Multiple laser beam absorption technology and a reflector system allow a laser beam to pass several times through glass, so cutting in one step giving 'zero kerf width'.

H2B Photonics - the laser company for glass processing - and the laser producer Rofin presented new technology for cutting glass with disc lasers at the recent Glasstec 2006 show. * The MLBA cutting technology for flat glass - the patented MLBA (Multiple Laser Beam Absorption) technology features volume absorption of the laser radiation in the glass, and not surface absorption as with commonly used CO2 laser radiation. The specially developed reflector system allows the laser beam to pass several times through the glass.

In this way, laser energy is optimally used to cut glass with a thermally induced tension fissure in one single step - 'zero kerf width' cutting.

The customer's benefit is obvious: the MLBA technology cuts single glass plates 0.2mm to 24mm thick, or even multi-layer glasses (display glass, laminated glass) in one single operational step.

The usual subsequent breaking is no longer necessary and the customer can benefit from shorter production times by up to 50%.

A worldwide unique technology is the selective separation of single glass plates in a glass stack, as well as cutting of contours in one single step, which opens up completely new possibilities in glass processing.

The MLBA technology is clean and contact-free and in this way does not cause any pollution by additives (like cooling medial, cutting oil) or glass splinters.

These features make the MLBA method ideal for processing sensitive glass products or deployment in sensitive production environments.

The high edge quality, free of any glass chips or micro cracks, enhances the stability of glass parts by a factor of two.

Production losses by glass breakage or mechanical damage of high-quality glass parts are reduced to a minimum.

* Tubocut: cutting of tubular glass - the Tubocut method uses YAG lasers to cut tubular glass and hollow glass efficiently and free of glass chips.

The particular setting of laser beam and workpiece allows to exploit the energy efficiently and produces edges with the same high quality as with the MLBA process.

This reduces waste considerably during subsequent thermal operations and provides the customer with high processing stability.

* Opening up new possibilities for applications with disc lasers - as for other applications, disc lasers are most beneficial for cutting glass.

Performance stability, scalability and excellent dynamic features of the Rofin DS series with a power range of 750 to 3000W allow flexible and high-performance solutions for a wide range of applications.

YAG lasers allow the use of optical fibers, making the laser a very flexible tool, which can be integrated in almost any production environment.

By coupling several fibers to one laser, highly efficient and individual production solutions can be realized, putting the investment for laser sources in relation to the cutting system into new perspectives Present developments of the MLBA technology together with the new generation of disc lasers by ROFIN, broaden the range of applications even to borosilicate glasses achieving clearly enhanced cutting speeds.

* Products for customized solutions - H2B Photonics develops individual customized cutting solutions with the MLBA technology.

The portfolio comprises the reflectors and laser cutting heads which can be individually equipped for the process and the customer's product requirements and can also easily be integrated into existing production lines.

H2B realizes customized cutting solutions which are equipped with the requisite MLBA cutting technology and can be offered as complete systems.

For further requirements in process control, H2B offers integrated temperature measuring equipment and sensors providing additional options for complex cutting tasks.

Specialists from H2B Photonics together with Rofin experts install machines and process technology at the customer's site.

According to the customer's wishes, personnel can be trained and consulted at the H2B Photonics application center in Garbsen near Hanover, Germany, or at the customer's site.

Only high power industrial lasers by the partner company Rofin are used for system solutions.

Many years of experience and competence as well as a high performance service network worldwide guarantee reliable and stable operation at the customer's site.

To offer increased cutting performance, a 5kW diffusion cooled CO2 slab laser with a high energy density to provide improved process stability and high quality at high cutting speeds.

In response to customer's needs for increased cutting performances, Rofin introduces the DC 050. With an average output power of 5,000 Watts this diffusion cooled CO2 Slab laser provides an ideal laser source for industrial plate and sheet cutting applications. 'We are glad to enlarge our CO2 product range with this new model,' said Thorsten Frauenpreiss, managing director of Rofin-Sinar Laser.

