The Customer Asked, “What is the Tolerance?” — Our Laser Cutting Accuracy Standard

Last week, a client sent us the drawings. The first sentence was: “Can your tolerance be controlled within what range?”
This is not a technical issue. It’s a matter of trust.
What the client really wanted to ask was: Can your Laser cutting accuracy consistently meet the requirements of my drawings? If not, how high would the cost and risk be for me?
Today, we will answer this question directly.

How do we define our laser cutting accuracy standards?

Our laser cutting accuracy standard is ±0.05mm to ±0.1mm. The breakdown by material thickness is as follows:

How can we ensure that laser cutting accuracy remains stable and meets the required standards?

The problem is merely that the numbers are insufficient. Here are the actual things we did in the workshop:

Equipment configuration

• 6kw laser cutting equipment (2 sets)          
• Automatic spot welding machine (1 set)
• Electric welding production line (3 sets)

Testing tools

• Precision measuring tools
• Coordinate Measuring Machine (CMM, 2 sets)

Process control

• First article verification: Full-size measurement of the first piece in each batch
• Sampling inspection: Random inspection according to a certain ratio during production
• Re-inspection before shipment: Secondary confirmation of key dimensions

Why does the accuracy of Laser cutting affect your costs and efficiency?

Let’s do a calculation in the way that you care about the most:

How can one identify situations where accuracy decreases?

We have clearly stated this to avoid you discovering the problem after receiving the goods:

• The thicker the material, the margin of error will be slightly increased (refer to the tolerance table above)
• Large-sized parts (over 1.5 meters) will have cumulative errors.
• High-reflection materials (copper, aluminum) require special processes, and the accuracy will be slightly lower than that of carbon steel.

How do you start evaluating your parts?

✉️ What tolerance do you require for your part?
Please send the drawing over, and we’ll take a look at it for you.