http://www.thefabricator.com/LaserWelding/LaserWelding_TechCell.cfm The Laser Welding tech cell is packed with specific links to help you find product information, suppliers, technical articles, case studies, seminars and conferences, as well as books, software, and videos on metal fabricating-related topics. en-us http://www.thefabricator.com/RSS/images/thefabricator_rss.gif http://www.thefabricator.com Copyright 2007 FMA Communications, Inc. All rights reserved. official publication date Tue, 21 Aug 2007 11:18:15 AM CDT Vicki Bell Laurie Harshbarger http://www.thefabricator.com/LaserWelding/LaserWelding_Article.cfm?ID=1664 Fabricators, engineers, designers, and automotive suppliers learned more about the latest trends in laser technology and the automotive industry during the three days of presentations and exhibits at ALAW in Plymouth, MI. When the Fabricators & Manufacturers Association, Intl. (FMA), Rockford, Ill., and the Laser Institute of America (LIA), Orlando, Fla., announced in April 2006 that they had purchased the Automotive Laser Application Workshop (ALAW), FMA President and C... Kate Bachman Tue, 10 Jul 2007 12:00:00 AM CDT http://www.thefabricator.com/LaserWelding/LaserWelding_Article.cfm?ID=1625 Fiber lasers are more monolithic and integrated than most other laser types, making them suitable for portability. Editor's Note: This article is based on the authors' presentation at the 2nd International Workshop on Fiber Lasers, Fraunhofer IWS, Dresden, Germany, July 2006, and a subsequent article that appeared in issue 5, November 2006, of Laser Technik Journal. Fiber lasers, which have been a hot topic at laser conferences and industry meetings for several y... Dr. Per Stenius, Joona Koponen, and William R. Wilson Tue, 08 May 2007 12:00:00 AM CDT http://www.thefabricator.com/LaserWelding/LaserWelding_Article.cfm?ID=1619 Selecting the best joining method for state-of-the-art body-in-white (BIW) engineering and manufacturing is a delicate task. Considering that, in principle, a car body engineer has only three parameters to combine for an optimal solution—the geometric shape, material, and the joining method—it is essential to choose the appropriate joining technique. This explains why new assembly technologies have received a lot of attention lately and are gaining ground steadily at the expe... Johnny Larsson Tue, 08 May 2007 12:00:00 AM CDT http://www.thefabricator.com/LaserWelding/LaserWelding_Article.cfm?ID=1485 Sometimes a creative person who is deeply involved with welding comes up with a bright new concept that holds promise for solving problems that still are being addressed in practice with unsatisfactory procedures. From the raw concept to successful realization, the path to innovation is difficult and extenuatingly long. One has to consider that, generally speaking, there are no short cuts, no quick fixes. Almost always the search for a new way of doing something differently take... Elia E. Levi, Contributing Writer Tue, 07 Nov 2006 12:00:00 AM CST http://www.thefabricator.com/LaserWelding/LaserWelding_Article.cfm?ID=1466 Right now at least 4,000 laser job shops in the U.S. are competing in a "virtual" service market that continues to be characterized by downward pricing pressure. Practically speaking, virtual service means that parts can be ordered, manufactured, and shipped anywhere in the continental U.S.; physical proximity is no longer a requirement for being close to the customer. It is commonplace to see two or three shops from parts unknown competing for distant flat-sheet jobs. The ... Richard Green Tue, 10 Oct 2006 12:00:00 AM CDT http://www.thefabricator.com/LaserWelding/LaserWelding_Article.cfm?ID=1278 Figure 1 Nu-Way Industries Inc. turned to laser seam welding to fabricate this stainless steel microwave enclosure. The old way didn't work for Nu-Way Industries Inc., Des Plaines, Ill. The large custom sheet metal fabricator needed a new method of welding to replace the traditional means of spot welding a sheet metal enclosure that was part of a new microwave oven design. Typically, sheet metal fabrication industries use traditional spot, arc, or gas metal arc welding (GMAW) ... Steve Southwell and Robert Kloczkowski Tue, 07 Mar 2006 12:00:00 AM CST http://www.thefabricator.com/LaserWelding/LaserWelding_Article.cfm?ID=1171 Laser welding is the basis of hybrid laser-arc welding. First flat-sheet bed cutting expanded job shop capabilities. Then multiaxis processing came along. Today, even as the dark side squeezes hard on job shop profits, new opportunities for differentiation continue to arise. Enter hybrid laser-arc welding, a significant force for propelling profits into the next millennium and the latest in a technology trilogy shaping metal fabrication. Hybrid laser-arc welding introduces a secondar... Richard Green Tue, 11 Oct 2005 12:00:00 AM CDT http://www.thefabricator.com/LaserWelding/LaserWelding_Article.cfm?ID=1157 A technician explains the features of an Nd:YAG laser. Involving production personnel early in the process is an important way to ensure the success of a laser project. Engineers and project managers sometimes reduce the success of a manufacturing process to a few basic mechanical or physical principles. In laser welding, those principles might involve laser physics, metallurgy, tooling and fixturing, weld process parameters, and part strength testing. Although a firm grasp of these to... David Havrilla Tue, 13 Sep 2005 12:00:00 AM CDT http://www.thefabricator.com/LaserWelding/LaserWelding_Article.cfm?ID=1128 Amtek uses this 3-kW, high-power CO2 laser welding system to join steering column casings. The system is equipped with five-axis beam manipulation and robotic part loading and unloading. Prototyping parts for projects with shorter lead-times and meeting the automotive industry's mass-production needs were two large goals for Amtek more than a year ago. A Singapore-based manufacturer of components and assemblies, Amtek has a global network of manufacturing facilities and R&D o... Stephanie Vaughan, Contributing Writer Tue, 12 Jul 2005 12:00:00 AM CDT http://www.thefabricator.com/LaserWelding/LaserWelding_Article.cfm?ID=801 Euro-NCAP, which stands for European New Car Assessment Program, was introduced in 1997 by five European governments, together with the European Commission. The results of this program are followed closely by the general public, so much so that hardly any automobile producer would risk ignoring them. Safety has become one of the most essential aspects of selling a car, and safety-related bodywork parts are attracting great attention. At the same time, strong competition is spurring const... Werner Wasmer, Contributing Writer Tue, 13 Jan 2004 12:00:00 AM CST