Page 14 - Machines Italia Vol. XIII Next Generation Manufacturing

AUTOMATION
laser cutting system developers. The pump light goes from a diode pack right into the active fiber, the light becomes radiation, and then gets delivered straight to the CYLaser head.” And while he recog- nized that a CO2 laser would be a little cheaper initially, “there were so many other things that could have gone wrong in the delivery of the beam and other consumables that it drives your costs up. They’re more service-driven products.”
He also reported that the CYLaser is “35% to 40% more energy efficient than every other laser on the market.” And he applauded CYLaser’s use of off-the-shelf components that can be sourced else- where, though the system has been so reliable that the only compo- nents they’ve had to change are inexpensive shield lenses. What’s more, unlike other lasers, the CYLaser can tolerate temperatures down to 32°F, which Hofmann appreciates because they typically shut down over the weekends and don’t want to heat the plant.
The real magic is in the quality of the cut. Hofmann said CYLaser combines a highly regarded nLIGHT resonator with an option they call Vega that manipulates the beam optically to adjust the kerf, focus, and penetration, enabling the laser to produce a fine cut in challenging situations. “Yesterday we were able to cut a 1/8 inch wide band through 3/8 inch thick stainless steel, going 6 inches up and then 12 inches over. With most other lasers, that kind of cut washes out and you don’t get only the 1/8 inch kerf.” And while training helps perfect skills, programming such cuts is already built into the control, covering most materials and most circumstances, he added. Hofmann described the edge quality as “almost like glass” for cuts up to 1⁄4 inch or more, and it’s accurate “within 12 thousandths of an inch over 10 feet. That’s one reason we’ve gotten the Space X and Tesla jobs.”
As Hofmann elaborated, “with any kind of lean manufacturing, the better the quality, the less finish work that has to go into it. And less time means better margins. We like to operate with around 30% margins, which is probably about 10% under industry standards. But we also feel that if you have better quality and faster speed you can operate at a lower margin and penetrate more markets.”
Another benefit to the solid-state CYLaser is its ability to quickly switch between materials. “You can literally be cutting brass inside the machine and have mild steel in the loading bay, ready to go in without any kind of breakdown, or without changing anything,” ex- plained Hofmann. Frank B. Clayton’s current machine cuts mild steel up to 1 inch thick, stainless steel and aluminum up to 1⁄2 inch, brass up to 3⁄8 inch, and copper up to 3/16 inch. The table can support 5 x 10 foot plates up to 11⁄2 inches thick. Although the current laser can’t cut such plates, Hofmann said they can upgrade to a 12 kW machine simply by swapping the laser head, a change that would be much more costly and cumbersome on other lasers.
On the other hand, Hofmann said this laser has already doubled the thickness of the material they’re able to cut. So the next upgrade will likely be something that further speeds the process, enabling them to be even more responsive to market demands.
Robotized polishing and deburring
Arcos Srl (Gussago, Italy, www.arcossrl.com) offers yet another take on automation—a complete range of robotic cells for grinding, polishing and deburring virtually any part and any material. This in- cludes aluminum, steel, titanium, Inconel, magnesium, iron, nickel, copper, brass, and Zamak. Export Manager Giacomo Luzi said Arcos has been in the business of surface finishing since 1965, gaining ex- perience in a diverse set of industries, such as aerospace, automo- tive, agriculture, cosmetics, energy, oil and gas extraction, medical, and general machine shops. “We are particularly renowned for our robotized systems used in the aerospace sector,” he added.
One six-axis articulating robot grips a turbine blade, while another deburrs he workpiece, in this automated cell from ARCOS Srl
A key example of their aerospace work is a cell for deburring tur- bine blades after they’ve been ground or milled on another machine. The cell features two 6-axis articulating FANUC robots and as Luzi ex- plained, “the first robot grips the turbine blade and the second grips different tools from the warehouse for deburring the workpiece.” Ar- cos uses both brushes and deburring bars for the operation, and the warehouse can accommodate up to 20 tool mandrels, plus up to four automatic robot grippers. Both robot heads have a quick change in- terface. That, plus the availability of multiple tool and gripper options, enable the cell to adapt readily to a variety of turbine blades. And the multi-axis capability of the robots ensures that the deburring tools can reach any needed surface on the blade. The cell uses an RFID system to detect the correct grippers and tools for the blade being processed and a vision system automatically positions the part. There is also a sub-system that controls for tool wear.
As you can see from reading this article, the related fields of ro- botics and automation are advancing rapidly. New technologies and strategies help manufacturers not only improve productivity, but do so while requiring smaller labor inputs. The Italian manufacturers dis- cussed above provide automation for a wide variety of industries, and are ready to help.
14 Volume XIII | www.machinesitalia.org