Fiber Laser Cutting of Ceramic – Tips?

[Echocat (Echo)]

Hello!

I’m a beginner, been working with a fiber laser for about a week.

Equipment:

• Guangi 100W
• 110mm lens
• EZCAD2
• Material: beryllium oxide, 1.2mm thick, hardness ~9 Mohs

Goal: cut through the material in 3 passes. So far, the cutting is very weak.

Looking for advice on:

• power, frequency, speed settings
• focusing and slight defocusing
• experience with very hard ceramics
• if anyone can sketch an example cutting path or optimal settings, I would be very grateful

Any practical tips or shared experiences are welcome!

[ednisley]

@Echocat

Material: beryllium oxide

You are aware of the lethally toxic nature of beryllium oxide dust produced by laser-machining the solid material, right?

[Colin (Colin Worobetz)]

@Echocat

beryllium oxide

Yeesh, yeah, as @ednisley noted, this stuff is no joke, and requires serious engineering controls and PPE.

[MikeyH (Mike Hembrey)]

@Echocat

if anyone can sketch an example cutting path or optimal settings, I would be very grateful

Are you asking us to design the job for you?

3rd opinion. Google Search and click on the Show More or Dive Deeper button.

[Echocat (Echo)]

Hi everyone,

Thank you for the warnings about beryllium oxide — I really appreciate the safety advice.

To clarify, my material is just a very hard ceramic, 1.2 mm thick, not beryllium oxide. I’m looking for tips on laser settings, focusing, and example cutting paths for this type of safe ceramic material.

Any practical advice or example setups would be very helpful.

Thanks again!

[ednisley]

@Echocat

my material is just a very hard ceramic, 1.2 mm thick, not beryllium oxide

We can only work with what you tell us. Does anything else in your description need clarification?

@Echocat

example cutting paths

That depends on what the raw part looks like and what it should become; to a large extent, you describe the geometry and LightBurn directs the laser beam along it.

For a simple straight cut, you draw a line, specify the power & speed &c, and LightBurn creates the commands to make that line happen. You’re responsible for setting up a suitable fixture to ensure the part is under the line.

@Echocat

cut through the material in 3 passes

IMO you have overconstrained requirements:

• A specific fiber laser machine
• A specific material
• A specific thickness
• A specific cut performance goal

The machine power determines the cut depth per pass on the material, so a through cut will need as many passes as it takes. If “the cutting is very weak”, that suggests the machine does not have enough power or your expectations are too high.

If you specify “3 passes” to cut through a specific thickness of a specific material, then you must choose the laser power (and speed, etc) to make that happen.

You’ve also specified EZCAD2, rather than LightBurn, which rules out much of the expertise you’ll find around here.