How to Maintain Laser Cutting Machinery?

How to Maintain Laser Cutting Machinery?

Maintenance is not just about fixing things and getting them to work the way they were. Several metal fabricators fail to understand this. Most of the times, they fail to maintain the equipment on a regular basis as it interrupts the production and affects their income. But they tend to forget that if maintenance is ignored and the working of equipment is pushed beyond a certain limit, major faults can occur leading to several hours of shutdown. Also, an added expense of about $1 million can incur in some instances.

In order to maximize the laser cutting potential, it is important to have scheduled time for maintenance. How else can you ensure if your laser cutting machinery is working properly? Here’s how.

Think wisely before choosing spare parts When it comes to keeping inventory like raw sheets or metal stalk, metal fabricators do not show much interest. But when it comes to machinery like a laser cutter, fabricators must make smart decisions as to what laser spare parts to buy.

Afterall, laser machines are what keep their business going.

In order to obtain MRO inventory and spare parts at cost­ effective rates, service­level contracts can be signed up with companies that provide these machinery. By doing so, fabricators can maintain the collection of important parts, and stay away from stocking expensive parts which are needed as and when a particular project is undertaken. Also, a fabricator must make sure if the service agreement is unbiased and decide what spare parts he should be keep with them in the shop.

Maintain as recommended The companies that sell laser cutting machines provide with a certain maintenance schedule which must be followed to make sure that the machine works at the best of its capabilities for a long time. Do not take shortcuts and maintain a computerized schedule of the maintenance activities. If the maintenance professionals are acquainted to your machinery, they can handle the performance issues in a better way. So keep communicating about the problems you face. The maintenance company should also make sure that the environment is suitable for the laser machinery; which means that the temperature and moisture levels in the shop must be balanced in order to undertake proper maintenance.

Consider the Lifetime Costs When fabricators invest into a laser cutting machine, they do not think about the long­term maintenance costs. In fact, they make an apples­to­apples comparison. For instance A fabricating company estimates that a laser will cost $20,000 every year to operate, by considering gases, electricity, gases and other consumables. However a total cost should also include the cost of replacement parts and service call.

We hope the above mentioned points will help you to conduct better maintenance for your equipment. There isn’t an all­inclusive solution to maintain the laser cutting machinery. But conducting regular maintenance will lead you to have a trustworthy, consistent, and cost­effective process. Needless to say, it will also provide you with a higher value of the machines and better production.

About The Author Steve M Glassner is the General manager of Alternative Parts Inc, the leading manufacturer and distributor of various CNC machine parts including Precitec laser spare parts. Steve is a Machine Tools industry enthusiast and frequently writes about various aspects of the industry.