UK’s first Salvagnini L1Xe fibre laser

Altex benchmarked the L1Xe against a number of competitor machines, but nothing could match the machine's overall performance, with it proving five times faster than the eight-year-old 3 kW laser cutter it replaced. The machine processes steel up to 18 mm thick, stainless steel up to 10 mm and aluminium up to 8 mm. Due to the wavelength of the fibre laser, it is also possible to cut highly reflective materials, such as copper and brass, up to 5 mm thick - something not achievable using more conventional CO2 laser technology. General laser profiling tolerances at Altex are 0.2 mm, which was about the limit of the company's previous laser cutter, however, the Salvagnini L1Xe has a cut of 0.07 mm. Optical fibre is used on the L1Xe to both generate the beam inside the electronic source and transport the beam from the source to the machine. The dense beam that is produced does not require high power levels to function, even when cutting thick materials. Power consumption is up to 75 per cent less than the previous profiling machine, and managing director Adrian Brewer anticipates electricity savings in the region of £500 per month. Altex is generating further savings through an in-house nitrogen generating plant that was installed last year. At a cost of £70,000, the plant is saving about £22,000 a year on cylinder delivery and consumption, so it is expected to pay for itself in just over three years. The added benefit of using nitrogen as an assist gas is that it doesn't oxidise the edge in the way that oxygen does. Using oxygen means that sheet metal parts need to be wire-brushed after laser cutting to remove the carbon layer before painting. Using nitrogen eliminates this need for edge cleaning.