Sheet Metal Laser Cutting Service

Laser cut parts are typically shipped within 1-2 business days. Adding additional services to your parts such as bending, powder coating, or hole operations will increase your lead time.

Most standard size parts are cut with an overall tolerance of +/- 0.005 inches. Most simple features such as holes and slots are often as tight as +/- 0.002 inches. Larger features or features over 30 inches apart will see an increased tolerance of +/- 0.010 inches, due to heat distortion of the fiber laser cutting process.

Thinner parts (less than .125 inches) will have a very smooth and consistent edge quality. Thicker parts will have a slightly rougher edge quality due to the increased power required to laser cut the materials. The edge quality of laser cut parts is often better than parts cut with a plasma cutter or waterjet.

On all parts you can opt in or out of deburring. We use a combination of machines and hand tools to remove burrs and tabs from your parts. Our team is dedicated to shipping you the highest quality parts possible.

Yes we do have the option to remove deburring from your parts. This will speed up the lead time of your parts, and reduce cost slightly. However, not deburring parts can leave sharp edges that may be undesirable for your application.

We ship all regions of Canada and the US.

To get an instant quote for your parts you need to export your file as a STEP. If you have issues exporting your files you can send us a message with any native file format (.step, .sldprt, .iges, etc) and we will help you repair and convert them.

Metal laser cutting is a CNC manufacturing process that uses a focused high-powered laser beam to cut flat sheet metal into precise 2D shapes. At Fabworks we use fiber lasers, which are fast, accurate, and capable of cutting steel, aluminum, stainless steel, and other metals with tolerances as tight as +/- 0.002 inches.

A fiber laser generates a beam of light using a fiber-optic cable doped with rare-earth elements. The beam is focused to a tiny spot on the metal surface, where it instantly vaporizes or melts the material. An assist gas (nitrogen or oxygen) blows the molten material out of the cut, leaving a clean edge. CNC motion controls guide the beam to follow your 2D profile precisely.

Fabworks laser cuts mild steel (1008 and A36), galvanized steel (G90), aluminum (5052 and 6061), and stainless steel (304). We stock a range of gauges for each material — check the materials section for available thicknesses.

Our fiber laser can cut mild steel up to 0.500 inches thick, aluminum up to 0.250 inches, and stainless steel up to 0.375 inches. For thicker material, tolerances will be slightly wider due to heat effects. If you have a borderline thickness, contact us and we'll let you know if it's feasible.

We can cut sheets up to 60 x 120 inches. Parts larger than this need to be split and joined. Our online quoting system will flag oversized parts automatically.

The laser kerf (width of material removed during cutting) is typically 0.004 to 0.012 inches depending on material type and thickness. Our CAD/CAM system compensates for kerf automatically, so your parts will match your file dimensions within tolerance.

Laser cutting is faster, less expensive, and more precise than waterjet for standard sheet metal. Waterjet is better suited for very thick material (over 0.75 inches), heat-sensitive materials, or composites. For steel, aluminum, and stainless sheet work, laser cutting is almost always the right choice.

Fiber laser cutting produces much tighter tolerances and cleaner edges than plasma cutting. Plasma is typically used for thicker structural steel where precision isn't critical. For parts requiring tight tolerances, good edge quality, or small holes, laser is the right process.