Laser cutting is an inevitable choice for sheet metal processing
Since the development of laser cutting equipment in our country in 2001, it has been nearly 20 years. From the early days when foreign CO2 laser cutting machines dominated, to the current oversupply of domestic Fiber laser cutting machines, it has witnessed the process of my country’s laser cutting equipment growing from scratch and then becoming bigger and stronger. Especially in the past five or six years, laser has been widely promoted in metal processing.
Why is the laser developing so fast?
There are three reasons
- After so many years of development, the laser cutting machine has become a necessity for sheet metal processing. Almost all industrial sheet metal processing needs to use lasers, so this market will increase.
- Laser cutting has become a substitute for traditional sheet metal cutting, that is, laser is gradually replacing traditional processing methods, such as water jet, plasma cutting, flame cutting, wire cutting, and also includes CNC processing, CNC punching machines, these machine tool processing Some of the processes are gradually replaced by laser cutting machines.
- Consumer product attributes of laser equipment. Since the core of the laser is a semiconductor, the continuous iteration of chip semiconductors and the advancement of the localization process have caused the prices of lasers and optical devices to continue to decline, and the procurement cost of core components has continued to decline, resulting in cheaper and cheaper laser machine tools. For example, in 2011. , a 500-watt laser cutting machine can be sold for more than 1 million, and now a 500-watt laser cutting machine, some small equipment manufacturers on the market, they can sell for more than 100,000, only six or seven years have passed. The cheapness of laser machine tools means that the purchase cost is no longer a consideration for users, and more people can afford it and use it. However, it must be emphasized that in an industry such as industrial consumer goods, it is difficult or impossible to do well with the traditional concept of making machine tools, because the product iteration is too fast, and the life cycle of each product is only two to three years.
As an advanced manufacturing tool, laser can always solve new needs of customers, develop new applications, and create new potential energy. It is also slowly changing manufacturing and people’s lives.
