industry

Sheet Metal – What it is and what are the benefits of using it

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As the industry keeps progressing each year, people are finding ways to make even fancier and better-looking structures, as well as improve the quality of all materials. Today we’re discussing Sheet Metal, so if you want to learn what it is and what the benefits of using it are, feel free to continue reading until the end. Without further ado, here’s what you need to know.

What is sheet metal?

Sheet metal is when regular metal is re-formed into very thin pieces, called sheet metal. The process is known as steel/metal fabrication and such metal It has tons of various applications in both the building and manufacturing industries, and it is definitely getting a lot of popularity as time goes by.

Sheet metal can be made from many different types of metal, such as titanium, aluminum, and copper. Depending on what you want to use your sheet metal for, the thickness and hardiness will vary, so before buying sheet metal for whatever your purpose is, make sure that you do enough research or simply contact a professional for useful advice.

Where is sheet metal used?

Sheet metal is everywhere around us, but we may not be noticing it enough. Here are some examples where sheet metal is significantly used.

The Automotive Industry

source: stanleyengineeredfastening.com

Sheet metal is used for the creation of every car’s shell, and all of the bodies of many different cars, including the most luxurious ones are made out of sheet metal.

For the creation of Airplanes

source: aeroeast.net

Believe it or not, airplanes that are both large and small, have some of their parts including the wings covered in sheet metal.

Roofing

source: topmetalroofs.ca

Sheet metal is also really widely used as a roofing material, so most of the modern houses and buildings have sheet metal on top of them, which is used to make rain gutters and ducts.

Popularity and usefulness of sheet metal

According to Parkway Fabrications, sheet metal is something that can never go “out-of-fashion”, simply because new buildings, airplanes and cars will be made all the time, which means that sheet metal can never go out of production.

As for its popularity, sheet metal is already used in a lot of areas, so it is pretty much safe to say that it’s gotten extremely popular ever since it first got introduced to the previously mentioned industries.

There are many benefits of using sheet metal, so if you happen to be in any situation where you might need roofing, making rain gutters or ducts, sheet metal is definitely something that will help you a lot. Or, even if you are the do-it-yourself kind of a person, and you decide to make your own car shell, sheet metal is here to save the day.

Apart from the previously mentioned things, sheet metal can be used in order to make many different items, such as Cargo truck panels, Dumpsters, Bins, Refrigerators, Lockers and Tool Boxes, Hoppers, Electrical Enclosures, Railroad Cars and tons of different things.

As for the cost, sheet metal tends to be pretty cheap, especially if you find a good source to supply it from, so going out of budget shouldn’t be that much of a problem.

 

How Does Fiber Laser Machine Work?

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The fiber laser cutting machine is a popular type of laser cutting that adopts a fiber laser source to achieve a perfect cutting effect. Fiber lasers are a type of solid-state lasers that is growing rapidly within the metal cutting industry.

Fiber technology uses a solid gain medium, unlike gas or liquid. The “seed laser” produces the laser beam and then amplifies within a glass fiber. With a wavelength of 1.064 micrometers, fiber lasers create a small dot size (up to 100 times smaller compared to CO2) which makes it ideal for cutting reflective metal material.

The fiber laser source can emit a high-power laser beam that focuses on the surface of the materials, vaporizing or melting the focused area instantaneously. Controlled by the numerical and mechanical system, the laser head moves and the laser spot is also changed accordingly to achieve automatic cutting with fast speed and high precision. The fiber laser cutter has been developed in a highly precise type of laser cutting, widely used in the metal parts processing industries.

Fiber laser machines are applied across the industrial field. The following are the characteristics of these machines that make these machines so popular.

Img source: YouTube
  • Fiber lasers have a higher wall plug efficiency compared to other laser cutting machines.
  • Fiber laser machines give the advantage of maintenance-free operation.
  • These machines have the special feature of an easy ‘plug and play’ design.
  • In addition, they are compact and, therefore, very easy to install.
  • Fiber lasers are known as the phenomenal BPP where BPP means beam parameter product. They also provide constant BPP throughout the power range.
  • These machines have a high conversion efficiency of photons.
  • There is greater flexibility in beam delivery in the case of fiber lasers compared to other laser cutting machines.
  • They allow the processing of highly reflective materials as well.
  • They provide a lower cost of ownership.

Features mentioned here make these fiber laser cutting machines very advantageous in comparison with others and are popularly used in various applications.

With such an advantageous technique, the machines can be used in a variety of industries, such as auto parts, electronic components, mechanical parts, instruments, hardware tools, articles for daily use, etc. And in the process of real marking, the greater the power, the faster and deeper is the marking. In general, taking a fiber laser marking the machine as an example: the 50W / 100W machine can be used to mark the metal sheet thinner than 1mm. The common marking depth is not more than 0.01 mm, and if you persist marking in 0.1mm deep, a deeper fiber laser marking machine will be recommended. In terms of marking speed, high-speed lenses tend to mark at a faster speed, up to 7000mm/s; a common lens can mark at 2000mm/s to a maximum.

Why Choose The Fiber Laser Machine?

Img source: alibaba.com

The fiber laser machine is now increasingly used in the metal processing industries. It has a highly powerful beam that works on sheets of metal with accurate and efficient cutting performance. The laser head will not directly touch the surface of the materials, so the cutting effect is completely protected. The auxiliary cutting gas can be chosen between oxygen and nitrogen, depending on the types of metals with which you plan to work. The waste produced in the cutting process could be expelled by the auxiliary cutting gas and collected in the waste collection box under the lathe. Therefore, the total cutting process is clean and ecological.

Main Advantages of Fiber Laser Machine

The fiber laser has a higher energy conversion rate that can reach up to 30%, saving operation and maintenance costs.

1. Fiber lasers are designed with semiconductor modular and redundancy, and there are no optical lenses in the resonant cavity. Therefore, it is not necessary to spend a lot of time starting and adjusting the machine before cutting, which is incomparable among traditional laser machines.
2. The protective lens is configured in a fiber laser head to protect the focusing lens and reduce parts consumption.
3. The laser head does not touch the materials directly to avoid scratching the materials and guarantee a quality cutting effect.
4. The fiber laser produces the smallest kerf and thermal area, which keeps the cutting stability and prevents the deformation of the material.
5. 02mm/min cutting accuracy and fast cutting speed of fast markedly increase the efficiency of the work in the manufacture of metallic pieces.
6. The fiber laser cutting machine works safely and environmentally friendly way. Little pollution and noise will be produced and the workshop environment will be well protected.

What Is The Disadvantage Of The Fiber Laser Machine?

Img source: stylecnc.com

1. Normally, fiber laser machine is also expensive.
2. And when you cut a material that is very thick or has a high reflection, it cannot work fast.

Summary

Different types of lasers are suitable for different materials. If one wanted to mark wood, for example, the optimal wavelength of light for that material is that produced by a CO2 laser. If you, for instance, wanted metals to be marked, the optimum wavelength would be that produced by a YAG or fiber laser. The material to mark determines the type of laser that is needed. No laser is suitable for all materials.

Laser cutting with fiber laser is more energy efficient, accurate and economical for most high-end industries. Fiber laser machines make more precise cuts than more traditional CO2 lasers and have a longer lifespan. Fiber lasers tend to be more expensive than traditional lasers, but they last longer and require less maintenance and spare parts. Fiber lasers generally cost between $ 25,000 and $ 65,000.