Laser Cutting Services

Accumet is a fully equipped, industrial laser cutting service center staffed by the most skilled laser-machine technicians in the industry. Our experienced team is well-versed in laser cutting to meet the stringent demands of aerospace and medical standards, including precision laser cutting of microelectronics and medical devices. Accumet offers quick turnaround times on a broad range of in-stock materials, such as aluminum nitride (AlN) ceramic substrate materials, frozen epoxies, EMI and microwave absorbers, stainless steel tubes, and adhesives.

To ensure highly accurate design and laser cutting tolerances, our team utilizes state-of-the-art, computer-aided drafting and computer-aided modeling (CAD/CAM) software for machine control. Accumet combines these tools with micro-positioning tables, multiple-beam systems, and statistical processing controls to achieve extremely repeatable and precise laser cut tolerances consistently across parts and projects. Furthermore, Accumet goes the extra mile for our customers, even customizing special laser systems, fabricating new rotary laser cutting, drilling, and marking machines, and developing advanced analysis tools to guarantee part quality.

Accumet houses more than 26 low-power, medium-power, and high-power CO2, YAG, and diode/fiber lasers, operated by our highly skilled and experienced laser-machining professionals who optimize the performance of every machine. Our laser-cutting machines are capable of achieving micron-level cutting precision on thick sheets of high-strength stainless steel, as well as extremely delicate, intricate, and precise cuts on thin foils, fabrics, and a wide variety of other materials.

Combine our Laser Cutting Service with CNC Machining

Laser cutting, also known as laser-beam machining, utilizes the thermal energy of a directed laser beam to vaporize, thermal-stress crack, melt, or burn away material from a targeted area. When combined with modern CNC machine technologies, laser cutters can be employed for highly precise micromachining, as well as high-volume and large-format cutting. As a non-contact form of machining, laser cutting does not scrape, deposit, or eject material toward the part or work surface, unlike milling, sawing, or waterjet cutting. This allows laser cutters to maintain extremely consistent and fast-cutting operations with minimal downtime or tool changes, providing CNC machinists with superior components for secondary processes.

The laser-cutting beam is exceptionally narrow, resulting in kerf widths as small as thousandths of an inch, depending on the material, laser power, and laser optics. Additionally, laser cutting can produce very fine surface finishes in the range of just over a hundred microinches, at a minimum. For some materials, the thermal-cutting effect of a laser can be considered a flame-polished edge. The highly precise and vibration-free cutting that lasers offer can also reduce the post-processing needed to refine a part, which can be particularly time-consuming when attempting to polish small dimensional areas of intricate parts after CNC milling.

Although the speed of a laser-cutting machine depends on factors such as material, material thickness, laser type, laser frequency, and laser power, laser-cutting jobs can often be processed at higher speeds than CNC mills, especially when sheet thicknesses require the CNC mill to perform multiple passes to complete a cut. Since laser cutting is zero-contact and does not place additional forces on the workpiece, fixturing effort can be significantly reduced, resulting in more consistent part production. Moreover, laser cutting generates a very small, heat-affected zone (HAZ) that may be far lower in temperature than traditional cutting technologies that rely on shearing or grinding friction to cut.

Laser Cutting Can Be Performed on a Wide Range of Materials and Thicknesses

Unlike many other machine-cutting technologies, laser cutting imposes almost no forces and stresses on the work material. This means that even very delicate and thin materials, such as leather, silk, and even thin precious-metal foils, can be cut with precise and intricate designs. For many materials, the small, heat-affected zone (HAZ) and thermal stresses imparted on the material enable cutting patterns that would otherwise be impossible with other methods.

However, the maximum cuttable thickness or laser cutting tolerance limits must be considered prior to any laser cut, and these tolerance limits depend on the material. Also, certain highly reflective and translucent materials may be difficult or impractical to laser cut. Different types of lasers, namely UV, IR, and Far IR, process materials in varied ways due to the frequency of light used in the laser.