2022 Best Budget Laser Cutting Machines, Affordable Laser Cutters for Sale at Cost Price

Are you looking forward to building a laser cutter kit plans with CO2 laser tubes or fiber laser generators to cut 2D/3D profiles & shapes on metal, wood, plywood, cardboard, dieboard, chipboard, fabric, textile, leather, paper, acrylic, polymer, plastic, foam, rubber, ABS, EPM, MDF, PE, PES, PUR, PVB, PVC, PUR, PMMA, PTFE? Are you coming up with an idea to buy the best budget laser cutting machine for home use, small business, hobbyists, commercial use, school education & training, or industrial manufacturing in USA, UK, UAE, Canada, Australia, Russia, South Africa, China, India or other countries from Asia, Europe, North America, South America, Africa, and Oceania? Review the 2022 affordable laser cutter buyer's guide to CNC machinists, experts, professionals, craftsman, operators, beginners, newbies, and novices with low cost and high quality. STYLECNC will offer you 2022 top rated laser cutting systems with 3 axis, 4th axis (rotary axis), 4 axis, 5 axis at cost price within your budget with custom expert laser cutting service & support to fit your 2D/3D laser cut plans, ideas, and projects.

What Is A Laser Cutting Machine?

Laser cutting machine is a type of automatic laser system with CNC controller, which adopts CO2 or FIBER laser beam to cut metals (steel, copper, brass, aluminum, titanium, gold, silver, alloy, iron), acrylic, rubber, wood, plywood, MDF, plastic, leather, paper, foam, textile, fabric into 2D/3D shapes and profiles.

Laser cutter is an automated laser beam cutting tool kit for metals, metalloids, and nonmetals, consisting of of machine base and frame, CNC controller, laser generator, power supply, laser tube, laser head, lens, mirror, water chiller, stepper motor or servo motor, gas cylinder, air compressor, gas storage tank, air cooling filer, dryer, dust extractor, laser software and computer numerical controlled cutting system.

Laser cutting system is an organized collection of laser parts that are integrated to accomplish precision cuts for industrial manufacturing, commercial use, school education, small business, home business, small shop, and home shop. It is a flexible cutting system compared to manual and mechanical cutting tools. It can cut a variety of materials in varying thicknesses and there is no limit to the shapes you can get. It is fast to program and any changes can be applied at any stage of manufacturing at almost no additional cost and time. It features with high precision, excellent trimming quality and no deformation of parts. It is the best solution for modularization and automation in the manufacturing cycle.

How Does A Laser Cutting Machine Work?

Laser beam is a type of light from the transition of atoms (molecules or ions). However, it is different from ordinary light in that the laser depends on spontaneous radiation only for a very short period of time. The subsequent process is completely determined by the excitation radiation, so it has a very pure color, almost no divergence direction, and extremely high luminous intensity, and high coherence.

Laser cutting is an automated process that uses high-power and high-density energy from a focused laser beam to cut metal, wood, acrylic, plastic, fabric, leather, foam, and other materials.

With the CNC controller, the laser generator outputs a high-frequency pulsed laser in a pulsed manner to make a beam with a certain frequency and pulse width. The beam is transmitted and reflected through the optical path and focused by the focusing lens group. A tiny, high-energy-density light spot is formed on the surface of the part, the focal point is located near the surface to be cut, and the material melts or vaporizes at an instant high temperature. Each laser pulse shoots a small hole in the substrate. With the computer numerical controller, the laser head and the substrate perform continuous relative movement and dotting according to the designed file, so as to cut the substrate into the desired shape. The technological parameters (cutting speed, laser power, gas pressure) and movement trajectory during slitting are controlled by the CNC system, and the slag at the slit is blown off by the auxiliary gas with a certain pressure. The beam emitted by the laser generator is focused by the optical path system into a laser beam of high power density. The beam is irradiated onto the surface of the part to bring the part to a melting point or boiling point, while the high-pressure gas coaxial with the beam blows away the molten or vaporized material. As the beam moves relative to the part, the material is slit finally, thereby achieving the purpose of cutting. Different laser powers can cut different projects with different thickness. Generally speaking, higher power for thicker part. You should make the appropriate choice according to your requirements.

What Are Laser Cutters Used For?

