EuroBLECH 2008: A celebration of metal fabricating and forming: A visit to Hannover, Germany, for the world's largest sheet metal manufacturing exhibition reveals a European taste for automation and efficiencyEuroBLECH is a celebration more than anything. Most of the booths have plenty of tables and, usually, a bar for customers, distributors, business partners, and friends to swing by, chat, have a drink, and talk about life both in and out of the industry. In fact, unlike shows in North America, a visitor will find materials suppliers—the folks that make the metal sheet, plate, and tube—among the exhibitors. Everyone comes together for this global event.
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Fiber lasers weave out of the lab and into metal fab: Higher power, better beam control, more integrationFiber lasers, which have been a hot topic in laser conferences for several years now, are finally starting to appear en masse in the industrial laser market. Fiber laser technology is driving power scaling (pulsed and continuous wave), wall-plug efficiency, and beam quality to new heights in a rapid pace.
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Laser welding basicsLaser welding doesn't have to be complicated. It can be performed on the most basic of machines, including an everyday cutting system. This article presents an overview of laser welding, including the basic process, the types of lasers, and how to calculate costs associated with the process.
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Getting close to remote laser welding: Research reveals that the technology is a reasonable alternative to resistance spot weldingRemote laser welding is a fairly new kid on the block in terms of joining metal in North America. But it makes complete sense for those high-volume applications where resistance spot welding is used commonly.
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Are you getting enough fiber in your metal fabricating diet?: Examining the growing market for fiber lasersWith sales forecasts predicting that fiber laser sales will increase by 16 percent, to $323 million, in 2008--$112 million of that in metal processing industries--this year is being called the year of the fiber laser. A closer look at the technology shows why this might be true.
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Say goodbye to hard tooling: High-powered fiber lasers have become a cost-effective alternative to the blanking pressThe high-powered fiber laser now can take on the work of the blanking press.
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