A
Automation – our equipment provides a degree of automation that enables production to run 24 hours a day.
Ablation – laser ablation is the removal of material by melting and vaporising it during the laser cutting process.
B
Beam divergence – this is a measure of how much the laser cutting beam spreads out. It is usually measured in milliradians, a unit for angular measurement.
Best price all year round! – you won’t find us doing seasonal sales and promotions because we strive to provide the best possible price every day.
C
CAD – it all starts with a CAD drawing. We can draw simple parts to order, but it is quicker and easier if you are able to provide us with drawings in either DWG, DXF or NC format.
Cutting Gas – the laser cutting process often uses a gas or combination of gasses to enable or improve cutting depending on the material being cut. We laser cut most materials with nitrogen, but use oxygen to cut 10-25mm mild steel.
D
Delivery Network – we use a range of delivery services according to what suits the order and client best. Factors affecting this include size, weight and location.
Dross – laser cutting can produce residue on the bottom of the cut, formed by melted material solidifying as it cools. Some materials, such as poor quality or rusty steel, are more prone to this. Dross formation can be reduced by pulsed fibre laser cutting or an increased oxygen supply as well as good machine maintenance.
E
Emails – how to send us your order! We only provide prices and process orders sent to us by email. This gives us a traceable communication trail for the whole order process.
Edge Quality – Fibre laser cuts deliver excellent edge quality with virtually no edge factor. The cutting process creates minimal deformation of materials. This advanced technology ensures superior surface finish on all components. Manufacturers prefer this method specifically for its precision and remarkable consistency across various materials.
F
Fibre Laser – Experts recognise two main types of commercial laser cutting machines: fibre and CO2. Our organisation has utilised fibre laser cutting machines since 2013. Readers can learn more about the distinctions between CO2 and fibre laser cutting in this informative article.
https://lasered.co.uk/news/what-are-differences-between-co2-and-fibre-laser-cutting/ https://lasered.co.uk/news/what-are-differences-between-co2-and-fibre-laser-cutting/
Focal Point – the distance between the lens that focuses the laser beam and the position where the beam has its smallest diameter. It is where the beam has its highest concentration of energy.
G
Green energy supplier – 100% of the energy powering both our production and sales sites comes from renewable sources via Pozitive Energy who we have used since 2018.
H
Happy Customers – Our customers frequently send wonderful feedback entirely unprompted, as the products they receive exceed their expectations. Our speed and service often help them secure important projects. They continue to return for our services, which provides the best possible endorsement. This loyalty demonstrates the consistent quality we deliver across all manufacturing processes.
Health and Safety – Protecting our team remains paramount in everything we do. Factory settings present numerous health and safety challenges daily. Through sensible working practices, appropriate equipment, and comprehensive training, we maintain a safe and healthy working environment. Our staff receive regular updates on safety protocols to ensure everyone returns home safely each day.
Heat Affected Zone (HAZ) – this is the area affected by heat conducted into the material during the cutting process. Material properties and microstructure can be affected, these effects can include localised colour changes and hardening.
I
Investment – Our company constantly reinvests in cutting-edge technology and machinery to enhance our capabilities. This strategic approach enables our team to provide you with superior products at competitive prices. The new equipment significantly improves our production efficiency and turnaround times. We believe this commitment to technological advancement directly benefits our customers through faster deliveries and consistent quality.
J
Jet of Gas – Our cutting process employs a strategic gas jet to reduce oxidisation and contamination on the cut edges of metal components. This powerful stream effectively blows away waste materials during cutting, ensuring clean results. We primarily use nitrogen for this purpose, though manufacturers might select from several inert gases. The industry commonly refers to this as an ‘assist gas’ due to its supportive role in the cutting process. Proper gas selection significantly impacts the final quality and appearance of metal components, particularly for materials sensitive to oxidation.
K
Keen Sales Team – we pick people people, the ones who want to please our customers and reap the rewards of great service. They’re your first point of contact for placing an order with us and first impressions count.