Laser cutters are the most common automatic cutting tools used in a wide range of applications inlcluding personalization (customization), digital printing, medical technology, fab labs, education, architectural models, smart phones and laptops, computers & electronics, toys, watches, arts & crafts, awards, trophies, rubber stamps, packaging design, die cut, mold making, signs making, displays making, giveaways, electronics industry, automotive industry, signage, mechanical engineering, ball bearing, jewelry making, fashion & apparel fabrics, stencils, paper cards, car floor mats & liners, textile and garment industry, bar code serial numbers, watches, machining industry, data plates industry, packaging industry.

What Materials Can be Cut with Laser Cutting Systems?

Fiber laser cutting systems are able to cut variety of metal materials (sheet metals, metal tube, metal profile, 3D curved metals and irregular metals) of carbon steel, stainless steel, mild steel, tool steel, spring steel, galvanized steel, aluminum, copper, gold, silver, alloy, titanium, iron, brass, manganese, chromium, nickel, cobalt, lead, and more metals.

CO2 laser cutting systems are able to cut variety of thin metal and non-metal materials of wood, MDF, plywood, chipboard, acrylic, plastic, PMMA, leather, fabric, cardboard, paper, rubber, depron foam, woodleather, wood paper, EPM, gator foam, polyester (PES), polyethylene (PE), polyurethane (PUR), neoprene, textile, bamboo, ivory, carbon fibers, beryllium oxide, polyvinyl chloride (PVC), polyvinyl butyrale (PVB), polytetrafluoroethylenes (PTFE / Teflon), phenolic or epoxy resins, and any materials with halogens (fluorine, astatine, iodine, chlorine, bromine).

How Much Does A Laser Cutter Cost?

If you're looking to start your business with an used or new laser cutter to make money, you may wonder how does it cost? and what is the average cost in your area? The best budget laser cutter costs from about $2,600 to $300,000, excluding the price of shipping, tax rates, customs clearance, service, and technical support. Costs depend on the brand and type, and whether you want any extra features, including personalized design, custom table size, laser generator and power, rotary attachment, controller, software, parts, accessories, upgrades, setup, debugging, and other special features. Here are the average costs list in 2022.

A fiber laser cutting machine costs from $8,800.00 to 260,000.00. A CO2 laser cutter costs from $2,600.00 to 68,800. A mixed hybrid laser cutting system costs from $6,800 to $32,500.

From entry-level to high-end or eco-friendly types, the costs vary depending on the types you choose.

An entry-level laser cutter is priced anywhere from $2,600 to $8,800 with 80W CO2 glass laser tube for beginners, enthusiast, hobby, home use, small business, while some high-end laser cutting machines are as expensive as 279,000.00 with 12000W IPG fiber laser power supply for industrial metal fabrication.

A cheap laser cutting machine is priced from $3,000 to $10,800 with CO2 laser powers of 80W, 100W, 130W, 150W, 180W for plywood, MDF, bamboo, fabric, leather, acrylic, fabric, and foam.

An affordable laser sheet metal cutter cost starts from $6,800 with 300W laser power, while some precision laser metal cutters are priced from $19,800 to $568,000 with laser fiber laser powers of 1000W, 1500W, 2000W, 3000W, 4000W, 6000W, 8000W, 10000W, 12000W, 15000W, 20000W, 30000W, 40000W.

A professional laser tube cutting machine cost starts around $50,000 with CNC controller for any types of metal tubing.

All-in-one sheet metal and tube laser cutters for sale from $42,500 to $116,000 for dual-purpose commercial use with automotion.

An automatic 5 axis laser cutting robot has a price range from $49,000 to $83,500 for flexible 3D dynamic metal cut of multi-angle and multi-dimensional in industrial manufacturing.

Technical Parameters

How Many Types of Laser Cutting Machines?

