Process foam with a laser with speed and precision

Anyone wanting to cut filters and foam with a laser would be well advised to use a high-quality JustLaser Laser Cutter. Lasers can be used to quickly and easily cut a number of foam materials made from polyurethane, polyethylene and polyester. Laser cutting is a common process in the production of upholstery, high-quality packaging or seals. It is also used for processing handicrafts, photo frames, extravagant souvenirs or in fab labs.

You don’t need a wide range of equipment to be able to cut filters and foam with a laser: after brief training, you can use a JustLaser laser machine to cut the following materials without any issues:

• Polyurethane (PUR)
• Polyethylene (PE)
• Polyester (PES)

The super pulsed laser tube built into every JustLaser Large Laser Cutter ensures the best cutting results even for laser cutting foam. Due to the very narrow cutting gap and the high peak performance of the laser tube, foams up to 10cm thick can be cut perfectly in the best quality. Inclined or curved cutting edges are a thing of the past!

WHAT DOES SUPER PULSED MEAN?

With a super pulsed laser tube you get more power for your applications. The built-in laser tube offers much more power than the purchased power. With a 650W laser tube you can get more than 2,000W (2kW) peak power for a short period of time. With a super-pulsed laser tube, for example, you can achieve a much lower tan on cut edges, since the high peak power leads to faster evaporation of the material in the kerf and the short interaction time inhibits heat conduction. The power is thus conducted into a smaller, defined volume, which in turn leads to the kerf narrowing.

Cutting filters and foam with a laser has many benefits thanks to the high level of flexibility of the process. Modern filtering technology essentially fulfils the function of cleanly separating out any process by-products. In some cases, the separated materials are the desired end product. It is, therefore, extremely important that the filters used are designed and constructed accurately.

FILTER FLEECE AS AN IDEAL SOLUTION

Filter fleece has a low specific weight and consists of a mesh of fibres which holds back nearly 100% of particles in a certain size interval. Filter fleece is used for separating solids from fluids in a number of industries. Contaminants can be separated through the wet filtration process. The yeast is separated in the production of fermented drinks in order to stop the fermentation and thus significantly increase the product’s shelf life. Selecting filter technology, filter capacity and filter service life suitable for the specific process is imperative for producing a high-quality end result at a simultaneously high throughput rate. The material is often made up for the specific filter patterns (of the housing or filter frame, for example). Cutting filters with a laser is considered common practice; after all, it quickly and easily makes individual, just-in-time assembly possible.

Filter fleece can be used in different patterns for bag filters, pressure belt filters, vacuum filters, basket-shaped filters or round hose filters. Laser cutting is the most advantageous technology as long as the fleece lays flat during the cutting process. On the other hand, it only makes economic sense to use cutting dies if you have a high throughput rate or if changes to the cutting pattern are rare. In laser cutting, you often get sealed / melted cut edges, the setup time is very short (simply load the new job into the computer) and no new cutting dies need to be produced (costs) or stored (costs and setup time). Another benefit is that there is no tool wear as there is in punching, and the costs are easy to calculate.  Furthermore, contours can be freely chosen in laser cutting, which is hugely beneficial in practice. Anyone wanting to cut filters and foam with a laser would be well advised to use a high-quality JustLaser Laser Cutter.