Laser cutter

Laser cutters are machines that use lasers to cut materials. They use heat to cut through materials, rather than friction, and can be used on all materials except those that reflect light (i.e. copper and aluminum). Developed for mass manufacture, they have only recently started to be used for small scale production and by hobbyists.

Laser cutters are commonly used with wood, especially for plywood or MDF panels with a thickness below 10 mm. Its cut is precise and extremely thin, about 0.1-0.2 mm. Because it uses heat, the laser burns the sides of the wood panels they cut.

Although the laser itself does not require much energy to be generated, these machines consume a lot of energy for cooling.

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The life cycle	Pro	Con
		High energy Made of kg of steel, aluminum, copper and plastic, laser cutting machines have a high embodied energy. Show Alternatives » Alternatives tools Low Energy Hand tools Shared tools	Tips You don’t need to own a laser cutter, you can outsource the cutting work or join a shared workshop in your area

	Low footprint Laser cutting, just like waterjet cutting, wastes much less material than mechanical cutting. Low production cost Because it reduces the need for manpower compared to power tools, laser cutting produces at a lower cost Quick Laser cutters can cut at a speed of 5-15 mm/sec with 18mm thickness. Thinner material can be cut faster.	High investment Small tabletop units are available at a price almost comparable to power tools, but investment costs grow fast if you want to be able to work with larger or thicker materials. Show Alternatives » Alternatives tools Low investment Hand tools Sandblasting Shared tools High energy Laser cutting consumes more energy than mechanical cutting, not so much for the laser itself as much as for cooling. The total power input is more than 10 times the power output of the laser (1) Show Alternatives » Alternatives tools Low Energy CNC mill Hand tools	Tips Practice lossless design, fitting as many pieces as possible on each board of material, to reduce waste. Use aspiration because when the resins in the wood burn, the fumes are dangerous. This is especially true for MDF, plywood and particleboard