Laser cutters are identified into laser metal cutters, laser wood cutters, laser fabric cutters, laser leather cutters, laser paper cutters, laser acrylic cutters, laser plastic cutters, laser foam cutters, laser paper cutters based on materials to be cut. Laser cutting machines are classified into fiber laser machines and CO2 laser machines based on laser sources. Laser cutting systems are defined into handheld, portable, mini, small, tabletop, benchtop, and desktop laser cutting systems, 2x3 laser cutter tables, 2x4 laser cutter tables, 4x4 laser cutting tables, 4x8 laser cutting tables, 5x10 laser cutting tables based on table sizes. Before buying, take some measurements of your workshop space to ensure that it will fit, and buy the right cutting table. Laser cutter kits are divided into 3 axis types, 4th axis (rotary axis) types, 4 axis types, 5 axis types, flatbed laser cutters, laser tube cutters, home types, hobby types, laser die cutters, laser profile cutters, industrial laser cutting machines based on applications.

How To DIY A Laser Cutter Machine?

As a DIYer, when you have an idea to build & make a laser cutter kit, you should first understand its structural composition. A complete laser cutting machine kit consists of core components such as laser generator, cutting head, beam transmission components, cutting table, CNC controller, and cooling system.

Laser Generator

A laser generator is a component that generates a beam. Fiber laser generators are professional for all types of sheet metals and metal tubes. CO2 laser generators are economical for wood, plastic, acrylic, fabric, leather, foam, and thin metals.

Laser Head

A laser cutting head is composed of a nozzle, a focusing lens and a focusing tracking system.

Cutting Nozzle

There are three common types of nozzles in the market, including parallel, converging, and conical.

Focusing Lens

Focus the energy of the laser beam and form a high energy density spot. The medium and long focusing lens is suitable for thick plate cutting, and has low requirements on the spacing stability of the tracking system. The short focusing lens is only suitable for thin sheet cutting, which requires high spacing stability of the tracking system and greatly reduces the output power requirements.

Focus Tracking System

The focus tracking system is composed of an auto focus laser head and a tracking sensor system. The cutting head is composed of mechanical adjustment parts, air blowing system, light guide system, and water cooling system. The sensor consists of amplification control part and sensing element. There are two types of tracking systems, one is an inductive sensor tracking system (also known as a contact tracking system), the other is the capacitive sensor tracking system (also known as the non-contact tracking system).

Laser Beam Delivery Components

The main component of the beam delivery assembly is the refractive mirror, which is used to direct the beam in the desired direction. The reflector is usually protected by a protective cover, and a clean positive pressure protective gas is introduced to protect the lens from contamination.

Cutting Table

The table is composed of the bed frame and the driving part, which is used to realize the mechanical part of the X, Y, Z axis movement.

CNC Controller

A CNC controller is used to control the movement of X, Y and Z axes, and set cutting parameters such as power and speed.

Cooling System

A cooling system refers to a water chiller, which is used to cool the machine. For example, the electro-optical conversion rate is 33%, and about 67% of the electric energy is converted into heat energy. In order to ensure the normal operation of the equipment, the chiller needs to be cooled by water to reduce the temperature of the whole machine.

Assemble

After researching and buying the parts and accessories, the rest job is to assemble the kit and debug the software and hardware. The operation and cutting quality of the machine are directly related to the cutting material, laser generator, gas, air pressure and the parameters you set. Please set the parameters carefully according to your cutting process requirements. Improper parameter setting and operation may result in reduced cutting effect, damage to the cutting head or other machine parts, or even personal injury.

How To Use A Laser Cutter for Beginners?

Laser cutting is a non-contact subtractive manufacturing technology to cut materials in small business and industrial manufacturing applications. The working principle is to guide the output of a high-power focused pro laser beam to melt the material so that the edge has a high-quality surface finish. The industrial-grade maintenance-free laser cutting system has outstanding technical advantages, ultra-low power consumption, reduced operating costs, and repeatable and accurate laser positioning performance, which sets a new benchmark for the cutting of complex patterns and establishes a new standard for process quality inspection.

Before starting, you should do the following preparations:

First, we should check all the connections of the machine (including power supply, PC and exhaust system) are correct and inserted correctly. Visually check the condition of the machine. Ensure that all mechanisms move freely, and check that there is no material under the processing table. Ensure that the work area and optical components are clean, and clean if necessary. For more information on this issue, please read the "General Maintenance" section of the operation manual. Check the exhaust system and start the cooling system if necessary. Check whether the filter and activated carbon of the exhaust system are installed in accordance with the instructions. After checking, close the protective cover.