Kerf – the width of the cut, or how much material is removed by the cutting process. This varies based on many factors, including the laser setup, the material being cut and the thickness of the material being cut. This is automatically factored in when programming your parts so you get your desired final measurements.
L
Laser – is an acronym, it stands for Light Amplification by Stimulated Emission of Radiation.
Lead times – always subject to change, but we will be honest with you about these from the outset and strive to better them whenever possible.
Loyalty – our customers return to us time after time and we really value that. Sometimes they dabble with other suppliers but they usually come back and all will be forgiven!
Lead-in – a lead-in is essential to the laser cutting process, it keeps the pierce away from the part and ensures that the laser enters the cut line smoothly, but it does result in a lead-in pip, a small bump on the outer edge of the component.
M
Materials – we stock and supply 200 different grades, finishes and thicknesses, with a further 34 we can order in to supply and laser cut.
MRP – the system we use to order and track materials. MRP stands for Material Requirements Planning and allows us to give as much information as possible to our customers about their order.
N
Nozzle Alignment – the condition of the nozzle is important to cut quality and precision, our machines have an automated smart nozzle system. This scans each nozzle regularly with a 3D imaging scanner to assess the quality of the nozzle and change it if required to maintain the best cut quality.
O
Operatives – the team on the factory floor who do the physically demanding job of ensuring that the drawings in the system turn into the correct products to be sent to you.
P
Production – the production office is a busy place, materials are ordered, deliveries are arranged, jobs are assigned to machines and any technical issues are ironed out.
Pulsed Laser – a laser which cuts using short bursts of laser energy, rather than a continuous wave. These technique is used to produce a reduced burr on the edges of materials that are more difficult to cut.
Planning – we use a digital planning system for every job, giving us full oversight of every part that is due, where capacity is available and always us to move work between machines to ensure orders are dispatched on time.
Q
Quotes – our sales team aim to return quotes sent during working hours within an hour, otherwise it will be returned the next working day. Our quotes are straightforward with no hidden charges.
R
Reflective Materials – fibre lasers can cut reflective materials, they don’t use mirrors or lenses, so the reflective surface from metals such as aluminium, copper and brass don’t cause the problems that they can cause CO2 laser cutting machines.
S
Steel – 73% of the parts we laser cut are either stainless or mild steel and a further 19% are galvanised or Zintec. If we work it out by weight, steel still comes out on top at 89%, with a further 8% cut from galvanised or Zintec.
Skeletons – this is what we call what is left of a sheet of metal after we have cut them and separated parts out the parts we require. Skeletons are saved and recycled.
T
Tolerance – this is the allowable amount of variation in the dimensions of part. One of the main advantages of laser cutting is the accuracy, our laser cutting tolerances are +/-0.25mm. For 35mm and 40mm mild steel, our tolerances are + / -0.50mm, this is in line with ISO guidelines.
Traceability – We offer full traceability for all our components from source to delivery. Mill Certificates are available for; S275, S355, all aluminium and all stainless steel. Find out more on our traceability page: https://lasered.co.uk/documentation-traceability/
Trumpf – we run four Trumpf 5030 8KW machines, a PalletMaster Tower and LiftMaster Compact and our team are in constant communication with Trumpf for training and personal development.
W
Website – our shop window, built to be a resource to our customers and to enable them to put together an enquiry and place an order as easily as possible.
U
Uniformity – Laser cutting is brilliant for producing lots and lots of identical parts. It’s an excellent process for high-volume production find out more here: https://lasered.co.uk/news/high-volume-laser-cutting/
V
Vetting – all orders added to our system are checked by our auditing team before they are sent to production in order to identify and query any discrepancies if required.
X
eXperience – sorry, had to cheat a bit there. We’ve been laser cutting metal since 1998, with several team members boasting 10 years or more with us.
Y
Yard – the yard outside the factory is a busy place, collections and deliveries come and go all day when the factory is operating with an average of 20,000 parts dispatched every day.
Z
Zero Metal Waste – 100% of the scrap metal from our laser cutting process is recycled, this has the dual benefits of lessening our environmental impact and keeping our material costs down, more savings to pass on to our customers.
