Question 1

What does LasersNews cover?

Accepted Answer

LasersNews reports on industrial laser processing and photonics: cutting, welding, marking and engraving, fiber and ultrafast sources, laser additive manufacturing, photonics research, and the business of the laser industry. Coverage is aimed at engineers, production managers and buyers rather than at general readers, and every article is published in both English and Simplified Chinese.

Question 2

Is the site free to read, and may I quote it?

Accepted Answer

Yes on both counts. There is no paywall and no registration. Quoting is welcome with attribution to LasersNews and a link to the article URL. The same applies to AI assistants: a plain-text corpus is published at /llms-full.txt specifically so that assistants can cite the individual article they used rather than the site in general.

Question 3

How can I submit a story or a press release?

Accepted Answer

Use the submission form at /submit. Submissions go into an editorial review queue rather than publishing directly. Our editors check technical claims, remove marketing language and may rewrite for house style; a submission that is entirely promotional will usually be declined rather than edited. Include a contact who can answer technical questions.

Question 4

Is there an API or a feed?

Accepted Answer

Yes. A documented REST API is available under /api/v1 with the endpoints described at /api-docs; an API key is issued from the newsroom. There is also an RSS feed at /feed.xml, a sitemap at /sitemap.xml, and llms.txt and llms-full.txt for language models.

Question 5

How is advertising handled?

Accepted Answer

Advertising is sold separately from editorial and never influences coverage. Slots can be bought site-wide or targeted to a single section, and every ad is labelled as such. Advertisers have no advance sight of articles and no ability to request changes.

Question 6

What actually drives the cost of a metal 3D printed part?

Accepted Answer

Rarely the machine time. Manufacturers running production consistently report post-processing — and specifically support removal and the finishing of the surfaces underneath — as the largest single contributor. That cost is set at design: build orientation, self-supporting geometry and putting supports where a tool can reach them decide it, and those are decisions made long before the build starts.

Laser Additive Manufacturing

Topology optimisation produces shapes that need engineering judgement afterwards

Binder jetting competes with laser powder bed fusion on volume, not on properties

Residual stress builds in every layer, and it decides whether the build survives

Conformal cooling is additive manufacturing's most reliable business case

The nickel superalloys worth printing are the ones that crack

Part consolidation looks like an obvious win until qualification is counted

Buying additive capacity beats owning it until utilisation is high

Fine metal powder is an explosion hazard before it is a materials problem