At one time many thought that fiber lasers could be used only for thin materials. The CO2, with its larger wavelength, created enough kerf during the cutting of thick materials that enough space was allowed for material removal; the fiber laser couldn’t produce the same kerf or results with thicker materials. But that has been addressed in recent years with collimating technology that can produce a wider fiber laser-generated beam that creates materials separation and room for material removal in thick materials. And since the beam width is switchable, the machine can use the narrower beam to process thin materials, which allows for faster processing of different-sized materials on the same fiber laser cutting machine.
A few machinery manufacturers now use cameras to verify tubes. The cameras reduce the quality inspection to less than a second, as well as the number of required rotations. This allows the machine both to remain productive and accurate.