SYNRAD, INC. - http://www.synrad.com  
Thursday, March 04, 2004
Issue 82

 
Polycarbonate Lens Marking Welding Steel Dieboard Cutting

SYNRAD's sealed CO2 lasers are used in a variety of industrial processes including cutting, welding, drilling, and marking. This news brief showcases some of the interesting materials and products that are processed daily by Synrad's line of CO2 lasers and marking heads.

Polycarbonate Lens Marking


The mark, shown in the photo above, consisted of a 2D Data Matrix code and two lines of human-readable text.
Polycarbonate blank for parts inventory purposes


 

 Because 2D codes read at much lower contrast values than linear (1D) barcodes, they are great for marking low contrast materials such as polycarbonate. This marking application involved coding polycarbonate blanks for parts inventory purposes.

An FH Series Tracker marking head directed the CO2 beam through a 200 mm focusing lens, which created a 290-micron diameter beam spot at a 5 mm depth of focus.

The mark, consisted of a 2D Data Matrix code and two lines of human-readable text. The 24-character Data Matrix code was not raster-scanned, but instead each cell was marked using unfilled vector circles (2D Barcode Bitmap property set to No) with a 2D Barcode Circle Radius of 5%. Overall code size was 0.204 inches square.

We verified the Data Matrix code on both RVSI CM4000 and Microscan Quadrus EZ reader systems. The two lines of human-readable text were sized to a height of 0.837” and marked using WinMark Pro’s Simple stroke-type font.

Both objects were marked at a speed of 15 inches per second (IPS) using 23 watts of power. These parts are marked on a continuous motion conveyor and the overall cycle time of 0.54 seconds supports a Tracking line speed of 60 feet per minute.

 

Welding Steel

 

0.036” (0.9 mm) thick steel
(dime shown for size reference)



Full weld penetration was achieved using 400 watts of power at a weld speed of 75 IPM.



Close up detail of weld.

We welded these stainless steel plates using our new Firestar f400 sealed CO2 laser. The 0.036” (0.9 mm) thick steel was fixtured with the ends tightly aligned to create a butt type weld.

Because most laser welding processes do not use filler wire, but instead rely on the molten material to create the weld joint, the part fit up for a laser weld must be free of any gaps or voids in order to achieve strong, consistent joints.

As with conventional welding processes, creating initial spot welds at intervals along the joint help to prevent material separation during the actual weld pass.

Beam delivery for this application was accomplished using a 2.5” positive meniscus lens, which produced a 0.004” spot size and 0.07” depth of focus.

Full weld penetration through the stainless was achieved using 400 watts of power at a weld speed of 75 inches per minute (IPM) with shielding provided by approximately 1.0 SCFM of Argon.

 

Dieboard Cutting


Side view of dieboard shown to
illustrate depth of cut.


3/4" dieboard cut.
 

Another classic laser application in the wood category is dieboard cutting. Dieboard or stamp cutter manufacture requires a large volume of highly accurate, repetitive cuts to be made.

The cutting blades must be held firmly and correctly in position, which is accomplished by making parallel-sided slot cuts in the wooden dieboard to specific widths depending on the size of the die blades to be embedded in the dieboard.

Once blades are fitted into the profiles the finished dieboard is used for stamp cutting operations. Laser cutting provides the manufacturer an extremely accurate and repeatable cut width in the dieboard.

Cutting speeds (ipm) of dieboard for 2 rule width cut (0.028”)

Material: Norwegian Pine
Layers: 14
Thickness: 19.0 mm / 0.750  inches
Power: 240W
Speed:  9ipm
Lens: 5" with 200΅ spot size and 20 psi air assist.
* laser was externally gated

Material: Maple
Layers: 10
Thickness: 15.8mm / 0.625 inches
Power: 240W
Speed: 12ipm
Lens: 5" with 200΅ spot size and 20 psi air assist.
* laser was externally gated
 

 
 

Browse Synrad's Applications Database

Search our online library for more applications of Synrad's sealed CO2 laser technology. Sort by material, process, or industry.

http://www.synrad.com/search_apps/Default.htm

Contact Us:

 

Synrad, Inc.

4600 Campus Place

Mukilteo, WA  98275

Tel:  1-425-349-3500

Fax: 1-425-349-3667

E-mail: synrad@synrad.com

 

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SYNRAD and Synrad product names are trademarks or registered trademarks of SYNRAD, Inc. All other trademarks or registered trademarks are the property of their respective owners.