Laser Types: Taking the guess work out of choosing your next machine.

The marketing shenanigans can make choosing the right machine down right frustrating if not impossible. In this article, we’ll give you the low down on what the various laser types can and can’t do, so that you can choose the right machine for you! But please, keep in mind that despite the wild claims to the contrary, there is no singular laser that will do everything.

So with that in mind, let’s get right into it! First, we are going to cover the types of lasers available on the market, what they are useful for, and what they aren’t!

Source Types

• Diode Lasers
  Diode lasers are by far the most heavily marketed lasers available today, and that’s largely due to the fact that they are relatively inexpensive to produce, and that translates to a low cost/lower barrier for entry for most consumers. These machines, despite the marketing, aren’t the super tools that most folks new to the industry believe that they are. They are relatively slow, making them less than ideal for most commercial applications.
  These machines are fantastic for hobby use or in cases where the end user needs to work with delicate materials like fabric (more on that in a minute) or ultra fine details in a small area, but doesn’t need production level scaling (meaning you have time to burn…no pun intended…waiting for a project to finish). These come in a variety of shapes in sizes, from cheap open frame machines to more polished machines that come with a housing commonly referred to as an enclosure, or as an attachment to CNC routers and 3D printers (though for both safety and machine longevity, we don’t ever recommend this option).
  The beam shape itself, unlike other source types is more rectangular in shape, which leads to a thicker dot size horizontally than vertically, which can lead to inconsistent cut sizes. For this reason, as well as the fact that cutting most materials requires VERY high power outputs and VERY slow speeds with multiple passes, diode’s are not the ideal choice for thicker material cutting. The optical light output from the laser also has a very limited spectrum of effectiveness (that’s a lot of big words to say diodes don’t interact with clear/semi transparent materials like acrylic, and cutting wood is a pain in the behind…and not fantastic for parts that need very tight and consistent tolerances). Where diodes DO shine is cutting fabric, engraving certain fabrics, wood and leather engraving (again, if you have time to kill or are just a hobbyist), and an ultra specific application known as NWT (Norton White Tile), in which a specific process is followed to create permanent black engravings onto white, glazed ceramic tiles.
  What diodes are NOT useful for is metal engraving or cutting, and despite marketing to the contrary, this will never be a use case for diode laser technology. Some diode’s have an infrared feature, which will allow you to anneal metal (think of it like printing on the metal), but even these machines we can’t recommend being used in this way because it requires running the diode at very high power and very slow speed for extended periods of time. Continue reading to learn why this is a horrible idea.
  Diode lasers emit their beam using a solid state light source. These devices have very little in the way of heat dissipation, and as such, running them at power ranges above 80% or for long periods of time drastically reduces their life spans, and also creates the risk of melting wiring insulation, which can lead directly to fires. For these reasons, and to maximize the life of your diode laser machine, we recommend you limit your operating power to no more than 80% power, and no longer than 60 minutes at a time for diode lasers.
• CO2 Lasers
  CO2 lasers come in two varieties, RF (metal tube) and glass tube systems. RF tubes are more expensive but last longer, produce a finer, more focused dot size, which makes them ideal for engraving applications. They also have a faster response rate (meaning they turn off and on really fast), which when equipped with the right kind of motors or on a galvo head allows for incredibly fast engraving of wood, all kinds of acrylic, glass (non-tempered only) and many kinds of stone as well. Glass tube CO2 lasers are usually available in much higher power outputs, which makes them ideal for material cutting applications. They are still plenty capable of engraving, but subtle losses of detail can happen, especially when working with small and highly detailed designs.

Glass tube based CO2 lasers are great for cutting material, and the higher the wattage, the thicker the material you can cut with them. However, unlike RF tubes, which have an operating life of up to a decade or more based on specific use & storage conditions, glass tube CO2 lasers have a more predictable life span. They also have a shelf life that is limited when compared to an RF source. For example, an unused, brand new CO2 glass tube laser source has between 2-3 years of usability from the date of manufacture versus 10-25 years of viable storage life for a RF (metal) CO2 laser source. Additionally, glass tube lasers are not refillable, effectively making them a disposable product, whereas the RF tubes can be refilled again and again as their gasses are used up, though this service can be difficult and expensive to secure. Ultimately, the right type of source depends on how you plan to use the machine, if you need more help figuring that out, send an email to customerservice@aduromark.com and we will help you figure out which laser type is going to best suit your needs.

