How Laser Cutting Can Help Your Next Fabrication Project

Although there are many traditional techniques for cutting and drilling material, many of today’s manufacturers rely on laser cutting for their metal fabrication projects. This advanced technology delivers precision cuts and exceptional repeatability at fast speeds, helping increase productivity and minimize labor costs. Laser cutting provides higher-quality results over many conventional fabrication methods, regardless of the job’s complexity.

How Does Laser Cutting Work?

Laser cutting systems are compatible with most modern design software. Once the system imports the design data, the laser head generates a high-powered beam to create a burning, vaporizing or melting effect without directly touching the workpiece, forming a clean edge with a high-quality surface finish. Immediately following the cut, the system uses a gas jet to remove excess material.

Upon completion, operators remove the workpiece from the system for quick cooling. Because the heat zone is so concentrated, there’s minimal warping and no scorching. These advantages ensure repeatable precision with tight tolerances, even for the most complex fabrication projects.

Laser cutting can deliver many benefits to your specific application, including:

• Cutting through various materials, including thin or thick sheet metal.
• Fabricating complex shapes quickly without any tooling.
• Reducing workpiece contamination.
• Producing small holes with intricate detail and outstanding edge quality.
• Minimizing energy consumption during fabrication.
• Decreasing errors through automation and less human intervention.

Laser Cutting Applications

Laser cutting’s versatility, precision, and cost savings have increased in popularity across many industrial applications. Lasers can produce intricate designs and patterns in all types of metals, from stainless steel to mild steel to non-ferrous metals. Several examples of the industries that Summit Steel serves include:

• Automotive: Automotive manufacturers are significant consumers of laser-cut components, from prototypes for research and development to batch production for cars, trucks, motorsport and recreational vehicles.
• Utilities and energy: Because infrastructure applications require exceptional accuracy and superior structural components, organizations in the utility sector depend on laser-cutting solutions to produce precision parts for water treatment, waste management, renewable energy, and power networks.
• Agriculture: Manufacturers of agricultural equipment like tractors, chassis, spreaders and grain feeders rely on laser cutting for high-performance parts.
• Heavy equipment: Laser cutting is transforming the construction equipment manufacturing industry by producing parts for bulldozers, excavators, boom lifts and more.

2D Flat Laser Cutting

Summit Steel’s two-dimensional (2D) laser-cutting process delivers tight tolerances and clean edges with repeatable results. Our advanced systems can quickly upload your drawing exchange format (DXF) file to ensure increased accuracy and maximum efficiency. 2D flat laser cutting is ideal for fabricating materials like stainless steel, aluminum, carbon steel and similar substrates.

3D Tube Laser Cutting

Our innovative three-dimensional (3D) process increases our capabilities by cutting more complex features in 3D objects — such as tubes, beams, angles and channels — with high speeds and exceptional accuracy. This method is perfect for high-volume production runs and complex projects requiring maximum precision. Also, 3D tube cutting works well for developing quick and accurate prototypes.