of the extraction unit.

Fibre Laser Power

When it comes to fibre laser power, there are no disadvantages with compact lasers. They can be specified with the same laser sources as larger machines; it is typical however that they are offered with lower powered units in the range of 1.5 to 3kW, given the weight capacity of the pull out table.

Comparative Efficiency 

It has to be said that a compact laser will be less efficient than a full size laser with a shuttle table, as it is unable to process full sheets. Blank material must be ordered in cut to size to suit the machine bed or pre-cut on another machine such as a guillotine. In addition to that, the machine will not be working while parts and scrap are removed and the next piece of material is loaded, resulting in increased downtime.

Is a Compact Laser right for you?

While it is clear that a compact laser is not the right machine for a subcontract laser cutting company or for high production use, many organisations that have a requirement for laser cutting don’t need the fastest, most efficient machine. Instead they need parts for their own use and want to be in control of their production cycle and customer lead times. Bringing laser cutting in house removes the reliance on third party suppliers, decreases lead times and allows more flexibility in production. A compact laser is ideally suited to lower production runs, small batch work, one offs and R&D type applications. 

Cost Advantage

As well as saving space, compact lasers do still of course come with a price advantage as there is no shuttle table and less physical material is used in the machine build. They are also much quicker to install then a full size laser as very little assembly work is required. 

Want to Find Out More?

Please get in touch to find out whether a compact laser cutting machine would work for you. You can click here for our contact page or just send us an email to sales@morganrushworth.com