FIBRE LASER WITH LBC TECHNOLOGY – NEW POSSIBILITIES IN LASER CUTTING
Higher Productivity & Quality with less power
Following on the great success and longevity of the Amada range of in-house developed fibre laser engines, Amada has developed and released the revolutionary VENTIS fibre laser machine.
What sets this machine far apart from other fibre lasers is the incorporation of the Amada patented LBC technology (Locus Beam Control) and what makes this technology revolutionary is the innovative beam shaping system that allows for precise control of the laser beam motion.
This in-house developed single diode module 4kW fibre engine provides outstanding beam quality which allows the VENTIS 4kW-AJ to compete with other 6 – 8kW machines with less power requirements and unrivalled cutting quality.
LBC is a built-in automatic feature, allowing for the oscillation or vibration of the laser beam within the nozzle while cutting. The oscillation pattern differs according to the specific material type and thickness being processed. The LBC reduces the drag of the laser beam, while cutting and efficiently removes the material on the cutting front of the beam faster than standard fibre laser beams. LBC provides and ensures high beam energy density and produces high melting temperatures. In order for LBC technology to work at its optimum, a very high laser beam quality is required – Beam Parameter Product = 1 (BPP = 1). While Amada’s AJ4000S high power oscillator ensures this beam quality permanently under all cutting conditions, the VENTIS offers three different cutting modes for steel processing, namely Productivity mode for maximum cutting speed, especially on thinner materials, Quality mode for burr free cutting on thicker materials like stainless steel and Kerf control mode for increased cutting kerf width for easy thick part removal.
The VENTIS is equipped with all the operation friendly functions of automatic nozzle cleaning, automatic nozzle changing, shuttle table system with free roller bearings for easy sheet loading, user friendly 3i control, water assisted cutting, filtered air – air purge system, full side and front access, oil shot, tipped part avoidance as well as “intelligent head control” as an additional feature that also saves both time and money.
With a combined speed of 170 m/min and an accuracy of +-0,01mm, the VENTIS is a machine that has proven its capabilities with over 100 units sold in Europe alone within two years. This number of sold units is evidence of the markets looking for better, faster and more reliable laser cutting solutions at a drastically reduced operation cost.
All equipment is fully retro-fittable with the full range of Amada automation options, making uninterrupted and unmanned production possible 24/7.
HRB-ATC PRESS BRAKE WITH ADDITIONAL BENDING CAPACITY
Once the blanking of a product is done to the finest of detail and tolerance, the bending becomes the next process in most production runs.
With the outstanding success of the Amada HG-ATC range, the market realized how much downtime is spent on tool setting in the bending process. Most shops’ production will require approximately three or four tool changes per shift. These tool change processes can take anything up to around 20 to 30 minutes each, which means around two hours of production is lost each day only to tool changing.
The new HRB-ATC press brake is a 100 ton x 3 meter or 220 ton x 4 meter – 7 axis CNC bender which loads and unloads the tooling as required for the specific job on hand. Production planning, programming, tool fitting and sequencing is done in the drawing office before all information is sent to the machine via network; the transfer takes place by scanning of a bar code.
Once downloaded, the operator can view the 3D model as well as a 2D flat layout of the part with or without dimensions. The press brake will automatically begin to set up its own tooling from the tool magazine situated to the right of the machine, while human hands do not touch the tooling. The machine picks and locates each tool as required along the top and bottom beams. Once positioning is completed, the operator takes over with the bending process according to pre-determined sequencing that was done in the planning stages. The interactive control shows the bend sequence in 3D throughout the process. An added advantage is that trial bending is no longer required as the full process has already been checked during the planning stages when it was programmed.
The HRB-ATC press brake is supplied with either the Bi-S mechanical or Bi-L laser angle measurement systems. These systems measure each bend angle according to the desired and programmed requirement, allowing the machine to make automatic angle adjustments where necessary on each bend. This process ensures superior accuracy as well as high quality repetition.
Tooling in the ATC system is of the standard AFH (Amada Fixed Height) design with a very small modification for the tool picker to locate. Standard Amada tooling can be loaded into the machine manually if the ATC does not have the required tool available in the magazine.
The advantage of the ATC system is that the downtime caused by tool changes is drastically reduced. The tool layout is always 100% as per requirements of the bends to be performed and tooling life is drastically extended as tools are stored correctly and not dropped or banged together during handling.
While a component is blanked 100% but not bent 100%, the finished product is automatically inferior and therefore, Amada will see to it that blanking and bending needs are fully taken care of and downtime eliminated.
For more information, please contact Amada – Tel: 011 453-5459.
