Are you still not sure which kind of laser cutter is right for you? Do you think that the fiber laser cutting machine is too expensive, but the effects of CO2 laser or YAG laser cutting always fail to meet your expectations? Hopefully the below will help you understand better.

Fiber laser belongs to solid-state laser. It generates a laser beam with a seed laser, which is then amplified in a specially designed glass fiber to provide energy through a pump diode. The fiber laser has a wavelength of 1.064 microns, which can produce very small focal spot diameter. The intensity is more than 100 times that of a CO2 laser device with the same average power. And also, fiber laser has an exceptionally long service life of at least 25,000 laser processing man-hours.

CO2 laser is a gas laser based on a carbon dioxide gas mixture excited by electrical discharge. It has a wavelength of 10.6 microns and is mainly suitable for processing non-metallic materials and most plastics. CO2 laser has relatively high efficiency and have excellent beam quality. Therefore, it is one of the most widely used laser devices.

YAG laser is also a kind of solid-state laser, named after the doped element neodymium and carrier crystal, which has a wavelength of 1.064 microns, the same wavelength as fiber laser, making it suitable for marking metals and plastics. Unlike fiber laser, this type of laser devices include relatively expensive pump diodes, which are consumables. It must be replaced after about 8,000 to 15,000 machining hours. Compared to fiber laser, YAG laser has a shorter lifetime and is more suitable for metal and coated metal.