laser versatility marks technology’s growth i - sme.org · esab’s alpharex offers large gantry...
TRANSCRIPT
ESAB’s Alpharex offers large gantry laser cutting
capabilities with CO2 lasers up to 6 kW with both
straight and bevel cutting capabilities.
November 2015 | AdvancedManufacturing.org 57
Laser Machining
Laser Versatility MarksTechnology’s Growth
Jim LorinczSenior Editor
Fiber lasers extend applications, CO2
continues as fabrication workhorse It has been more than 50 years since Goldfinger’s
“more practical toy”—an industrial laser—threatened
Sean Connery’s James Bond as he was strapped
to a table of faux gold. A little trickeration freed the
fast-thinking Bond, but it has been the magic of the laser,
then just in its infancy, that would make it a versatile
manufacturing process.
CO2 laser technology has proven itself to be a
workhorse, especially for cutting medium-to-thick sheet
and plate for industries including automotive, appliance,
office furniture, general manufacturing, and job shops.
Fiber-laser technology has extended processing and
production to a diverse range of applications and in-
dustries, like aerospace and medical device. Processes
include welding, cutting, brazing, cladding, and marking
of even highly reflective materials such as copper, brass,
58 AdvancedManufacturing.org | November 2015
and aluminum. Speed and accuracy, especially when cutting
thinner gage materials have been major talking points for
the lower capital cost and maintenance-free fiber lasers. As
a result, new fiber-laser machine entrants, especially from
major suppliers of CO2 technology or companies that have
not been in the laser market recently, are crowding the field.
Customized CO2 Machines, Splitting a Fiber Laser
“The challenge for companies today is to differentiate
among the value propositions for CO2, fiber laser, and even
plasma cutting technology,” said Doug Shuda, director of
marketing, global cutting technologies, ESAB Welding &
Cutting Products (Florence, SC). “Unfortunately, given the
wide range of available options very few people can articulate
the difference between CO2 and fiber laser, and fiber laser
and other technologies. And in the general population most
people couldn’t tell you the difference between the 1 micron
fiber laser beam and the 10 micron wave length of CO2–very
important because a 1 micron wavelength (which provides
different material processing capabilities) can deliver perma-
nent damage to the eye, necessitating full safety enclosures.
Most people, however, can tell you that fiber laser can give
you better cut quality and faster cut speeds on thinner mate-
rial than you would get with plasma and which is much more
consistent in cutting small holes and acute angles.”
ESAB offers both CO2 and fiber lasers and is known for its
large-gantry laser cutting machines like its highly engineered
Alpharex CO2 laser cutting systems that can be custom
designed to the customer’s specific application. They are de-
signed to deliver a very small heat-affected zone and are able
to cut complex contours quickly. “Because we sell complete
solutions direct, we are able to configure machine size, frame
size, material handling, and adjust power and the process
and resonators to the application,” said Shuda.
“We are evolving the fiber laser side of our business and
have developed a large format fiber laser. It features a new
concept in a dual-head design. One of the heads cuts in the
XY axes; the other head is a bevel cutting head. We’ve taken
a 6-kW fiber laser power supply and
bifurcated the beam into two delivery
fiber cables. The large format gives us
the ability to cut with 6 kW for thicker
material or faster cutting, or bifurcate
into two heads where you can run 3
kW in one head and 3 kW in the other
to cut either an XY flat plate or cut
bevel scenarios.” ESAB is also look-
ing at small format fiber lasers. “There
are a lot of them out there and people
are becoming very creative in the way
they design tables with full enclosures,
fume extraction, and material handling,
especially with linear drives and rails
that previously were available only on
high end lasers,” said Shuda.
Thick, Thin, Welding:
Quest for the Universal Fiber Laser
“Our TruLaser 5030 fiber is a highly
productive, universal machine that is
able to optimally process both thick
and thin sheets while keeping the cost
per part to a minimum,” said Brett
Thompson, sales engineer, Trumpf Inc.
