4KW power supply for $128k?
I understand a lot of engineering went into making that & needs to be recouped, but it still sounds on the high side. I wonder how hard it'd be to build one, if required.
I understand a lot of engineering went into making that & needs to be recouped, but it still sounds on the high side. I wonder how hard it'd be to build one, if required.
The lasers I've heard of work by amplifying light along a fibre that has been energised by some other light source -- and that light source is sometimes also a laser. So in this case the "power supply" might actually be thing that produces 10-20kW of light (of which only some is converted into laser light along the fibre).
So why not always use laser? They have far higher upfront costs as their business model is not consumable-driven. Further they are limited in material thickness and finish they can handle. They are great at cutting sheet and thin (<= 1/4") metals, when the surface is clean and uniform as mentioned above, but if your shop needs the ability to cut thicker materials or the up-front cost is too high then plasma, oxy-fuel, or (possibly) waterjet are better options.