Lars Darvall 
A laser-cut part can pass dimensional inspection and still cost you a second operation — dross, burr, taper and heat discolouration all land downstream on the cost sheet. Here is what a thermal edge leaves behind, and why micro abrasive waterjet delivers a burr-free edge in a single pass.
CNC machining is the default for precision parts — but two of its costs never appear on the drawing: tooling and lead time, and the physical contact that wears tools and stresses workpieces. A detailed comparison with micro abrasive waterjet, which cuts complex parts with neither.
Laser cutting is fast, flexible and software-driven — but it cuts with heat, and that decides where it stops working well. A plain-English explainer of fibre and CO₂ lasers, what they do brilliantly, and the four places their limits begin.
Laser and waterjet both cut small, high-value parts — but one uses heat and one does not, and that decides everything. Compare accuracy, edge quality, the heat-affected zone, materials and cost, plus how high-power and ultrafast lasers each stack up against micro abrasive waterjet.
Laser, EDM and CNC each add heat or mechanical stress — and on a stent, an optical aperture or a titanium implant, that ruins the part. Micro abrasive waterjet cutting is the non-thermal alternative: ±1.5 µm positioning, ±0.01 mm tolerances, and virtually any material on one platform.
In optical manufacturing, a single subsurface crack turns a component into scrap. Laser and mechanical dicing leave heat-affected zones and edge chipping in fused silica, sapphire and glass. Here is why cold micro-abrasive waterjet cutting changes the equation for photonics — with no HAZ and micron-level precision.
In medical devices, the material you specify must behave exactly as specified. Thermal cutting introduces heat-affected zones, micro-cracks, and residual stress that put material integrity and regulatory compliance at risk. Cold cutting with micro-abrasive waterjet removes the defect, and the documentation burden that comes with it.
Productivity, quality and development are the key pillars for Brogren Industries. As a Swedish aerospace component manufacturer working with superalloys like Haynes 282, they needed a cutting process with zero thermal impact. Here is how Finepart delivered it.
Finepart Sweden AB has updated the standard specification for positioning accuracy and repeatability in its 3-axis Finecut systems, setting both values at ±1.5 µm based on verified performance from delivered systems.