(Farmington, CT). “Our BrightLine fiber,
Patented LDDM (Laser Doppler), single aperture is compact, lightweight, easier to use, and more cost effective than traditional interferometer laser systems
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Laser Machining
CoolLine, and enhanced PierceLine functions
guarantee high-quality, reliable laser processing in
thicker materials. CoolLine, a new feature for solid-
state lasers, stabilizes the cutting process in steel
by use of targeted cooling. This results in greater
material tolerance while enabling more intricate
material contours and better sheet utilization. The
new PierceLine function with improved piercing
capabilities enables the laser to process smaller
contours while significantly boosting pierce speed.
In addition, we’ve automated nozzle handling as
well as material handling. Our Smart Nozzle Au-
tomation visually inspects the tip of the nozzle to
determine if it has been damaged and automati-
cally changes if it has been,” said Thompson.
“We’re seeing a boom in our laser welding
division which ties in really well with our cutting
systems. Laser welding has been around for 20–25 years,
largely seen with OEM applications in the automotive indus-
try. Job shops and manufacturers of sheetmetal are now
beginning to see the benefits of laser welding which is sub-
Laser Machining
Trumpf’s new CoolLine feature for solid-state lasers stabilizes the cutting
process in steel by use of targeted cooling, resulting in greater material
tolerance while enabling more intricate material contours and a tighter
layout of parts.
stantially faster than conventional welding and eliminates
the need for rework and secondary finishing operations,”
said Thompson.
To overcome the need to buy an additional laser specifi-
cally for laser welding, Trumpf offers Laser Networking which
uses one laser source to support up to four different pro-
cesses. Because of this it is possible to use the laser source
that comes with a Trumpf 2D cutting machine to also supply
a beam for the laser welding cell.
“The TruDisk laser is the solid-state laser source that we
use on all of our high-power applications. Once you hit the
2000-W mark be it for cutting, welding, or another purpose,
that is the laser that we are going to use. It’s the same beam
as that produced by a fiber laser with all of its known benefits
in a more robust, scalable platform,” said Thompson.
“In addition to CO2 lasers, rod lasers, and direct-diode
lasers Trumpf also manufactures fiber lasers and disk
lasers. From a beam perspective, disk and fiber are virtually
the same, though architecturally they’re different. Trumpf
only uses fiber lasers up to 1000 W where it’s safe to use
that laser source. Above 1000 W the fiber laser is a poor
choice because of power scalability issues—lots of fiber
lasers must be sliced together to reach multiple kilowatt
power levels. The disk laser is incredibly robust and much
easier to scale. So for welding and cutting, we’re always
going to use a disk laser as it’s a better laser source for
those applications,” said Thompson.
Tube, Sheet Combined on One Laser Cutting Machine
BLM Group USA (Wixom, MI) offers both fiber and CO2
lasers for tube and sheet cutting. Fiber-laser cutting systems
for tube cover from ½ to 14" (12.7–355-mm) diameter; CO2
laser cutting systems cover tube diameters from ½ to 24"
(12.7–610 mm). Both BLM fiber and CO2 category machines
have ±45° kerf cutting capability. “We serve a wide spectrum
of industries, including aerospace, agriculture, office furni-
ture, recreational vehicles, and trailers. Customers who use
our tube lasers are able to eliminate multiple operations. For
62 AdvancedManufacturing.org | November 2015
example they are able to replace multiple touches of parts using band saw, tube
cutting, drill press, or machining centers to finish parts with a single process,” said
Todd O’Brien, North American product manager for lasers.
BLM’s most recent introduction to the North American market is the compact
LC5 fiber laser. The LC5 is a high-production machine with automatic loading
and unloading that can process both tube and flat sheet in a single machine.
“Switching from tube to sheet is immediate, automatic, and doesn’t require re-
tooling. The changeover can be done in under a minute,” said O’Brien. Equipped
with a 4-kW IPG fiber laser, the LC5 machine can handle bar up to 21' (6.4 m)
in length and tube to 4.75" (120-mm) diameter. Processing is fully automatic
and the machine is equipped with an automatic pallet changer and independent
controls for both tube and sheet.
