Some Basic Knowledge on Laser Cutting Machine and NCT With rapid products renewing, it has much higher flexibility demands on the processing equipment. The application of laser cutting machine brings new vigor to processing industry. Compared to traditional NCT, laser cutting machine features advantages as cool, clean, calm, sure, safety and saving. However, they have equal shares of market, why? Below are five basic knowledge points of laser cutting machine and NCT. 1. Processed material Laser cutting machine can cut metal material including ferrous metal and nonferrous metals, such as carbon steel, stainless steel, silicon steel, galvanized sheet, aluminum alloy, etc.. It can also cut non-metallic material like acrylic, plastic, wood, cloth, leather and carpet. The cutting thickness of carbon steel can reach to 20mm. NCT are generally applied in metal with thickness no more than 6mm.
Source : ulsinc 2. Processed flexibility From the aspect of flexibility degree, laser cutting machine has more advantages which can cut holes of any shapes or sizes; while punching
machine can be applied in limited specifications (the largest is 32 location turret), when it works on deformed or large holes, it will meet problems as low efficiency and serious abrasion on mould by small step mould processing. In order to meet different demands of various products, it is necessary to purchase plenty of moulds in different size and thickness as well as a warehouse for storage, which increases the work load of mould management. Besides, NCT has higher requirement on the board plainness and cleanliness. 3. Precision and roughness Laser cutting machine is non-contact processing, which features stress free, no deformation, positioning precision of Âą0.03mm, workpiece precision of Âą0.1mm and smooth cutting section; while NCT has slightly poor processing precision, burrs on cutting surface and some deformations. 4. Efficiency and cost A factory once adopted punching machine plus plate shearing machine, which needed more labor than laser cutting machine. There is a comparison on the cost of laser cutting machine (3kw fiber laser) and punching machine considering the following items: electricity, consumable items (focus lens, ceramic body, spray nozzle, gas for laser cutting machine; moulds for punching machine), labor and depreciation of equipment. The result is that laser cutting machine costs 179 yuan per hour and punching machine costs 174 yuan per hour. When processing all the sheet metal parts of a product, laser cutting machine needs 0.2 hour while punching machine needs 0.7 hour.
Obviously, laser cutting machine has significant advantages on efficiency and cost. Certainly, for huge quantities of product, specially designed mould will enhance the efficiency of NCT significantly, such as porous mould which has damage on flexibility. 5. Function and limit Both of them have limits of their own. NCT is the only choice for functions like window-shades, shallow-drawing, countersink, flanged hole, reinforcing rib and coining; while for noise damping saw blade, only laser cutting machine can realize it.