How to Distinguish Good and Bad Finished Products of Laser Cutting Machine

Laser cutting is widely used for processing carbon steel, stainless steel, aluminum alloy and other sheet metals. It is essential to master simple but effective inspection standards to avoid defective workpieces, cut rework costs and ensure follow-up bending, welding and painting quality.

First, check dimensional accuracy of the fiber laser cutting machine , Measure with vernier calipers and compare with drawings. Good parts stay within the agreed tolerance. Poor products have obvious size errors, deformed small holes or slots, which are usually caused by wrong parameters or unstable machine operation. Thin sheets are prone to thermal deformation and need flatness checking.

Second, observe the laser cutting section and striations. High-quality cuts have fine, even and smooth texture lines. Rough, chaotic and deep stripes indicate poor cutting effect, resulting from mismatched speed, incorrect focus or unstable gas pressure. The surface roughness directly affects later fitting and surface treatment.

Third, inspect bottom dross and burrs. Qualified workpieces have little slag, and slight residues can be removed easily. Thick, firmly attached dross is a typical defect. Burrs and slag will cause assembly gaps and scratch the surface. Aluminum alloy is more likely to produce sticky slag.

Fourth, check edge perpendicularity and kerf taper of the laser cutting. Taper matters more for thick plates. Good cuts maintain good verticality with consistent kerf width. Obvious taper or changing kerf width will lead to assembly failure, caused by laser beam divergence or shaking cutting head.

Fifth, check the heat-affected zone (HAZ) and discoloration. Proper cutting keeps a narrow HAZ with light oxidation color. Heavy black burning and dark discoloration mean excessive heat input. The edge may become hard and crack easily, which is bad for stainless steel parts requiring corrosion resistance.

Besides, watch out for scratches, collision marks, missing cuts and burnt sharp corners. Tiny features like small holes and sharp corners are easy to deform if parameters are not well set.

Note that acceptable standards vary by material and thickness. Buyers and suppliers should confirm QC rules before mass production.

In short, qualified laser cutting parts have accurate sizes, smooth cutting surfaces, no hard dross, small taper and slight heat discoloration. Visual check together with caliper measurement can complete most quality control work.