If you are on a quest to propel your enterprise to new heights, a fiber laser engraver could be your next marvel. This tool can craft intricate and precise designs on a vast array of materials, including metal, plastic, and even leather. With high-powered lasers, you can create deep relief engravings on metals. A rotary attachment allows you to inscribe names and signs on cups, tumblers, rings, and bracelets. With the MOPA laser source, you can etch vibrant graphics on stainless steel, titanium, and chromium. An online flying marking system enables automatic printing in batch processing.
However, the situation can become somewhat convoluted when you start your search and are confronted with a plethora of overwhelming options.
If you find yourself in such a scenario, welcome to this comprehensive guide on your desired topic. Whether you’re an entrepreneur aiming to amplify your business, an artist exploring new avenues for your creativity, or simply a DIY enthusiast, this article will serve as a valuable guide for your next purchase.
Definition
A fiber laser marking machine, brought to you by Hymson Laser, is a novel type of automatic engraver that employs a fiber laser beam to etch a permanent mark on 2D & 3D surfaces of metals, nonmetals, and metalloids. This tool is suitable for beginners and professionals alike and finds use in small businesses, small shops, home use, home businesses, school education, commercial use, and industrial manufacturing. It uses a high-energy 1064nm laser beam to remove excess parts on the surface of the substrate and engrave permanent photos, patterns, or text. It’s professional for fine metal engraving with high precision, high quality, and high speed. With a rotary attachment, it can etch on cylinders such as pens, rings, tools, cups, mugs, and tumblers. With the MOPA laser source, color engraving can be performed on stainless steel and titanium. The higher laser power allows deep engraving of metals and even cutting of thin metals.
Advantages of a Fiber Laser Engraver Over Other Marking Tools
One of the primary reasons why a fiber laser engraver remains superior to most other marking tools is due to their exceptional precision and accuracy. From engraving minuscule texts to intricate designs, these machines can execute it all with a high degree of accuracy. As a result, these tools are heavily utilized in the jewelry, medical, and electronics industries. Another reason why these laser engravers are advantageous over other equivalent tools is that they can produce accurate designs on a large number of materials, including metals, plastics, glass, leather, wood, and more. Last but not least, these machines are faster than almost all other traditional etching tools, which allows them to remain on the wishlist of almost all designers.
Working Principle
A fiber laser engraver is an automatic marking tool with a fiber laser beam for relief engraving, deep engraving, rotary engraving, and color engraving to create any graphics on the surfaces of metals and nonmetals. It is composed of a bed frame, laser generator, power supply, computer control system, field lens scanning system, galvanometer scanning system, engraving head, beam combiner, focusing system, controller software, control card, red light indicator, power filter, and more parts & accessories. The generator emits a beam to the galvanometer scanning mirror. Combined with marking software, the generator and scanning galvanometer will start to engrave permanent patterns, texts, photos, or your custom designs on the surface of an object.
The working principle is that a beam with extremely high energy density is irradiated to the surfaceof the substrate to be marked under the control of a computer, and the desired pattern or text is ablated.
Optical fiber lasers have become a hot topic in laser physics research in recent years. The generator is composed of a working medium and a pump source enclosed in a pump cavity. The pump source “pumps” the working medium from the energy ground state to the excited state.
The generator introduces the 1064nm high-power laser directly into the processing surface through a soft single-mode fiber with a sheath, and the spot size after collimation and focusing reaches tens of microns or less, which is close to the diffraction limit. It can be used for marking, etching, burning, printing, or engraving various materials.
Specifications
- Brand: Hymson Laser
- Laser Source: Fiber Laser
- Laser Generator: IPG, Raycus, JPT
- Laser Wavelength: 1064 nm
- Laser Power: 20W, 30W, 50W, 60W, 70W, 100W
- Marking Materials: Metals, Nonmetals, Metalloids
- Types: Handheld, Portable, Desktop, Mini, 3D, MOPA, Flying
- Price Range: $3,500.00 – $28,500.00
Cost Considerations
If you’re contemplating purchasing an optical fiber laser engraving machine, you may wonder about the cost. How do you arrive at a final price?