Next, press the main switch to turn on the main power of the machine. Turn the key switch on the control panel. This is machine-specific and not relevant to all lasers. If all the covers fixed with safety circuit breakers are closed, the system will start to quote after startup. After turning on the machine, the table will move all the way down while the pro laser head moves to the zero position (located in the upper left corner). When there is a sound and the LED light flashes slowly and steadily, the reference process has been completed correctly and the machine is ready to start operation.

After all preparations are finished, do as the easy-to-follow operation steps:

Step 1. Place the raw material to be cut steadily on the table;

Step 2. According to the material and thickness of the raw material to be cut, adjust the system cutting parameters of the equipment correspondingly;

Step 3. Choose suitable nozzles and lenses, and inspect them to make sure their appearance and cleanliness are intact;

Step 4. Repeatedly debug the equipment and adjust the focus point of the cutting head to a suitable position;

Step 5. Check and adjust the nozzle of the equipment and adjust it to the center;

Step 6. Adjust and calibrate the sensor of the cutting head;

Step 7. According to your own cutting needs, select a suitable gas, and check whether the jet is in good condition;

Step 8. Try cutting the raw material to be cut, and observe whether the section is smooth and the cutting accuracy is accurate. If there is a deviation, adjust the equipment parameters accordingly until the proofing meets the requirements;

Step 9. Draw and typeset the graphics to be cut, and import them into the cutting system;

Step 10. Adjust the position of the cutting head. You can start cutting after all preparations are done;

Step 11. During the operation, the staff needs to be present at the scene to observe the cutting condition of the equipment, and if there is an emergency, they need to quickly press the brake button;

Step 12. When the equipment is stopped, always clean the guide rails, wipe the rack of the equipment, and often apply lubricating oil on the guide rails to ensure that there is no debris;

Step 13. The motor ring should be cleaned frequently to ensure the normal operation of the machine and accurate cutting, so as to ensure the cutting quality;

Step 14. The staff must use a vacuum cleaner to suck away the dust and debris from the machine every week to ensure the cleanliness of the equipment;

Step 15. To ensure the service life of the machine, it is necessary to check the straightness and verticality of its track every six months, and if any abnormality is found, it must be maintained and debugged in time.

How To Choose And Buy An Affordable Laser Cutter?

When you have the idea of buying a laser cutter machine, there are many things to consider. Let's make a detailed purchasing plan for you.

Planning Your Laser-cut

First of all, you need to consider some factors such as the scale of your business, what materials you need to cut, how thick the materials are, and then confirm the power supply and the size of the workbench according to your own needs. Currently, the laser powers in the market range from 80 watts to 40,000 watts, and the table size can be customized according to your requirements.

Researching Manufacturers & Makers

If you confirm your needs, you can go to do research on it. Maybe you can learn from your peers, and understand the machine functions and basic parameters. Select a few powerful manufacturers with favorable prices to conduct preliminary exchanges and proofing, and then conduct on-site investigations in the later stage, and conduct more detailed discussions on prices, online and offline training, and after-sales services.

Laser Generator Selection

If you need to cut sheet metal and metal tubes, a fiber laser generator is the best choice, which includes some well-renowned brands such as IPG, JPT, Raycus, and MAX. If you want to engrave and cut wood, acrylic, leather, fabric, A CO2 glass laser tube is the right solution, which includes some world famous brands such as RECI and YONGLI.

Laser Power Requirements

When researching the cutting ability, you need to consider the watts of the power supply. If you cut thin sheets, you can choose a lower power supply to meet your cut. The material with higher thickness need to consider higher power supply, which is beneficial for enterprises to control costs.

Choosing Parts & Accessories

The core parts should be paid special attention when purchasing, especially laser generator, cutting head, servo motor, guide rail, water chiller, and some accessories. These parts will affect the cutting speed and accuracy of the machine.

Choosing Software & Controller

In order to make the machine easy to use, an user-friendly controller and powerful CAD/CAM software based on Windows and macOS are indispensable. Some of them are free with simple functions, while paid software is more professional for your business. All depends on your business needs.

