Fibre laser engraving systems are increasing in popularity and replacing the old laser technologies. Today, many industries are adopting direct laser marking in their operations. One of the advantages of using a fibre laser engraver is that it leaves a permanent mark on any material. Moreover, it is resistant to any form of abrasion and does not involve any contact.
How It Works
In the process of laser engraving, the laser beam strikes the material and depending on the time the two get exposed, the material changes colour, and a mark is created. The laser beam comes from light amplification by energy radiation and absorption. The resonator element consists of glass fibres, which can be pumped by diodes to generate a laser beam with a small wavelength, like 1064.
The good thing about the laser is that the details engraved are always accurate, and there are no incidences of a tear. It means that precision is maintained throughout the process.
The laser engraver has a tiny diameter, but the intensity is high. For this reason, the fibre laser machine is the most ideal for marking plastics and hard metals.
Procedure to Follow When Doing Laser Engraving
A technician operating a laser engraving must follow these steps:
- Get a computer
- Create an engraving layout using your preferred graphics program. It could be Photoshop, Illustrator, CorelDraw, AutoCAD, or Inkscape.
- Refine the layout and transfer the graphics to the software. Alternatively, you can import the images in PNG, TIFF, or JPEG.
- Set up the engraving applications using the relevant software.
- Transfer your graphics to the laser.
Fibre Laser Engraving Basics
A fibre laser marking machine consists of a laser engine, a control software, and a scan head. The software is responsible for providing the interface by which the multi-axis motion can be managed if required. Apart from engraving and marking, the fibre laser also offers laser machining capabilities, which include material removal, material cutting, and scribing.
The software In fibre laser machine also helps in engraving texts, graphics, data matrix code, and barcodes. On the other hand, automation features help in part serialization, variable text inputs, input/output control, and data coding, among other programming features.
Fibre laser engraving systems are efficient when compared to the other laser systems, for they offer speed, flexibility, and reliability that is required to process certification standards, and achieve maximum quality control. That is because they are compact systems that provide permanent laser marks while also being abrasion-resistant and non-contact. Besides, this gives them the ability to cut any material. A good website for selling laser engraving machines can look https://www.heatsign.com/.
What Makes a Fiber Laser Useful?
You may be in a fix, wondering what the best laser machine to use is. For this reason, it is essential to explore some of the aspects that make fibre laser machines so unique and convenient to use. Below are some of the reasons that make fibre lasers useful:
- Fibre lasers are not sensitive to movements like most lasers. When most lasers are knocked, their whole laser alignments are thrown off. If the optics get misaligned, getting them to function again is not easy, and it requires a specialist. On the other hand, a fibre laser does not encounter these kinds of problems. It gets its laser beam from the fibre's interior side, which means that it does not require any sensitive optics for it to function well.
- Fibre lasers are also reliable because they deliver a beam that has a very high quality. Since the beam is obtained from the fibre's inner core, it remains straight and can be ultra-focused. Besides, the dot generated by the laser beam can be adjusted to become extra-small, making it useful for laser-cutting applications.
- The power that is generated by the fibre laser beam is also high-quality. Over time, the energy emanated by fibre laser beams keeps on being developed and improved to the point that we now have lasers that can hold power output exceeding 6KW. Such power output is incredibly high, and when it is focused on a material, it can cut or engrave any level of thickness.
- Another aspect that makes fibre lasers useful is that despite the high power output and intensity they generate, they are also pretty easy to cool. What's better is that they can cool fast while also maintaining their effectiveness.
- Most lasers do not effectively utilize the power they emanate. They will only convert a small percentage of the power they generate into a laser. On the other hand, a fibre laser turns 70%-80% of the power generated. That helps it to remain efficient due to the high power input made.
Conclusion
In conclusion, fibre lasers have proved to be effective in engraving than other lasers. They are also essential since they leave permanent marks, are resistant to abrasion, and do not involve any contact.
