How Many Types of Laser Cutters are There?

The choices are numberless when it comes to types of laser cutting machines. We can divide them on the following basis.

Source of Laser Beam

Fiber laser cutting machines and CO2 laser machines are two popular types of laser cutters.

All laser cutters emit heat by a laser beam, managed by optical fibers and mirrors. The fiber laser cutting machines use a fiber laser generator to fire a laser beam.

The high-powered laser beam passes through the optical path system and falls into the object’s surface so that it can reach the melting point.

Depending on the cutting purpose, the object is cut or slit. The machine is fast, high precision, and automatic, controlled by a CNC mechanical system.

Fiber laser cutters can engrave or cut aluminum, steel, sheet metal, and even plastic material.

On the other hand, a CO2 cutting machine is not capable of cutting down reflective brass, copper, or brass. You can use it to cut glass, textile, plastic, and thin steel sheets.

The CO2 cutter uses the transition of the rotation energy levels of CO2 molecules and vibration to produce laser light.

Generally, fiber laser cutting machines are faster and powerful than CO2 laser cutters. Nevertheless, these cutters are suitable to process non-metal materials only.

Type of Material They Process

You can readily buy wood laser cutting machines, metal laser cutting machines, plastic laser cutting machines, fabric cutting machines, or stone laser cutting machines. Therefore, we can say that laser cutting machines can process different types of materials.

Size and Power of the Machine

Laser cutting machines can also be classified based on their size. In the market, you can find various sizes of laser cutters. Nowadays, you can buy hobby laser cutting machines, portable laser cutting machines, industrial laser cutters, mini handheld laser cutting machines, and more.