FEATURE ON PROFILING

TLM targets growth with ULS partnership

TLM Laser has announced a further expansion of its laser technology portfolio to include the Universal Laser Systems (ULS) range. This enables the company to offer laser-cutting solutions for a broad range of materials, including organics, plastics and metals. The company says its philosophy is one of building a portfolio of world-class laser processing technologies that is available within the UK and Ireland from a single source.

The ULS products provide TLM Laser with a range that includes desktop laser processing systems and stand-alone workstations using technology developed form a “material-centric approach”. ULS focuses on the materials used by companies, together with their manufacturing processes, to develop laser processing “tools” that can be used on any laser compatible materials.

Primarily based on CO2 laser sources with laser power from 30 to 150W, theseries offers working envelopes between 406 x 305 x 102mm in height to 1016 x 610 x 305mm. This broad choice of lasers, with wavelengths of 10.6or 9.3 μm, is capable of cutting and/or marking a vast range of materials.

One of the latest developments from ULS is the XLS10MWH MultiWave Hybrid,which is said to be the first and only lasersystem to combine multiple laser wavelengths and power levels into a single coaxial beam focused to a common focal plane. The XLS10 MultiWave Hybrid accommodates a fixed fibre laser source and two different CO2 laser wavelength sources that can be independently or simultaneously controlled for a virtually infinite number of wavelength and power combinations.

An ability to independently control each component of this hybrid laser beam allows laser processing flexibility for an unlimited number of organic and inorganic materials, says the company.
For further information www.tlm-laser.com

Laser helps Ecam achieve 20% growth

A specialist in precision fabricated components for the earthmoving, construction and rail industries has marked its first venture into laser cutting by investing in a 6kW Trumpf TruLaser 3030 Fiber machine. The move has allowed Staffordshire-based Ecam Engineering to enter the market for different types of components, spurring growth of 20% in 2018, and introducing higher levels of cut quality and capacity.

“We quote for lots of different work here at Ecam, but the majority is for steel between 8 and 20mm thick,” states managing director Phil Arme. “We’ve been using plasma and oxy-gas profiling, but noticed more and more enquiries for a laser-cut finish. Not wanting to miss out on these opportunities, we did our due diligence and spoke with a number of laser profiling machine suppliers.”

Ecam shortlisted the most suitable candidates, visiting each one to perform material cutting trials.

“Some fibre laser machines are not the best at cutting steel up to 20mm thick, however, we were amazed by the trial at Trumpf,” states Arme. “Unlike at other places we visited, there was no tweaking involved, the machine just cut the material without any issues whatsoever. Moreover, the cut quality was by far the best we had seen.”

Duly installed, the TruLaser 3030 Fiber was supplied to Ecam Engineering with Trumpf’s CoolLine and BrightLine technologies. The former is proving to be particularly vital.CoolLine keeps temperatures constant by spraying a fine water mist around the point of cut. The evaporation of just 30ml of water per minute provides 1kW of cooling, and its use allows tighter parts nesting and narrower skeletons, resulting in better material utilisation.
For further information www.uk.trumpf.com

Fibre laser 10 times faster on 10 mm sheet

Established in 2010 by Dave Mawer and Mike Barratt, D&M Design & Fabrication has seen dramatic progression since the joint owners started running the business from the former’s bedroom and the latter’s garage.

At the time, neither thought that seven years later they would buy one of the most advanced fibre laser cutting centres on the market, a Bystronic 10 kW ByStar Fiber with automated sheet handling.
Installed at one of the firm’s factory units in Kirkby Malzeard, near Ripon, the machine is capable of processing 3 x 1.5 m sheet and employs the highest power fibre laser currently available on a cutting machine. According to Barratt, it is about 10 times faster at processing 10 mm thick material than D&M’s previous Bystronic 3.3 kW CO2 fibre laser machine bought five years earlier. A sheet can be completed typically in less than 40 minutes, rather than six hours.
“We were previously struggling to keep up with laser profiling our material, despite running the CO2 machine around the clock, six days a week,” says Barratt. “With the speed of fibre technology, we are easily processing more material per day in a single shift and now only work five days a week. The fibre machine stands idle for some of the time at present, as it finishes all the work going through the shop so quickly.”
Mawer adds: “With an eye to the future, we specified the machine with an inline ByTrans Extended handling system to automate the supply of material to the machine and the return of laser-cut sheets. We have proved the cell’s reliability during lights-out running a few times. It is not needed at the moment, but will be invaluable as volumes build in the future.”
For further information www.bystronic.co.uk

Fastest plasma-cutting speed in its class

Esab has released its Cutmaster 60i hand-held air plasma-cutting system, a three-phase, 400 V unit that weighs 16.8 kg and provides a rated output of 7.6 kW at 50% duty cycle (at 60 A).

Cutmaster 60i produces a recommended cut of 16 mm, has a maximum sever thickness of 38 mm and, according to Esab, provides the fastest cutting speed (at any thickness) in its class.
Esab says that users will immediately notice the oversized, high-visibility LED display on the Cutmaster 60i, which communicates more information, more clearly, at a glance and from a distance. The display provides the necessary feedback to optimise parameter settings and cut quality. Cutmaster 60i also has a best-in-class ability to hold the arc for longer, which helps when cutting in awkward positions and when performing gouging operations.
The system includes the new SL60QD 1Torch, which offers a quick disconnect feature for the selective replacement of either the torch handle assembly or torch leads at a lower cost than replacing both together (a necessity with one-piece torch/lead assemblies). Moreover, integral gas-optimiser technology helps ensure premium cut quality and performance by precisely regulating air pressure; although users can also adjust the gas pressure manually. When users set amperage, mode of operation, torch type, and add torch lengths to extend cutting reach by an additional 7.6, 15.2 or 22.9 m, the machine uses its colour display to provide recommended gas-pressure settings.
Low amperage especially benefits small shops and garage users as they might not have a large breaker like an industrial facility.
For further information www.esab.com

Automated storage supports laser facility

De Cromvoirtse, a Netherlands-based steel stockholder and contract manufacturer of small batches of semi-finished sheet metal components, has invested in two interlinked, automated storage systems from Kasto and connected them to three laser-cutting machines to help speed deliveries.

The Uniline store and Unitower B ensure fast, accurate, damage-free material handling, while the supplier’s warehouse management system keeps track of stock and ensures smooth order processing.
Manufacturing capacity at De Cromvoirtse includes press brakes in addition to the laser-cutting machines. About 90% of products are made from steel, stainless steel or aluminium sheet, the remainder being
pipes and sections.
The double-sided Uniline store from Kasto has nearly 1000 storage locations, with special pallets for different materials and sizes, as well as for remnants. A stacker crane travels between the two rows of the facility, storing and retrieving material automatically as needed.
“Kasto worked with us right from the planning phase to develop new ideas for the design,” says Janwillem Verschuuren, one of the company’s two managing directors. “They told us clearly what wouldn’t work, and
what would.”
For example, it proved possible to connect two flat-bed laser-cutting machines seamlessly to achieve continuous material flow.
The latest Unitower B storage system, which was installed in a few weeks without interrupting the stockholder’s operations, consists of a double tower and stacker crane. Rising to a height of 8.5 m and with a compact footprint, it has space for almost 80 pallets, each of which can hold sheets measuring up to 3000 x 1500 mm. An additional laser-cutting machine is connected to the Unitower, with loading and unloading being performed automatically.
For further information www.kasto.com