What is the Difference Between Laser Cutting and Die Stamping?

If you have a metal fabrication job that needs doing and metal shaping is required, you may wonder about the benefits of laser cutting vs. die stamping, or metal stamping. To understand the relative merits of each, it’s important to understand the difference between die stamping and laser cutting. Here’s a brief breakdown on how the two methods work, and why you might want to consider metal stamping vs. laser cutting or vice versa for your metal fabrication jobs.

Metal Stamping Process

The process of metal stamping, or die stamping, involves creating a die of the desired shape for the metal to be fabricated, then pressing that die with great force into the metal to create the shape needed. It’s important to use metal that is malleable enough to respond to the die without breaking.

Laser Cutting Process

The laser cutting process involves using a CO2 laser to cut the metal you are fabricating into the desired shape. No special die tool is needed, as the laser does the shaping of the metal directly.

Differences Between Metal Stamping And Laser Cutting: Benefits And Drawbacks

One of the main drawbacks when it comes to the difference between metal stamping and laser cutting is that metal stamping requires the creation of a die as a permanent tool, which can only be used to fabricate that particular metal item. Creating the die takes time and cost, and if there is an error in the die, it creates a permanent error in any metal that is fabricated using the die. With laser cutting, each job is an individual process, and an error in one piece does not invalidate the whole project.

On the other hand, with the laser cutting process, tempering and structural changes may happen to the material. Also, a CO² laser can be extremely expensive.