BLM’s machines actually combine a sheet laser and a tube laser on one ma-
chine, sharing cutting head, resonator, chill and dust collector without compromis-
ing the productivity of either system. The BLM system can be expanded by adding
a tube laser in the future, or adding sheetmetal automation, a tower, and parts
sorter to match business growth. “Materials cut,” O’Brien said, “include a large
amount of mild steel, galvanized, stainless, aluminum, and a minimal amount of
copper and brass because the market hasn’t quite adopted fiber lasers too much
yet, but we’re also cutting titanium.
“The biggest common challenge for our customers is producing consistent
quality parts with the material that’s presented to them. Tube by its nature is
bent, twisted, it’s not perfectly square and customers come back to us because
we provide a number of tools in their toolbox for compensation including a sens-
ing head or scanning the tube with cameras to compensate for the inaccuracies
of the tube. In the flat sheet world it’s all about feeds and speeds. In tube making
productivity is measured by how many parts can be produced accurately in an
hour,” said O’Brien.
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METAL FINISHING CAN BE A TALL ORDER
finding a better way...
Laser Machining
Ulrich Planfiling Corp. (Lakewood, NY) is cutting 20-gage 304 stainless with a #4 finish
at 240 ipm (6 m/min) with its Mitsubishi 3015eX-45CF-R CO2 laser for 150 versions of
receptacle lids in three languages.
64 AdvancedManufacturing.org | November 2015
New Fiber Laser Entry Debuts at Fabtech
Murata Machinery USA Inc. (Charlotte, NC) has staked
its entry into the fiber-laser market on building a totally new
machine, the Muratec LS3015FC fiber laser, from the ground
up. “In designing the LS3015FC we recognized the need
to take advantage of the benefits of fiber-laser technology
by designing a machine that matches its ability to process
materials fast with a comparable delivery system,” said Cary
Teeple, national sales manager. “Accordingly, we designed
a machine with linear drives in all three axes of 13,385 ipm
[340 m/min] rapid traverse. Accuracy of the machine and kerf
width are extremely [precise] because of the linear drives and
the small beam diameter. In fact, positioning and repeatability
are ±0.0004" [0.01 mm].
“While fiber lasers process thicker materials, the sweet
spot in sheet cutting is 10 gage and lighter. This is especially
true for metals like stainless and aluminum where the fiber
laser will provide a big improvement in both speed, cost, and
freedom from increased operation and maintenance com-
pared with CO2 lasers,” said Teeple. The LS3015FC can be
equipped with the IPG power sources in 2.5, 4, and 5-kW.
“Automation which is a huge part of Murata Machinery’s four
business areas of logistics and automation, machine tools,
and textiles, is essential to quickly get material to the very
fast fiber-laser machines and get processed parts out quickly
and reliably. In fact, the vast majority of fiber lasers that are
sold are equipped with automation because of their produc-
tion speed,” said Teeple.
New, Updated Fiber and CO2 Lasers, More to Come
Mitsubishi Laser will aggressively expand its CO2 and
fiber-laser product lines by introducing a number of new
products in the next year, according to Hank White, applica-
tions manager, MC Machinery Systems Inc. (Wood Dale,
IL). New product introductions are currently in full swing. At
Fabtech, new and updated fiber and CO2 products include
automation built with fiber laser speed in mind and new in-
novative Zoom head technology.
“The new eX-F Series fiber laser combines the best of
both worlds, making the eX-F platform available in both
fiber and CO2. The new model has a magnetic breakaway
head regardless of power, 2, 4, or 6 kW. The 6-kW ma-
chine features the new all-in-one ZOOM Head Technology.
It eliminates the need for lens changes because all focal
lengths are included in one head, changing seamlessly from
3.75 to 10" [95–254-mm] focal length without any setup,”
Laser Machining
BLM Group’s fiber laser for tube cutting covers diameters from
½ to 14” (12.7–355 mm) and has ±45° kerf cutting capability.