Some glass tube CO2 lasers also have configurations in which secondary gasses are used to aid the laser in reacting with some (but not all) metals. These are highly specialized machines, and while most of the manufacturers that offer such metal cutting capable CO2 lasers tout their machines as being able to switch between metal cutting and more traditional CO2 reactive substrate applications, from our research into customer feedback, we have found that the change over process is rather involved and time consuming, and for that reason, it is best to have dedicated machines that are focused on one of the two dedicated applications. Furthermore, with the cost of plasma cutting CNC machines and waterjet cutting systems becoming more & more accessible, we highly recommend you leave metal cutting applications to these technology types, as the parts of consumables for metal cutting capable CO2 lasers is far more expensive than their alternative technology counter parts and show little in the way of coming down in price anytime soon.

• Fiber Lasers
  Fiber optic source lasers (or fiber lasers as they are more commonly referred to) are unique in that their particular spectrum of light production specifically interacts with non-ferrous metals which makes them ideally suited for engraving, marking (annealing) and even cutting metal substrates. There are a variety of source types and brands available on the market today, which can make choosing the correct source type for your specific needs a rather complicated endevour. Shoot us an email at customerservice@aduromark.com and we’ll be happy to assist you in sifting through the options to find which option is right for you.

• UV Lasers
  If there was a “holy grail” of “one-and-done” solutions to engraving or marking on almost any material, UV lasers would (almost) be that solution. Due to the unique spectrum of light employed, they are able to mark or engrave everything from wood to metal, from plastics to materials once thought to be taboo due to toxicity or difficult due to the complexity of the process involved such as ABS & PVC plastics (both a “no-no” to work with in order laser systems for their own reasons) and specialty glass (including tempered glass and other, more delicate glass varieties). This is due to the wavelength of light they work in, but before you think this is the answer to all of your personalization prayers, keep in mind: they do not engrave deeply on most materials, and larger wattage units may require a chiller like glass tube CO2 laser machines do in order to keep the laser source cool.

Delivery types

Lasers used for engraving and cutting come in one of two varieties. Machines can either be equipped with a galvanometer (commonly referred to as a “Galvo-head” or “galvo“), or a gantry system. Galvo systems have a fixed, stationary head with mirrors that move the beam around a specified work area that varies in size and intensity based on the lens size installed (and many models offer lenses that are interchangeable). Gantry systems, on the other hand, offer machines with a head that moves the laber around a machine’s work area. Gantry systems are most commonly found entry level diode lasers, and CO2 lasers, but can also be found in the fiber laser segment when cutting metals is the goal. As you can probably guess from this fact, galvo units accel at marking & engraving materials quickly, but do not cut materials well as this is not the purpose they were designed for. Whereas, gantry machines will engrave well, albeit slower than a galvo in most cases, but are especially well suited for material cutting applications.

Material suitability

Diodes (Traditional):

• Wood
• Cork
• EVA and Other Laser Safe Foam (Air assist absolutely mandatory to prevent fire!)
• Stone
• Clear Glass & Clear Acrylic (engraving only & requires a carrier such as masking tape or black paint to interact with the material)
• Some Colors of Opaque Acrylic
• Ceramic (requires a carrier or paint filling for engraving to be seen)
• Leather
• Cotton Fabric
• Canvas (painted, removes the paint or if white painted, marks gray)
• Coated metals

Diodes (Infrared):

• All of the above + metal marking & VERY shallow engraving (note that the power and speed required to work with metal WILL shorten the life of the diode dramatically, thus we never recommend this application)
• CO2:
• Wood
• Cork
• EVA and Other Laser Safe Foam (Air assist absolutely mandatory to prevent fire!)
• Acrylic
• Glass
• Engravable Plastic
• Stone
• Ceramic (may require a carrier or paint filling for engraving to be seen)
  Leather
• Cotton Fabric (may require a significant reduction of power to prevent burn through)
• Coated metals

Fiber:

• Metal
• Coated metals (anodized, painted, powder coated & Ceramark)
• Stone
• Mirrors (backing removal)
• Canvas (paint removal)
• Black Acrylic (marking turns white and embosses when using the correct settings)
• Some polymer materials
• Ceramic (Norton White Tile method)
• Synthetic Leather (laser safe only)

UV sources will mark and/or engrave all of the materials listed above, and many materials that other sources can’t mark safely, but requires more detailed focus & material/machine settings too wide and varied to be useful for a guide like this. Just note that if you aren’t getting the results you want from other source types, this might be the machine source you want to consider.