Quality & Stability Assurance

Today's products are being updated faster and faster. Due to the short product development cycle, there are more product diversity, sample trial production, and mass production. How to complete customer orders with quality and quantity, enhance corporate competition, and maintain corporate reputation is also every time. Therefore, the purchase of processing equipment with stable functions is the condition and foundation. Try to choose a brand with a high market share, a sound after-sales service system, a large number of after-sales service outlets, and a long-term shopping mall inspection. Greedy to buy low-quality products with low prices and no after-sales service, this will have a great negative impact on the processing of enterprises.

After-Sales Service & Support

Each manufacturer's after-sales service is different, and the warranty period is also intertwined. For hardware and software, there must be a professional training system to help customers get started as soon as possible. No matter how well a machine is made, it will encounter various problems in the process of use. If customers encounter problems that cannot be solved, it is particularly important whether the maker can provide solutions in a timely manner. This is also an important thing to consider when purchasing.

Purchasing Process Flow

Consult, quotation, process evaluation, placing an order, production, quality control, shipping, custom clearance, support and service.

Is A Laser Cutter Worth It?

A CO2 laser cutter is suitable for customers with low investment cost, which is priced from $3,000 to $16,000. It features with low investment cost, less consumption of wearing parts and short payback period. However, while considering the price, the value it can bring is more important. In other words, it depends on whether the performance and advantages are worth the investment.

A laser cutter is easy to operate with automation, which is used to DIY crafts, gifts, and artworks. It will assist you to start custom business on Amazon or sell personalized laser-cut gifts on Etsy to make money, a laser cutter is worth it.

However, can an expensive fiber laser cutter be used to make money? Many companies or individuals may hesitate when purchasing it. A fiber laser machine is worth $20,000 to $160,000. When can the cost be recovered and how much profit can it bring in a year?

If the unit price is the standard market price, and the business volume is sufficient, the cost can be recovered quickly. Some companies only cut for their own parts, which make the processing volume relatively small, so the cost recovery will be slow. Let's take external processing as an example. At present, the average profit of external laser processing is between 50% and 60%. If the average cost of entrusted processing is $50,000 a month, then the annual cost is $600,000. If we own a fiber laser machine, the cost is about $25,000 ($50,000 * 0.5) excluding the cost of one month and the same processing volume. According to this calculation, we can save $300,000 in cutting costs in one year. In this way, a 1000W fiber laser machine can recover the cost in about a year.

A machine has a service life. It is impossible to use it all the time without cost. A fiber laser generator can be used for 100,000 hours. You can calculate the cost after use and before use. Remove the cost and calculate the profit change after using the fiber laser cutting machine.

Pros & Cons

Laser cutting is one of the thermal cutting methods, which can do vaporization cutting, fusion cutting, oxygen cutting, dicing and controlled fracture. It has replaced the traditional mechanical cutters with invisible laser beams. It has advantages of high speed, high precision, high quality, low machining cost, automatic typesetting, smooth cut edges for any shapes and designs. It is an upgrade to traditional cutting tools. In addition to the advantages, it also has its own shortcomings and limitations.

Pros

The mechanical part of the cutting head has no contact with the part, and it will not scratch the surface of the part during operation.

The cutting speed is fast, the slit is smooth and flat, generally no subsequent cutting is required.

The heat affected zone is small, the sheet deformation is small, which is used for precision fine cutting.

Low cost of use without consumables, which is beneficial for makers to reduce manufacturing costs.

The slit has no mechanical stress, no shear burr. It is high precision, good repeatability, does not damage the surface of the material with smooth cut edge.

Using a computerized numerical control (CNC) unit that accepts cutting data from a computer-aided design (CAD) workstation.

Working with CNC programming, which can cut any plan, and the whole large format part without molding.

Cons

Since it is thermal cutting, in the process of multi-layer cutting, the edge part is easy to stick, which has a great impact on the cutting quality.

Due to the short wavelength of the laser, it is easy to cause damage to human eyes. Users can choose to wear special protective glasses to reduce injuries.

Due to the thin incision of the fiber laser, the gas consumption is large (especially when cutting with nitrogen).

Since the CO2 laser tube is made of glass, improper handling will cause it to break.

Care & Maintenance

A laser cutter should be regularly maintained to ensure the cutting speed, accuracy, and quality, and extend its service life. You should form the 10 good work habits listed below.

1. Before starting the machine every day, carefully check the pressure of the working gas and cutting gas. If the gas pressure is not enough, it should be replaced in time.

