Product category:
Laser and electron beam welding
News Release from: Emag Maschinenfabrik | Subject: ELC Emag Laser TEC assembly and laser welding m/c
Edited by the Manufacturingtalk Editorial
Team on 29 October 2003
Machine assembles and laser welds
components
Development of an automatic assembly and laser welding machine enables the offering of systems capable of completely machining, assembling and laser welding automotive transmission components.
With its Emag LaserCell ELC Emag Laser TEC presents a completely new production tool for mating + laser welding processes For many years Emag has consistently followed its declared objective to offer its customers - from a single source - all the machining technologies and processes that can be applied to round and "not so round" workpieces, including ready-to-install components and component assemblies
This article was originally published on Manufacturingtalk on 12 Jan 2001 at 8.00am (UK)
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Pick-up spindle CNC developed for batch turning
Using machine modules from the established VSC vertical pick-up volume production turning machines, Emag has developed the VL variant for batch production.
Emag develops shaft production turning centre
Emag has developed a new machine design platform for machining shaft-type components, and will be unveiled at the forthcoming EMO exhibition in Hannover.
With its multifunctional Production Centers Emag has become the trendsetter in the consolidation of process streams through the integration of varying technologies, with all the advantages this brings the user: less capital outlay, lower component manufacturing costs, shorter throughput times, better workpiece quality and greater integrity of the process capability.
Laser welding as a means to permanently join components has gained considerably in importance over the last few years.
In most cases laser-welded joints are the solution to a more compact design.
Further reading
Emag Group - a 1990s growth story
From manufacturer of simple turning machines Emag has developed into a supplier of tailor-made solutions to manufacturing problems based on vertical pick-up spindle turn-machining centres.
Pick-up spindle principle now applied to shafts
The HSC series from EMAG: the 'intelligent' machine platform for multi-functional horizontal pick-up turning and production centres for the complete machining of shaft-type components.
Modular grinding platform custom-configured
Horizontal HG CNC machine platform is designed for external cylindrical, out-of-round, face and internal grinding.
It also results in a reduction in weight and costs of the constituent components and, in the automotive industry in particular, to lower petrol consumption.
Many workpieces that are later assembled and laser-welded are first turned, drilled, milled, ground - completely-machined on machines from the Emag Group.
It has been a matter of consistency for Emag to develop and provide those amongst their customers who have such requirements with the most suitable solution - from the same single source - also for the subsequent mating and laser welding of such components.
This task has been given to the Emag Laser TEC, founded in April 2003 and domiciled in Salach.
The Emag Group is experienced in the use of lasers As trendsetter in technology integration Emag already started some years ago to integrate laser technology into its multifunctional Production Centers.
It is often more economical to apply a multi-part solution - such as the mating and welding of a number of constituent parts - to answer the question of how best to produce the complex components that are often required, in particular, in vehicle manufacturing.
The HVSC 250 DUO Laser was the first machine that offered to produce complete, ready-to-install assemblies, with the following processes carried out on a single machine: loading a number of different components - metal-cutting operations - mating + press-fitting - repeated laser welding - brushing - measuring - removal of the completed assembly.
A highly productive (and highly remunerative) machine that satisfied the user by reducing throughput times by a factor of 1:15! With the assistance of our co-operation partner, Arnold, Ravensburg, Germany, a number of projects for the mating and laser welding of shaft-type components has been successfully completed, particularly in the USA.
A number of the systems were built this year at Salach.
Emag Laser TEC with an innovative machine design The advantages of laser welding are known: High power density High processing speeds Low heat load, maintaining minimum component distortion Exceptional integrity of the process capability The upward trend to use lasers in the machining of metals will continue.
For all practical purposes, laser-welding systems are often used to clear bottlenecks and are therefore subject to highly demanding levels of productivity, availability and component quality.
The new LaserCell machine design was developed according to objectives similar to those applied some 10 years earlier to Emag's worldwide first and very successful vertical pick-up turning machine, the VSC: 30 % more productive 30 % lower capital outlay 30 % smaller footprint great flexibility easy to integrate into production lines using an intelligent modular design to implement the most favourable manufacturing solution substantially more favourable TCO (Total Cost of Ownership) compared to other products on the market.
Emag LaserCell ELC at EMO 2003: mating + welding of gearwheel + clutch body Future requirements already taken into account An increasingly important area of application for laser welding is the manufacture of transmission systems.
Many components, such as the gearwheels and clutch bodies for passenger car transmissions, are frequently machined individually, then assembled and welded.
