Product category:
Tubeworking: bending, cutting-off, profiling and end working
News Release from: BLM-Group UK | Subject: Laser machining of tube
Edited by the Manufacturingtalk Editorial
Team on 22 January 2008
Lasers reduce tube fabrication costs
Sheet metal tube fabricators can reduce operational costs up to 70% by using tube laser cutting technology, which reduces labour, simplifies processing and improves quality.
For tube fabrication and machining, tube laser technology is the ideal way to reduce labour, simpify the number of manufacturing processes and improve productivity and quality So, before tube fabricators dismiss the suggestion that they replace their conventional machinery with a tube laser, the BLM Group says that they should take a much closer look at laser technology, which delivers substantial benefits
This article was originally published on Manufacturingtalk on 5 Jul 2002 at 8.00am (UK)
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Complex tube shapes profiled and machined in one
Laser cutting machines enable any tube profile, however complex, to be profiled either on the end of a tube or along its length and ancillary machining operations can be included.
Laser tube cutters also saw, drill and punch
Advanced laser tube cutting machine consolidates as many as six manual operations such as sawing, punching, drilling and deburring into a single continuous cutting process.
* Cutting and profiling - virtually any shape, however complex, can be laser machined on a tube or along its length.
Even better, components can be 'completely machined' on the same machine, with the same tool, in a single set-up and on a continuous automatic basis.
Combining multi-machining tasks on a tube laser considerably shortens door-to-door times as well as cutting overhead costs.
Further reading
CNC machine performs variable radius bending
CNC tube bending machine can combine conventional and variable radius bending in the same automatic cycle so it is particularly suited to producing the complex components.
Produce LH and RH tube bends in the same cycle
An all-electric 12-axis CNC tube bender has complete head that can rotate through 180 deg so is capable of left- and right-hand bending in the same cycle - software reduces set-up times.
Tube cutting system guarantees 24/7 working
Laser tube cutting system consolidates as many as six manual operations, such as sawing, punching, drilling and deburring, into a single, continuous cycle.
Contrast this integrated approach with conventional tube production based on moving a workpiece between separate machines.
Each machine performs a single task such as sawing, punching, drilling, notching, milling, deburring and so on.
UK tube fabricators are now faced with three choices.
* Installing their own tube laser.
* Sub-contracting tube fabrication and machining to someone who has a tube laser.
* Outsourcing their complete manufacturing to cheap labour economies.
It is no longer an option to stay with the traditional labour-intensive tube fabrication and machining processes with UK labour rates of GBP 15-plus/h against cheap labour countries with rates of GBP 5 or less/day.
Laser tube cutting technology allows UK tube fabricators to remain globally competitive because it is a highly effective way to reduce labour costs and to prevent 'UK Manufacturing plc' losing more business to Asia and Eastern Europe.
Managing director of BLM Group UK, Paul Lake, said users of Adige computer numerically controlled (CNC) LaserTube systems are reporting dramatic cost savings.
He said that 70%-plus overall reductions in cycle times and labour costs are the 'norm' rather than the exception.
Lake added that there are 'knock-on' benefits in addition to the obvious one of more tube components produced at the lowest possible cost/component.
He said: "These include simplified production planning and job routing, reduced stock and work-in-progress levels, and the elimination of the costs associated with tool wear and tools change, although perhaps more important is the elimination of the cumulative error that results from consecutive multiple machine processes.
The fact is laser cut components fit right first time and every time".
It is also the case that laser technology frees the designer from the limitations imposed by conventional cutting systems.
The first commercially available laser tube cutting system, said BLM, was introduced by the Italian manufacturer Adige, part of the BLM Group, in 1988.
Since then there have been numerous examples of innovative design thinking resulting from their installation.
Laser machining has helped products reach the market faster than before, because laser technology allows prototypes, product re-designs and specials to be completed with relative ease in a few hours rather than months.
* Accuracy and repeatability - the inherent accuracy and perfect repeatability of laser cut parts ideally complements robot welding and assembly, reducing significantly - and in some cases eliminating entirely - the time needed for fitting, welding, final assembly and inspection.
"It makes perfect sense for anyone thinking of automating the welding process to invest in complementary laser technology", said Lake to manufacturingtalk.com.
"This is because the inherent accuracy of laser cut parts ensures a perfect fit in welding jigs.
Moreover, more complex joints between tubes that would be impossible or too expensive to machine by traditional processes are simple fare to the laser, and can simplify or even eliminate welding fixtures or the welding process".
The reality, according to Lake, is that the improved efficiency that results from installing a tube laser makes a return-on-investment possible within a relatively short timescale.
This is confirmed by Ross Taylor of West Midlands-based Duright Engineering.
This company admitted it was something of a 'leap into the unknown' when this specialist tube processor opted for an Adige LT702D LaserTube.
However, it is an investment that has since paid big dividends.
"From the day it was installed it has never stopped," said Taylor, "And having filled the available capacity we decided to buy a second machine".
The 'seventh-generation' Adige LT712D installed at Duright Engineering in 2005, has now been joined by another LT712D.
The machine ha shown itself to be equally comfortable processing 'one-offs' as well as high volume work.
Its rapid set-up and change-over capability is ideally suited to small batch work, said BLM, while a large-capacity bundle loader and automated tube handling cater for long production runs.
* About the Adige LT712D laser machine - the Adige will process round, square, rectangular and flat-sided oval tube profiles in most materials, including mild/stainless steels and aluminium.
Particular attention has been paid to reducing machine set-up times, with the downtime for change-over typically less than 3.1/2 min.
The advanced off-line ADIGE CAD/CAM software has been designed and developed specifically for tube applications.
Therefore, 'start-to-part' is less than 5 min.
So, prototypes and re-designs can be produced almost instantly, reducing the time to market, said BLM.
The Adige LT712D can process tube up to 152mm diameter and 8.5m stock length, and this latest generation LaserTube system has been shown to provide upwards of 16% productivity increases when compared with the previous-generation systems.
Based on the above and other application successes, Lake was convinced that: "Laser tube cutting delivers the most innovative and best-for-purpose/ for-design /for-manufacture option at the lowest possible cost and with the highest level of accuracy and repeatable".
In short, he believed the technology offers unlimited commercial, technical and creative advantages over traditional cutting and machining methods.
This is the view of a supplier promoting laser tube cutting technology, but BLM Group UK's sales performance confirms that the message is getting through.
* Laser machine sales double in UK - sales of BLM/Adige systems doubled in 2004-2006, with annual sales double those of the preceding four-year period.
And the volume of tube being processed on tube lasers in the UK increased by 150% during 2004-2006, convincing evidence of the impact the technology is beginning to make here, said BLM.
* A challenge - Lake challenges anyone who has still to be convinced that laser technology is the future of tube fabrication and machining.
Contact him through e-mail and visit the BLM Web site.
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