'The newest model of the mature DC series provides new possibilities for all cutting applications - especially for thick plate applications where the high-performance laser proves its quality.' Due to the excellent beam quality of the laser and its increased output power, high-pressure cutting with long focal lengths is now available in the 5kW power range, too.

Additionally, the high energy density provides improved process stability at high cutting speeds, a precondition for reliable cutting data and quality.

Thanks to the patented design, the low-maintenance Rofin CO2 slab lasers are easy to service.

Having no gas circulation, the laser does not need any turbines.

The gas bottle that is required for the gas exchange every 72h, is positioned conveniently within the laser head, so that an external gas supply is not necessary.

The laser beam that is produced in the resonator is uncoupled by a diamond window without any losses of power or beam quality.

The internal water-cooled mirrors, are robust and non-wearing reflective optics.

With its excellent beam quality of K0.9 this laser is at all power levels a perfect tool for manifold cutting and welding tasks.

* Live-Demonstration of Ultra Large Scale Remote Welding - the DC 050 showed its outstanding qualities as a welding laser together with the remote welding system (RWS).

In a live welding demonstration of vehicle rear seats, 49 welded joints are created within 12s.

The RWS is a high speed welding system, which is able to make multiple spot welds in an arbitrary pattern over a very large working area in a short time.

The variety of possible welds is nearly limitless, spots, circles, lines, waves or any other form.

Thanks to easy programming and beam forming through the mirror and scanner all applications can be set up quickly.

With a RWS a very wide working area is possible, because the laser beam is expanded by a telescope and focussed by an optic on the work piece.

Using a focal length of up to 2.0m gives a working area of 2900 x 1800 x 1000mm.

With a positioning speed of 400m/min between the welding points, known as 'rapid move', the non- productive time is reduced to a minimum.

This provides the shortest possible cycle times.

With about 20 million welding cycles for more than 300km of weld length, without the exchange of typical wear parts, the system also sets a benchmark for availability and process optimization.

The laser is positioned above the working area so that, compared to a conventional manufacturing method like, e g, resistance spot welding, a compact system with the smallest possible footprint results.

* Patented CO2 laser technique for remote welding - the Remote Welding System was shown at the euroblech fair in combination with a diffusion- cooled Rofin DC 050 with a average output power of 5kW.

This CO2 laser belongs to the patented Rofin DC series.

The excellent beam quality of K0.9 makes the use of remote welding cost-effective.

As all DC lasers have a perfect basic specification for high speed welding with large focal lengths, they are the ideal tool for this application.

When quick welding for complex formed work pieces is required, the Scanner Welding System (SWS) with a robot is the perfect solution.

At the EuroBLECH, Rofin will present this mirror deflection system in combination with a 6-axis articulated robot.

The mirrors offer extremely quick positioning (<50ms) of the laser beam within the considerably extended working area of about 200 x 240 x 80mm.

In comparison with the already industrially used RWS with its CO2 laser, in the SWS all three scanner axes are coupled with those of the robot so that the combined system has nine accessible axes.

Like in the Remote Welding System, weld geometry can be programmed freely, which means it can be adjusted specifically to the requirements of the component.

Furthermore, the sophisticated software has features that calculate the track inaccuracies of the robot so that the weld path is accurate to <0.1mm.

The resulting reduction of non-productive time allows an increase in laser on time from typically 30% to over 80%.

* Perfect features for scanner welding - the Rofin Disc Laser To be able to follow the movements of the robot, a flexible beam guide through fiber optics is needed.

At the EuroBLECH the SWS was presented in combination with a diode- pumped disc laser.

The emitted laser light of this laser can be coupled with virtually no power loss into fibre optics of only 200 micron core diameter.

Compared to rod lasers this new solid state laser generation is distinguished by its nearly doubled efficiency and its improved beam quality of 8mm x mrad.

Because of this beam quality the working distance to the work piece can be increased to up to 400mm with the SWS.

