With our previous blog posts, you already know the various fields of application offered by laser technology. Among these applications, we often talk about 2D laser cutting and the laser engraving on wood. But that's not all, it also includes laser tube cutting , which has been very successful in recent years.
But why such a development of this market? Most of the time, companies wishing to cut tubes and profiles use traditional methods, such as cutting with hand saws, grinding wheels or gas welding. These methods have many disadvantages, being more tiring and time-consuming for your teams. Faced with this obvious observation, laser tube cutting machines were born!
Reduction of production times
First of all, as with the 2D process, laser tube cutting offers a more cost-effective solution compared to conventional methods: sawing, drilling or milling of metal tubes. In detail, these machines are equipped with a rotary axis, allowing a specific handling of the parts. This unique design guarantees optimum cutting qualities and a considerable reduction in production times.
The advantages in a few points:
- More than 70% time reduction on each machined tube.
- Parts can be assembled 2x faster.
- Possibility to continue to use other production tools at the same time: 2D laser cutting, milling machine, saw...
- Process large serial customer orders more efficiently.
- Possibility to work on much more complex tube shapes than with manual methods.
As you will have understood, the laser tube offers significant efficiency and production flexibility, opening up interesting possibilities for manufacturers to create new products. An opportunity to constantly respond to the needs of the market in real time! As you will have certainly noticed, the tube is present in many metal constructions.
Finally, the powers of these laser machines can be increasingly higher thanks to the innovations proposed by the manufacturers. Today, these machines can reach up to 5kW in order to perform cutting on tube diameters ranging from 12 to 610 millimetres. As for the length of the processed tubes, they can reach 14 metres for the largest machines.
Fiber at the service of the tube laser
Of course, you can't afford to miss out on the latest innovations on the market! Manufacturers of tube laser machines have understood this, quickly deciding to integrate fiber laser sources into their production tools. Nevertheless, for more flexibility, most manufacturers still offer the choice between fiber and CO2 machines.
Of course, the main advantages of this technology remain similar to flatbed laser cutting machines :
- Possibility of cutting the tube on many materials, including copper and brass.
- Lower energy and maintenance costs compared to CO2 technology.
- Absence of several spare parts.
In conclusion
In conclusion, it is obvious that laser tube machines still have a good margin of progress, similar to the fiber laser machines flat, now up to 20kW of power! From the point of view of the equipment itself, this will require increasingly fast cutting speeds and complete automation thanks to the phenomenon of "flattening".industry 4.0This is a new way of organizing productions, particularly thanks to digitalization.
Moreover, the collection of this machine data by the software in place will allow tomorrow's machines to continuously improve according to the expectations of each company. This is where the most interesting added value for the future of thelaser industry lies.
Write a comment