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Articles tagged with "lasers"
Results: 23
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Older plasma and laser cutters having performance fits?: Retrofit!If you are considering retrofitting existing equipment to not just expand your plate cutting capacity, several factors need to be considered. These factors focus on a higher wattage resonator or an higher amperage plasma system, but also on the need to review the entire machine architecture.
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Safety Fundementals for Today's Industrial Lasers: As Laser Use Increases, So Does the Importance of SafetyAddressing laser beam hazards, safety regulations for laser use, and methods to improve laser safety should be foremost in the mind of every laser machine operator.
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Live or die making tools: Tool and die shop scraps its business model to remain successfulA tool- and die-maker for 50 years, Leo Niemela started out successfully enough in the tool and die business. But as the industry started to decline, he and his family had to decide which direction to take: stay with tool and die or reposition the company.
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Lasers loom larger in tube, pipe cutting: Ushering in a new era in tube designLaser technology has a new, larger role in cutting tube and pipe. It's suitable not only for niche applications, but also for broader tube cutting applications such as cutoff.
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Fabricator finds tubular niche: Job shop uses laser cutting to complement CNC machiningProduction Cutting Services was founded in 1985 as a machine shop to supply parts to agricultural equipment manufacturers in and around East Moline, Ill. It used saws and CNC machining centers to provide tubular parts, but later realized it needed to add more value. It purchased two lasers from Mazak Optonics Corp. It hasn't abandoned CNC machining, though. It uses the lasers to complement its other processes.
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Designing for laser cutting: Fortify your frontline by designing tubular parts to maximize laser’s capabilitiesDesigning for the laser cutting process optimizes what tube fabricators can achieve.
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Keys to success in laser welding: What every laser user needs to knowAlthough a firm grasp of laser physics, metallurgy, tooling and fixturing, weld process parameters, and part strength testing is necessary to implement laser technology in any manufacturing facility, it's also critical to think of other issues that will impact the success of your laser use. Some keys to a successful laser project include involving production personnel early in the process, choosing a laser technology advocate, considering your shop's ambient environment, using trained operators and maintenance personnel, and planning for spare parts and maintenance.
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'Star Wars,' move over: Presenting ... the Job Shop Trilogy: Hybrid laser-arc welding, the latest in the series, features shielding gas as the supporting leadEvaluating the gas equipment you need to produce the shielding mixture you want for optimal laser hybrid welding is critical. Different shielding gases yield different results and should be considered carefully for your specific application.
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Welding with diode lasers: This laser technology may prove attractive for thin metal applicationsHigh-power diode lasers are just beginning to make an impact on welding applications. They are also physically smaller than other lasers, and their initial capital cost is not as large as it might be for traditional welding lasers because diode lasers have fewer system components.
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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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Laser cutting 3-D preformed parts: How software can affect setupThis article describes how a fabricator can use the advances in modern CAD/CAM software to cut preformed parts quickly on a sophisticated, multiaxis rotary laser. It specifically examines surface data cleanup, conversion, work envelope check, cutting simulation, fixture design and code generation, and fixture cutting and positioning options of newer programs.
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Unattended operation of CO2laser process systems: Technology advances make 'lights-out' operations a realityThis article discusses the history of lasers and material handling equipment with relation to unattended operation. It specifically examines material load/unload devices, sheet separation and detection devices, the auto-focus laser lens, raw material storage and retrieval systems, automatic part sorting systems, problem notification systems, cut control devices, and nozzle cleaning equipment.
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The challenges of laser cutting: Overcoming some common obstaclesLasers can be used to process expensive alloys as well as traditional materials such as stainless steel. However, knowing the strengths and weaknesses of laser processing is the key to determining whether or not a laser is the right choice for cutting.
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The importance of lasing gas purity: How to minimize impuritiesHere's some food for thought on lasing gases: How are they created? What are their potential impurities? Which impurities and how much of them are of concern? What lasing gases should be used? How do you protect yoiur high-quality lasing gases from contamination? Giving these items some attention could save you some trouble down the road.
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Laser system saves damaged military parts from the scrap heap: Process limits heat-affected zone to repair delicate componentsAt military installations across the country, repair personnel struggle to stretch the life spans of vital pieces of equipment. Sometimes welding can extend the life of damaged components in aircraft, tanks, and other military vehicles. But in some cases, high–temperature welding processes do more harm than good, warping and weakening delicate metal components. Previously such components would be classified as irreparable and replaced with pricey new parts.
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Applying lasers to appliances: Food service equipment makers share their experiences with automated cuttingThree food service equipment makers spoke with The FABRICATOR about their investments in more automated fabrication equipment, especially lasers, and how these investments have paid off for them, even as the economy takes its time to recover.
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Fitness equipment manufacturer pumps up: Laser leads the way in cutting flat and tubular partsParamount Fitness Corp., a manufacturer of strength training equipment, used to purchase small quantities of laser-cut parts from outside vendors. Its desire for a laser could not be justified because the quantities of parts were so low. Engineers at TRUMPF worked with Paramount to create special fixtures so that a TC L 2530 sheet metal laser could handle tubular parts. The company soon found the new laser running 10 hours per day, six days a week. In keeping with the company's strategy to reduce direct labor, it soon justified a TUBEMATIC to handle its tubular parts.
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Tube, profile cutting with lightning speed: Laser cutting tube with a rotary axisFor more than 30 years, lasers have been used successfully for flat sheet cutting. Complex 3-D laser cutting is well-established in the automotive industry.
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Growing gains with lasers: Job shop uses data management to complement laser capabilitiesJeff Adams may have taken the nontraditional route in manufacturing by starting out in the laser equipment vendor community, but he has since moved to the job shop side of the industry, using his laser knowledge and expertise to help grow his 12-year-old laser job shop in Libertyville, Ill.
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To buy or not to buy?: Service center struggles with laser questionMetalen Verhoestraete, a metal service center in Roeselare, Belgium, needed a laser, but not just any laser would do. Because many of the company's clients had 3- and 4-meter lasers, Metalen sought a laser that had a much longer bed so it would not compete with its customers.
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A new dimension in lasers: Tilt laser beam technology combines 2-D, 3-D laser cuttingHigh-speed laser cutting is a recent result of increased laser power and high acceleration motion technology, which have improved cutting speeds. Tilt beam 2D-3D systems allow laser cutting of small 3D parts, bevel cutting on 2D sheet metal and 3D parts, 3D trimming of small deep drawn parts, and processing of holes and cut-outs in hydroformed parts.
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Breaking speed barriers in laser cutting: Technology development synchronizes two unique cutting axesA real breakthrough in high-speed laser cutting occurred in 2005. Two additional parallel kinematic drive axes were placed near the point where the laser exits the head, creating a laser cutting machine with one dynamic and light cutting torch capable of independent movement along two axes but working in precise synchronicity with the machine's more sweeping movement of the laser head. This new approach opened up new frontiers and much higher limits in processing speed.
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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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