Keeping ahead with Lazerblade plus

Citation

(2002), "Keeping ahead with Lazerblade plus", Aircraft Engineering and Aerospace Technology, Vol. 74 No. 4. https://doi.org/10.1108/aeat.2002.12774dab.003

Keeping ahead with Lazerblade plus

Keywords: Aerospace industry, Piant, Equipment

Keeping ahead in the aerospace industry means using the latest developments in plant and equipment. So it was no surprise that one of the main attractions for aerospace sheet metal fabricators visiting the recent MetalWorking 2002 exhibition was the Lazerblade plus sheet metal profiling machine (Plate 3).

Plate 3 The Lazerblade plus laser profiling system from Electrox

Built by Eloctrox one of the UK's largest integrated manufacturer of industrial lasers, Lazerblade Plus provides a range of CO2 laser profiling systems. According to Eloctrox the machine is a rugged tool which delivers a combination of speed, accuracy and reliability plus matchless edge quality, process flexibility, operating simplicity, applications development.

The machine is said to produce a clean cut oxide free edge on stainless steel and alloys using high pressure nitrogen (up to 25bar). Another important feature claimed is its ability to shorten cutting cycles by piercing the material while the axes are moving and the head is down. It also claims to boost peak pulse to above normal levels, thereby reducing pierce time.

Overall cutting times are said to be reduced by not retracting the head between piercing. Height is adjusted automatically and it reportedly maintains focus to allow for variation in the material surface. Power and processing speed is said to be automatically matched to minimise thermal effects in tight corners.

We are also informed that if cutting stops as the result of a transient contact with a tipped part the Lazerblade plus will continue cutting, restarting automatically a pre-set number of times before a collision is registered. Eloctrox also explains that after any temporary cessation of cutting and following any corrective action required to correct the fault, the machine can be made to retrace and continue cutting from the point on the sheet where cutting stopped. With its automatic edge finding feature it is said to automatically re-orientates its work co-ordinates according to position of the sheet on the cutting table.

Another feature claimed of the machine is that for an improved finish when piercing thicker materials, the machine can be supplied with an oil/air mist spray as an option to reduce spatter when piercing.

Lazerblade plus's cutting head has reportedly been designed to provide the optimum level of collision protection. This is said to reduce the risk of damage to the head, ensuring safe operation and reducing both the running costs and machine down time.

A capacitive device in the head will reportedly sense a low speed contact and immediately the machine will invoke its in-process recovery routine. This cause it to attempt to restart automatically a pre-set number of times before registering a collision and suspending cutting in order for the obstruction to be cleared. Another feature claimed is that in the event of a high speed collision Lazerblade plus will stop cutting and a magnetic coupling in the cutting head will break away safely and in a controlled manner. The head remains attached with the bellows intact to prevent the ingress of contaminants into the beam path.

In both cases the machine is said to require minimal set up to resume cutting quickly.

The machine is controlled by a fully integrated Fanuc system which controls both the machine tool and the laser resonator. This is thought to not only save on cost but increases overall machine performance as fewer components means increased reliability. Electrox believes that with a whole range of new features, hardware and software, built around the Fanuc 180i MB PC NC system, makes its Lazerblade plus one of the most user friendly profiling systems available.

The Fancuc 180i MB Pc NC employs a touch sensitive colour screen and a retractable qwerty keyboard conveniently located on a retractable tray just below the main screen. A resident CAD/CAM package allows the operator to import drawings and develop them directly into a nested sheet ready for cutting. The software also comes with an on-line manual and diagnostics screen.

The control is described as providing a PC-like operating environment. To speed up operation and changeover Lazerblade plus automatically adjusts all settings according to the material to be cut selected from an in-built library. Instant and rapid manual operation is said to be enabled with the Laser Quickset function. Interface with the factory systems is by a LAN connection.

A wide range of productivity enhancements and unloading components are available either with the initial purchase or retro- fittable at a later date. These include manually controlled systems, firstly a manual pallet table which is pulled in and out by hand. Secondly an automatic pallet table, described as the first level of automation, which provides two pallet tables which are said to be exchanged in less than 30 seconds. This allows the operator to unload cut parts and load uncut sheet while the machine is cutting.

Also available is the APT4/Nightshift system which acts as an enhanced pallet changeover table with four or more table, reportedly allowing continuous running until all pallet tables have been processed. This is claimed to provide 4–8 hours extra running time.

Cutting cell automation is provided by Sentinal which allows automatic selection of the blank sheets from a segregated material store. the material is than loaded into the machine and the Diget Unloader removes the cut parts from the pallet table and stacks them onto the unload table. The third component in the cell is the Stackerboss Loader, this provides load stacks up to 200mm high (3000kg) of mixed sheets ready for unattended operations, picking and separating the sheets automatically.

Details available from: Electrox. Tel: +44 (0) 1462 472400; Fax: +44 (0) 1462 472444; (USA) Tel: +1 317 248 2632; Fax: +1 317 2405787; E-mail: sales@electrox.com; Website: www.electrox.com