Two-axis gantry ensures precision laser welding

Item's modular Building Kit System has won over many admirers in the field of innovative laser applications in recent years.

It would be hard to imagine many cutting and welding operations in industrial applications today without the use of lasers.

In production processes, lasers are the solution for the rapid, accurate machining of various kinds of material and shapes.

Precitec, based in Gaggenau, Germany, is a world-leading specialist in the production of complex systems for processing materials with lasers.

Laser cutting and welding heads with integrated process controls and data backups are the company's main line of business, and it is now considered to be the world leader in this field.

The company aims for 100% process dependability and this is achieved with the aid of cameras and temperature sensors.

With welding operations, for example, the geometry of the workpiece is checked and recorded not only from the front but also from the rear.

To ensure the highest degree of process dependability, it is also necessary to monitor any interference in the workpiece and its immediate surroundings.

Precitec has set a new milestone in process monitoring by launching its multidimensional laser welding system within its MPM (melt pool monitor) system family.

Up to this point, it has only been possible to record the strength of the beam in the welding process in a single dimension using optoelectronic sensors and to use this information to evaluate the process.

The new system is based on the physical principle by which electromagnetic waves at the infra-red end of the spectrum are generated within the molten metal, and these waves are then detected and recorded by the camera both spatially and against a time scale.

The data collected are evaluated by the typical method of comparing process references.

This involves extracting data from the current production process and comparing them with reference data in real time.

The company was founded in 1971 and has grown steadily since, so that today it employs 140 people worldwide, of whom 95 are at the Gaggenau location.

At this location there is also the research and development department and the laser laboratory, housed in an extension built only two years ago.

During the development phase of new products, in particular, the availability of flexible laboratory equipment is essential.

This is why Precitec, in close co-operation with item Industrietechnik and Maschinenbau, has developed a flexible two-axis handling system in the new laser testing laboratory.

Item Industrietechnik and Maschinenbau is the developer and supplier of the MB Building Kit System, a system which enables individually designed solutions to meet all the needs of industrial factory equipment engineering: ergonomically designed workplaces, tailor-made enclosure and guard systems or integrated handling equipment are just a few of many application ideas.

The Building Kit System is based on a series of aluminium profiles, a series of matching fastening techniques and numerous functional elements.

Item's Building Kit System immediately impressed Precitec, not only because of its successful use of the system for a number of smaller projects.

The decisive factors, according to Mr Bock, Project Leader responsible for laser technology within the company, were the excellent support provided on-site, the first-class project engineering and, finally, the unbeatable value for money.

Bock explains: "We provided Item with just a sketch showing the rough dimensions and our basic concept".

"Item did all the rest - from design and engineering through to personal support on-site".

Just as Precitec is required to meet the highest individual demands in terms of its products, the test handling systems also have their own peculiarities that can now be realised easily with the aid of the versatile Building Kit System: attached to a support construction made of Line 8 profiles and suspended form the ceiling there are two totally independent linear slides which guide the laser head, which is adjustable along the z-axis, in such a way that it is virtually free of deflection and torsion.

A smart feature of the construction involved exploiting the inner cavity of one of the particularly rigid profiles to protect the laser tube.

A counterbalance weight was fitted to enable manual adjustment of the 45kg z-axis.

The steel counterweights are completely enclosed within conduit elements from the MB System and are attached to chains for maximum safety and dependability.

To this end, system components that are normally used in the construction of lifting doors were used.

The benefits of the system in the eyes of Precitec were the fact that the entire Building Kit System is scalable and various sizes can be used alongside one another but also the rapid delivery of components from permanent stock.

A complex custom-made construction would have made little sense because it would not have been realised within the timeframe and would have offered no economic advantages.

Item's modular Building Kit System has won over many admirers in the field of innovative laser applications in recent years: in particular in the automotive industry but also in the shipbuilding and aerospace industries.

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