Laser Cutting VS Plasma Cutting

As CNCKing.com is on the verge of releasing its first CNC Plasma Cutting File so I’d like to run through the major differences between a plasma cutter and a laser cutter.

Plasma cutting was developed in the 1950s to cut metals that couldn’t be cut using a flame such as copper, stainless steel and aluminum. Plasma cutting is actually just a transfer of energy from an electrical power source though a plasma gas such as nitrogen, argon, hydrogen along with air and oxygen using a high-energy arc while lasers are just a beam of highly concentrated light produced from a gas tube. As this energy is highly concentrated, it can easily cut through metal that would be just about impossible for anything other than a massive industrial laser cutter, not something typically see among the weekend hobby crowd.

The arc produced by a plasma cutter melts the metal while the gas helps to remove the molten material that is found at the bottom of the cut, leading to a nice finish similar to that produced by lasers as the heat generated by the plasma cutter vaporizes the material in the kerf.

Here are some of the major “general” differences between both CNC technologies:

• CO2 lasers use light while plasmas transmit gas for cutting
• nozzles are generally much closer for plasma than laser (Z-axis)
• neither machine type has precise Z-axis control as seen with CNC table routers
• plasma is exclusively for cutting and used only for metals (including reflective ones not possible for laser)
• you can engrave with a laser and table router but not a plasma
• industrially speaking, plasmas are much cheaper to acquire and run than high-end lasers
• lasers have a higher processing tolerance but plasma has a smaller kerf width
• due to the radiation, you need to wear glasses while cutting with a plasma cutter, they are also louder and require more maintenance (cleaning wise)

To summarize in very general terms, CNC plasma cutters are meant for cutting steel while CNC laser and table routers are for cutting and engraving a host of materials other than steel.