November 2015 | AdvancedManufacturing.org 65
said White. “The head is completely sealed, lowering main-
tenance. We can get better cutting quality, thick to thin in
all material types, and also greatly improve cutting speeds,”
said White.
In testing, the eX-F has demon-
strated significant advantages over the
conventional Mitsubishi LV-45CF-R
CO2 laser in terms of performance and
operating cost. Medium- and thick-
plate processing times were decreased
by 44%. Also, nonprocess setup times
are cut in half with simultaneous nozzle
cleaning, height sensor calibration,
nozzle changing and gas purge.
“Our edge quality in thick plate,
from 5/8 to 1" [15.8–25.4-mm] mild
steel, is now equal to that of CO2 edge
quality. With improved fiber technology,
you get both good speed and edge
quality now,” said White. To match the
speed of fiber-laser cutting, Mitsubishi
Laser has introduced its new MSCV
laser automation system. “It’s the fast-
est yet from MC Machinery, capable
of keeping up with speed of the latest
fiber lasers on the market,” said White.
Operating costs are reduced dra-
matically, 70–80%, when compared
to conventional CO2 and even more
when available Eco Mode is turned on.
Controls are easy for operators to use
and feature standard items like auto-
matic focusing. Two-action processing,
simple nesting and program editing
make it easy for the operator.
The SR Series CO2 laser is a new
affordable 2.7-kW machine that takes
advantage of the latest beam path
technology for improved performance
on mid- and thick-plate cutting. Faster
movement and improved processing
have demonstrated finer cut surfaces
and decreased cutting time when com-
pared to eX-S Series lasers. Energy-
saving ECO Mode also makes for low
operating costs.
Fiber Laser Delivers Improved Productivity,
Prima Power North America Inc. (Arlington Hts., IL) has
considerable experience with the Platino Fiber. Six years’
experience and hundreds of installations of fiber-laser sys-
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tems have allowed Prima Power to develop a new version of
the Platino Fiber wholly focused on fiber-cutting applications
and capable of exploiting all the advantages of this innovative
technology. New piercing devices, particularly for the mid-high
thickness mild steel have reduced cycle
times and increased application flexibility
for cutting highly reflective materials and
thick gage mild steel up to 25 mm.
A new focusing head cuts all materi-
als with the single universal lens. New
design of the head where the optical
chain is totally sealed and protected
from any contamination has increased
reliability. Other features of the focusing
head are the Safe Impact Protection
System (SIPS), protecting the machine
head in case of collisions with work-
pieces or fixtures; the quick alignment
system (OPC); the high-dynamics focal
axis with 35-mm stroke; and a wide
range of nozzles for any application
which can be automatically exchanged.
Software solutions and automation
for the Platino Fiber have reduced man-
ual intervention down to zero, making
round-the-clock production possible.
Platino Fiber can be equipped with various laser
powers up to 5 kW. For sheetmetal handling, the machine
can be provided with the full range of Prima Power
automation modules.
A Global Name In
Cutting Tools
SCT’s coolant through port tools each have coolant holes to either 3 or 5 flutes to help reduce chatter. Coolant lowers the surface
temperature of the cutting zone making our tools better equipped to deal with the high temperatures that occur when machining a part.
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Port ToolsThread MillsSingle Point Cavity Tools
Coolant ThroughIndexable ToolsSpecialty Tools
Laser Machining
BLM Group USA Corp.248-560-0080 / www.blmusagroup.com
ESAB Welding & Cutting Products843-669-4411 / www.esabna.com
MC Machinery Systems Inc./ Mitsubishi Laser630-616-5920 / www.mitsubishi-world.com
Muratec/Murata Machinery USA800-428-8469 / www.muratec-usa.com
Prima Power North America Inc.847-952-6500 / www.primapower.com
Trumpf Inc.860-255-6000 / www.us.trumpf.com
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