A look at four developments in laser manufacturing that caught my attention this week — from precision motion for medical-device manufacturing to very-high-power cutting, semiconductor processing, and an interesting new approach to machining sapphire. Precision Motion Targets Medical Tube Laser Cutting Aerotech’s new LaserTurn280 motion platform is designed for cylindrical laser processing applications such as … Read more
By William Kane | Manufacturing with Light (MWL) When people start discussing a new laser cutting system, the conversation usually starts with the laser. How much power do we need? Fiber or ultrafast? What wavelength? What spot size? What material thickness? Those are important questions and should be worked out in an applications lab before … Read more
What You Need to Know About Handheld Laser Welding is a practical, safety-focused guide for shop owners, welders, supervisors, students, and anyone considering this rapidly growing technology. It explains how handheld laser welding works, what equipment and controls are required, how to develop a repeatable welding process, and why training, ventilation, documentation, and laser safety … Read more
Modern motion controllers are amazing. In laser processing, advanced algorithms can smooth corners, reduce vibration, improve path following, synchronize laser firing, and help squeeze more performance out of a machine. Features such as input shaping, look-ahead, contour smoothing, and frequency-response-based tuning are real tools that can make a good machine much better [1][2][3][4]. But they … Read more
I will admit that I am confused. You probably will be too if you read this article. But it’s an important topic that deserves to be discussed. Please read the full article. And please chime in. I have helped build industrial laser systems containing Class 4 lasers. To make the completed machines Class I, or … Read more