Bystronic Premiers 6 kW Fiber Laser

The North American premier of the BySprint Fiber 6 kW laser cutting machine took place on October 15-16 at Bystronic Inc. (Elgin, IL). Brody Fanning, the vice president of sales at the company, greeted visitors and the press by announcing how the speed of this new system would be a “gamechanger” that promised to alter the operating economics of sheet metal fabrication shops.

This was followed by a presentation on “Benefits of Using High Power Fiber Lasers” by Frank Arteaga, the head of product marketing at Bystronic, that examined how the raw speed of this new system would not only lower operating costs to increase shop profitability, but also mean faster throughput that would increase machine availability and competitive advantage.

Most importantly, the BySprint Fiber 6kW laser achieves very high speeds across a broad range of materials – mild steel, stainless steel, aluminum, brass and copper – at thicknesses up to 3/4 in. A cutting trial demonstrated how much faster the new Bysprint 6 kW fiber laser cutting system was when compared to a CO2 laser cutting system. Arteaga also shared how the company plans to roll out Power Cut capabilities of up to one inch thick steel and stainless steel and up to 1.25 in thick aluminum for this system in April 2015.

The presentation laid out how fiber laser cutting systems greatly reduce the variable costs in electricity, laser gas and other consumables when compared to a CO2 laser cutting system, and detailed many other maintenance benefits of using this solid-state system.

Arteaga closed by projecting that, 5-6 years out, the laser cutting system market for general industry applications will be 75 percent fiber laser, 25 percent CO2.