JOB SHOPS


recently have been fibre lasers, because the job shops already have CO2


lasers. It’ll be a


different situation in six or seven years’ time when the legacy CO2


lasers are dying. Job


shops will have to decide whether to buy another CO2


system or purchase fibre laser


technology that gives a smooth edge for thicker section stainless steel.’ While fibre laser sales might be up currently, Matt Wood, a senior product manager at laser


system supplier Amada Europe, feels that CO2 still has a lot to offer subcontractors using lasers. ‘Subcontractors that need to process a wide range of materials and thicknesses are still not convinced that fibre lasers are good for cutting thicker material,’ he said. ‘Tese companies have gone down the route of the latest CO2


technology, which I can’t say I’m


surprised in a way because in my experience fibre lasers still aren’t comparable to CO2


systems


for cutting thicker aluminium and stainless steel. For high quality cutting in thick materials, then the CO2


laser is still the way


to go.’ Amada continues to sell


CO2


for cutting thicker materials with high quality, CO2


is still the better route.’ Te speed of fibre laser cutting is only an


advantage if downstream processes, like bending or welding, can keep pace. Wood said that there have been a few cases where the job shop has pallets of parts sitting around on the floor with nowhere to put them, so they end up not running the laser, which is self-defeating. ‘You pay extra for a high-power fibre laser and it sits there not doing anything because the other processes further down the line can’t keep up,’ he said. ‘We try and advise people to look at the


whole process,’ Wood continued. ‘A laser job shop might think it needs a 6kW fibre laser, but it’s used to a 3kW CO2


laser, so a 2kW fibre


the big jobs are being taken by steel stockholders with laser systems


Nowadays most of lasers to subcontractors replacing older


machines, according to Wood. ‘Everyone seems to want to forget about CO2


lasers, but I think that’s a dangerous game at the moment,’ he continued. ‘Eventually more laser users will get to grips with solid-state lasers and over the next five years or so solid-state laser technology probably will catch up, but CO2


has had a fairly slow-burning


progress for 20 years, while fibre systems have come along in four or five years. Everyone seems to be jumping on the band wagon, but


laser will be much faster than that. So, the job shop has to think about how it’s going to process the work aſter it comes off the laser.’ Job shops only get paid


when they deliver parts, and they can only deliver parts as quickly as the bottleneck allows. ‘It’s trying to advise subcontractors on what’s best for their overall process, not


purely on cutting speed, because that’s not necessarily the end game a lot of the time,’ Wood noted. ‘It’s an interesting time at the moment,


because you’ve got the whole crossover between fibre and CO2


lasers, and trying to


educate people that you’re going to get an awful lot more work piling through the factory if you invest in a high power fibre laser, so are your other processes in a position to keep up?’ Amada has also seen some customers starting to upgrade their press brakes and


welding systems in preparation for a fibre lasers they might buy in the future. Automation is also becoming more


important. Job shops want to run the machine ‘lights-out’, so they can get the extra throughput. Tere is also the health and safety side of things, especially when handling thicker, heavier sheets – automating the process is safer as well as more productive. ‘Job shops are now looking at every way they


can to reduce the cost per part. Buying a fibre laser is one way of doing that in the thinner range of material,’ Wood commented. ‘But another thing that we’ve seen is that more people want to cut as much as possible with compressed air, rather than with nitrogen or oxygen, particularly with fibre lasers.’ Fibre systems primarily use nitrogen for


cutting most materials to get the high speeds, but actually the systems can cut with air on a lot of materials up to a similar speed as with nitrogen. Tat seems to appeal to a lot of subcontractors because it’s less expensive, according to Wood: ‘Te subcontractor might have to invest in an air compressor, but then essentially it’s free gas,’ he said. Cutting mild steel with oxygen gives an


oxidised edge, which has to be removed if it is to be painted or welded. Cutting with nitrogen will give a nice clean edge. Air gives a slight golden brown tinge on the edge, but in certain cases this can go straight to the next process. If the edge isn’t going to be seen, or it’s not particularly important what it looks like, then cutting with air will reduce the cost of producing the part.


No job too small Cutting, welding, brazing, and the like are fairly standard activities for subcontractors


Fibre laser technology, such as this LCG-AJ system from Amada, is now an integral part of a laser job shop


34 LASER SYSTEMS EUROPE ISSUE 31 • SUMMER 2016 @lasersystemsmag | www.lasersystemseurope.com


Amada Miyachi


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