How Does a Laser Cutter Work?
The Basic Industrial Laser Lasers used for cutting are rarely found outside of industrial use, as they are extremely dangerous and very large. Laser cutting is done by CO2 lasers or neodymium lasers. CO2 lasers function by energizing a gas mixture of carbon, nitrogen, hydrogen and helium. Neodymium lasers function in the same way as CO2 lasers, except instead of using gas as the medium, they use a crystal with small amounts of neodymium in it. The Modification of The Laser Beam for Cutting Simply shining a CO2 or Neodymium laser at an object will not cut or engrave it with much accuracy. Hence, these laser beams are focused with lenses, similar to how a child focuses the sunlight with a magnifying glass to burn ants. However, in this case, the light being focused is extremely powerful and can cut through hard steel. As the laser focuses, it draws near to 1/8 inch in diameter, making it suitable to cut steel. However, the heating up of the steel doesn’t just make a cut appear and the st