Based on different features and configurations, you can acquire a fiber laser engraver ranging from $3,500.00 up to $28,500.00. The 20W laser costs from $2,600.00 up to $6,800.00. The 30W laser costs from $2,900.00 up to $9,800.00. The 50W laser costs from $3,800.00 up to $11,800.00. The 60W lasers cost from $5,200.00 up to $12,800.00. The 100W lasers cost from $19,800.00 up to $22,000.00. The costs of MOPA types start from $4,200.00. The prices of 3D types start from $8,000.00. The mini handheld types are priced from $3,000.00 to $9,000.00. The portable types are priced from $2,800.00 to $8,800.00. The desktop types are priced from $2,900.00 to $13,800.00. The industrial online flying types are priced from $2,600.00 to $5,600.00. If you plan to buy a fiber laser marking machine overseas, the fee of customs clearance, tax, and shipping costs should be included in the final price.
Parts & Accessories
A laser etcher uses the light beam as the medium, which features good heat dissipation, high power, and fast speed. It uses an air-cooled laser diode as a pump source, which enables pulsed and continuous engraving, and is easy to use. However, do you know how many parts & accessories are needed to assemble it?
- The laser generator is the component that generates the light beam, which uses a rare-earth-doped glass fiber as the gain medium, so it is the core part of the engraver. It is used in a wide range of applications including marking, engraving, etching, cutting, welding, and cleaning. The most common fiber laser brands on the market are JPT, Raycusand IPG.
- The galvanometer is designed according to the ammeter, and the lens is used instead of the needle. The most common galvanometer is the 10mm spot.
- The field lens, also known as F-θ lens, scanning lens, focusing lens, or scanning lens, is used to focus the light beam from the galvanometer on a plane.
Tip: When purchasing field lens, you should pay attention to indicating the marking range, and determine according to your own needs.
- The marking card, also known as the control card, is used to convert the text or pattern designed in the computer into analog signals or digital signals, and then transmit them to the galvanometer.
- The red light indicator (red light pen) is used to indicate the light path and is installed in the red light beam combining frame.
- The beam combiner (laser combiner) is used to overlap the visible 650nm laser with the invisible 1064nm laser, so the light of 1064nm is at the position indicated by the red light of 650nm.
- If an engraver is compared to a house, then the control cabinet is the frame of the house, and all other accessories are installed in the house.
- The industrial computer is a common PC in the market. Because the marking card adopts a USB interface, you can also use a laptop as an industrial computer, which is an important reason why it can be made into a portable engraver.
In addition to those listed above, there are also power supplies, master power control boxes, red beam combiner frames, and some optional accessories such as rotary attachment, XY moving table, conveyor belt.
Pros & Cons
Pros
A laser marking system primarily consists of a highly flexible, controllable laser source coupled to a high-speed, precise motion system through software and hardware. In addition to being able to engrave, it also has machining capabilities such as cutting, drilling, polishing, scribing, and scraping.
Compared with the inkjet method, the laser marking system is more environmentally friendly and economical. The long-lasting marking will not be easily erased. The non-contact and non-destructive marking will not damage the substrate. The printing accuracy is precision. The long service life is more than 100,000 hours with continuous engraving. The cutting speed is high with low operating costs, and a 2D code can be completed in less than 1 second. There is no obvious touch on the top, manual operation is easy and fool-like engraving.
- Fiber laser technology will meet a variety of metal and non-metal materials. In particular, it is more advantageous to mark materials with high hardness, high melting point, and brittleness.
- It is a non-contact engraving tool with good marking quality, no damage to the substrate, no mechanical tools required.
- The light beam is thin, the marking material consumption is small, and the marking heat-affected zone is small.
- High engraving efficiency, high speed, computer control, easy to use and realize automation.
- The best way to engrave metals without mechanical tools.
- Low operating costs with higher cutting speeds.
Cons
The marking area is too small to do large-format engraving, and it is not as professional as CO2 laser in marking non-metals such as wood, cloth, plastic, acrylic, glass, crystal.
Novices or beginners like to stare at the marking process. Long-term staring is harmful to the eyes and tingling. Most manufacturers will provide appropriate eye protection glasses. The harmful element (ZnSe) in the focusinglens is harmful to the human body, so it is necessary to avoid touching it with your hands. The price of the fiber laser marking machine is relatively high, and the initial investment cost is high.
Conclusion
A fiber laser engraver is a versatile tool that can be used for a wide range of applications, from personal use to industrial manufacturing. It offers many advantages over traditional marking tools, including high precision, speed, and the ability to work with a variety of materials. However, it also has some disadvantages, such as a smaller marking area and a higher initial cost. Despite these drawbacks, the benefits of a fiber laser engraver often outweigh the negatives, making it a worthwhile investment for many businesses and individuals.