MAKING THE MOVE TO FIBER TECHNOLOGYWhen looking at Fiber laser technology and considering the productivity benefits of cutting two to three times more parts per unit of time, while consuming less than half of the operating costs compared to CO2, it is fairly obvious why Fiber lasers have become so popular.But these benefits are considered tangible potential profits based on performance metrics such as speed and cost of operations. The intangible potential profits are derived from the additional machine capacity that is being created. Windows of OpportunityThere are many aspects of operating a CO2 laser that do not exist with operating a Fiber laser.A high power fiber laser is capable of cutting up to 5 times faster than a conventional CO2 laser and utilizes half the operating costs.For example, the Fiber laser does not need any warm-up time — typically about 10 minutes per start-up for a CO2 laser.The Fiber laser has no beam path maintenance such as mirror or lens cleaning, bellows che...
