A new 10kW fibre laser at Leicester-based ADS Laser Cutting has effectively double the speed at which it can cut components.
The Trumpf TruLaser 5030 fiber features Active Speed Control and has been supplied with a LiftMaster Compact load/unload automation system, which enables lights-out operations.
Founded in 2005 by brothers Stephen and Duncan Keates, ADS today has a has turnover of circa £7 million and employs over 70 people across two sites. The company says that investment in the latest manufacturing technologies is the one of the key factors in this growth.
“Our customers want correct parts, on time, at a competitive price,” says Stephen Keates. “By having the latest technology in-house, we can better control factors such as lead times, quality and cost.”
Another consideration is investing in machines that can accommodate the wide array of parts handled by a manufacturer. ADS needs to be flexible and competitive when supporting the needs of its customers, which come from sectors including construction, machine building, signage, automotive, rail and medical.
“To maintain our high standards we strive to adopt the fastest lasers producing the best quality parts, which is why we look to change one of our laser cutters every three years,” says Mr Keates. “Until recently we ran a Trumpf TruLaser 5030 fiber 5kW and a 5kW CO2 laser cutter – and it was time for the latter to be replaced. We had no qualms about going 100% fibre as the cut quality of modern fibre lasers is just as good as CO2, even on thicker materials.”
The laser was installed in November last year with a total investment of around £1m.
Says Mr Keates. “If you’re an OEM making your own product against in-house targets, you can probably get away with having a 15-year-old laser. However, as a subcontractor we need to compete year-in, year-out with others in our arena.”
Due to the speed of the new laser, which Mr Keates estimates is twice as fast (on average) as the company’s existing 5kW 5030 fiber, the decision was taken to install a Trumpf LiftMaster Compact load/unload system, which can accommodate up to 3 tonne of material.
“We specified several other Trumpf features to help us run lights out,” he adds. “For example, Active Speed Control works by looking straight through the nozzle directly at the cutting zone, monitoring it in real time and controlling the feed rate of the laser to suit specific material conditions. Ultimately, we want to load the program, input standard parameters, press the button, walk away and come back to perfect parts - every time. And that’s what the TRUMPF machine provides.”
ADS Laser Cuttings’ capabilities have further improved, now being able to cut common materials such as mild steel up to a thickness of 30mm, stainless steel to 40mm, aluminium to 30mm, plus brass and copper to 12mm and 16mm respectively. More exotic materials ADS have experience with cutting, include treat plates, tool steels and they have cut shim steel down to 0.05mm.