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,

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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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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’

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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

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Port ToolsThread MillsSingle Point Cavity Tools

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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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