This makes transmissions more compact and meets the highest demands for noise level reduction and power density.
Laser welding has, to a large extent, achieved ascendancy over other processes such as electron beam welding or the riveting of gearwheel and clutch body.
At EMO Emag showed its Emag LaserCell ELC 8000, with which the constituent parts "gearwheel" and "clutch body" and similar rota-symmetrical workpieces are assembled and welded.
The gearwheels are deposited on the infeed conveyor either manually or automatically, whilst the clutch bodies are added from an integral workpiece storage magazine that can be refilled during machining.
An image processing system checks type and position of every workpiece.
The two constituent parts are mated and press-fitted in the assembly station.
Press force and speed are NC programmable, which drastically reduces set-up times.
The whole mating process, i.e the forces used and the directions travelled, is monitored.
Parts that are not correctly assembled - be it because tolerance limits have been exceeded or components are contaminated with chips - are transferred out of the assembly station.
Emag offers a preheating option, which already fulfils demands that will be posed by future generations of transmission systems as the trend turns toward higher-tensile materials that can only be welded under special conditions.
It is here that the ELC sets new standards.
Electro-magnetic preheating results in a very homogenous heating of the whole workpiece and thus to a robust manufacturing process - a very substantial advantage.
In the welding station the assembled parts are clamped and the weld joint(s) created.
The special Emag clamping technique ensures that the workpieces are clamped effectively and that any possible distortion is avoided.
In our particular example the teeth on both workpieces are also well protected against weld spatter.
The welding station features two spindles.
Whilst one spindle accommodates the assembly during the welding process the second spindle is used to unload the previously welded component and to load the constituent parts for the next assembly.
The welding optic "shuttles" between the two spindles, making optimal use of the laser and thus increasing the output rate of the machine.
The assembled component is deposited on an exit conveyor and unloaded either manually or automatically.
Highly efficient, diffusion-cooled CO2 slab laser At the heart of the ELC is a diffusion-cooled CO2 slab laser (DC diffusion-cooled series), made by Rofin Sinar.
This series of lasers has, over the last few years, gained wide acceptance, in particular for laser welding applications in the manufacture of transmission systems and in similarly demanding branches of industry.
The distinguishing features of the DC series of lasers are their excellent beam-focusing capability, their compact design and their low operating costs, especially where energy and laser gas consumption and maintenance costs are concerned.
Since their introduction a few years ago, more than 2,000 DC lasers have found a use for industrial applications.
The term "slab laser" refers to the special design of the resonator (in the shape of a slab).
Its excellent beam-focusing capability (K-number > 0.9, i.e close to the physical maximum of K = 1) ensures that the welding seam geometry can be fine-tuned to suit particular workpiece requirements.
The beam can produce narrow, deep welding seams, by using little heat, but also wider seams.
The application of greater beam widths helps to protect the welding optics from spatter.
Diffusion-cooled lasers are renowned for their extremely low laser gas consumption.
The laser uses Premix gas from a laser gas bottle that only has to be replaced within the regular maintenance cycle.
High-purity laser gases, which are associated with process interruptions when used in other lasers, are not required.
The beam control components are manufactured by H.
Arnold, a co-operation partner of Emag Laser TEC.
The optics from Arnold are of a well proven, realistic design, show great stability and are easy to operate.
They are also the first choice for use with industrial laser systems.
And yet another novelty: a laser system of this type as a "hook-up-and-install" machine - easy to handle and easy to set up The Emag LaserCell also sets new standards in the way it handles, and with regard to its efficiency, i.e its size-performance ratio.
All machine components - workhandling system, machining stations, beam source, cooling units, control system, utilities - are mounted on a common machine base.
The machine arrives at the customer's premises completely assembled.
The effort involved in onsite installation (and also in subsequent site relocation) is minimal.
The laser welding system's "innards" are located behind generously dimensioned maintenance doors and do not require the setter to indulge in acrobatic contortions to gain access.
Set-up and maintenance times are thus drastically reduced.
To reach the ambitious twin objectives of increased productivity on the one hand and reduced set-up times on the other, new ground has also been broken in integrated workhandling.
The Emag LaserCell ELC features no less than 10 NC axes, a precondition for great flexibility in workhandling and for the realisation of the short set-up times demanded also for smaller batch sizes.
The 'brain' of the ELC is a Sinumerik 840D with a great number of practice-orientated software features from Emag Laser TEC.
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