2. Check whether the zero points of X axis, Y axis, and Z-axis, laser ready state and other buttons are damaged.

3. Check whether the zero point, limit switch, and travel block mounting screws of the X axis, Y axis, and Z axis are loose, and whether the limit switches of each axis are sensitive.

4. Check whether the circulating water level in the chiller is sufficient. If it is insufficient, it must be replenished in time.

5. Check whether there is leakage of the circulating water in the external optical path, and the leakage must be dealt with in time, otherwise the life of the optical lens will be affected.

6. After cutting every day, check the lens of the focusing lens for damage.

7. Check whether the telescopic skin cavity of the outer optical path is burnt or damaged.

8. The cutting waste should be cleaned up in time, the workplace should be cleaned up, and the workplace should be kept clean and tidy. At the same time, do a good job of cleaning the equipment to ensure that all parts of the equipment are clean and free of stains, and no debris can be placed in each part of the equipment.

9. After the daily work is completed, open the drain valve of the air storage tank at the bottom of the air compressor to drain water, and close the drain valve after the waste water is discharged.

10. After the daily work is completed, shut down according to the shutdown steps, and then turn off the main power of the entire machine.

Cautions & Warnings

A beginner or professional should operate the laser cutting machine under the guidance of the instructions and the safety tips in the user manual to avoid accidents. You must follow the listed 18 safety rules.

1. You should clean the dirt on the bed frame and guide rails every day.

2. The user must strictly abide by the safety operation rules.

3. The operator must consult all the manuals provided with the machine, be familiar with the structure and performance of the equipment, and master the relevant knowledge of the operating system.

4. Wear labor protection equipment as required, and wear protective glasses that meet the regulations near the laser beam.

5. Do not process the material until it is determined whether the material can be irradiated or heated by the laser to avoid the potential danger of fumes and vapors.

6. When the machine is started, the operator shall not leave the post or be managed by the trustee without authorization.

7. Keep the fire extinguisher within easy reach. Turn off the laser or shutter when not working. Do not place paper, cloth or other flammable materials near an unprotected laser beam.

8. If an abnormality is found during the processing, the machine should be stopped immediately, and the fault should be eliminated or reported to the supervisor in time.

9. Keep the laser, bed and surrounding sites clean, orderly and free of oil. Workpieces, plates and scraps are stacked according to regulations.

10. When using gas cylinders, avoid squeezing wires, water pipes and air pipes to avoid leakage of electricity, water and air. The use and transportation of gas cylinders shall comply with gas cylinder regulations. Do not expose gas cylinders to direct sunlight or near heat sources. When opening the bottle valve, the operator must stand on the side of the bottle mouth.

11. Before turning on the power of the chiller, check the water level of the chiller. It is strictly forbidden to turn on the chiller when there is no water or the water level is too low to avoid damage to the water cooling equipment. It is strictly forbidden to squeeze or step on the water inlet and outlet pipes of the chiller to keep the water passages unblocked.

12. The laser beam will cause burns when it irradiates the human skin. Staring into a laser beam for extended periods of time can cause serious damage to the retina of the eye. Operators must wear goggles.

13. The equipment will generate a lot of smoke and dust when cutting certain plates, so the outlet pipe of the fan should be led to the outside, or an air purification device should be installed. In addition, operators should wear dust masks to prevent the occurrence of occupational diseases.

14. When the temperature is below 0 °C for a long time, the cooling water in the water cooler, laser and water pipeline should be drained to prevent the cooling water from freezing when the temperature is too low, causing damage to equipment and pipelines.

15. Check the protective lens inside the cutting head once a day. When the collimating mirror or focusing mirror needs to be disassembled, record the disassembly process. Pay special attention to the installation direction of the lens and do not install it wrong.

16. Turn off the air source and power supply when off work, and the residual air belt in the machine pipeline should be emptied at the same time. If you leave the machine for a long time, please turn off the power to prevent unprofessional operation.

17. Pay attention to observe whether there is lubricating oil on the surface of the horizontal and longitudinal guide rails and the frame of the machine, and maintain good lubrication.

18. If there is an automatic height adjustment device, check whether it is sensitive and whether to replace the probe.