Thanks to this extended distance, the danger of contamination of the optics can be significantly reduced, and the associated greater energy density leads to higher process stability.

At the EuroBLECH Rofin also presented the new DL-R series as cost-effective and compact tools especially for laser hardening and surface treatment.

Based on the mature DL series, these lasers have a wavelength of 940 to 980nm and rectangular beam geometry made for the hardening process.

Thanks to the homogenized beam profile and its resulting uniform energy distribution, large hardening depths are possible without initial melting.

The geometry of the rectangular focus spot is adaptable to match the specific needs of the customer's application.

The DL-R series was designed with Stack Management as a basic feature to ensure laser up-time.

Currently, four laser variations from 900 to 3,600W are available.

An online performance test and the observation of all important parameters provide highest availability - the pointing laser with green wavelength offers a better visibility.

The compact and low maintenance diode lasers have an overall efficiency of 30% and meet typical diode lifetimes far in access of 10,000 hours.

* Laser marking - the ideal tool for small order quantities - the ideal tool for small order quantities, different materials and forms: portable, air-cooled and almost maintenance- free.

The EasyMark can be programmed by effective LaserCAD-Software from any computer and operates from a common mains power supply.

With a wavelength 1064 nm the machine can mark metal and plastics precisely.

Optional program-controlled axes (a linear Z-axis and an axis of rotation with ring admission) can be integrated easily.

After a short period of instruction, the integrated focusing and positioning aids make for easy handling of the machine.

CNC laser profiling system has a laser that is up to 2.4 times faster than a conventional laser profiling machine and flying optic with automatic height sensing - meaning no material marking.

WRES has invested in excess of GBP 400,000 on a Bystronic Byspeed 3015 equipped with 4400W resonator. The machine is one of the fastest laser profiling machines available in today's market, capable of cutting 600 holes/min. Situated on the Nuffield Industrial Estate in Poole, Dorset, UK, WRES was established in 1967 as a welding/repair and reclamation shop.

Today, headed up by managing director Alan Hamer and his son Westley, a team of 25 is dedicated to providing its customers with a first class service from its new purpose built 16,000ft2 factory.

With 40 years experience in the production of precision fabrication, privately owned WRES combines the established traditions of value, service and workmanship with the latest technology.

Using CAD/CAM extensively in the early stages, simple sketches can be converted into a precise working drawing with minimal delay, thus providing cost effectiveness along with totally co-ordinated production.

The company is a major supplier of small components and highly polished stainless steel railings and fittings to Sunseeker International, the world's leading manufacturer of luxury yachts.

WRES also supplies bespoke parts and projects for food processing machinery.

Additionally, the company has quoted and delivered on various projects to detailed specifications and exacting standards for the defence industry; is involved in the architectural sector supplying stairways and balustrades etc for the building market, and has supplied pressure vessels up to 10 tonnes for the petro-chemical industry.

Renowned for its welding and fabrication services, the company specialises in coded MIG, TIG and MMA welding as well as providing a complete range of manufacturing processes which include press braking, guillotining and punching.

Its single source capability extends to in-house milling, drilling, turning and includes chemical and hand polishing.

Through carefully selected specialist sub-contractors the company also provides waterjet cutting.

100% of the laser cutting service, which in the past had been sub-contracted out, has now been brought in-house since the acquisition of the Byspeed.

According to Hamer the addition of the Byspeed fits perfectly into the future vision for the further expansion of the company.

'We recognise that in today's markets price, quality and customer satisfaction are paramount.

The Byspeed is one of the most advanced laser machines on the market today, allowing us to produce basic to complex profiles, delivered to exact specifications.' He said: 'We looked at a number of lasers and visited various users, the majority of whom told us that Bystronic machines were the 'Rolls Royce' of laser cutting.

In addition, the knowledgeable and professional manner with which Bystronic handled the project was impressive.

We were dealing with a company with an ethos very much like our own - customer service and satisfaction being the priority.' Hamer aded: 'The Byspeed uses the latest technology and the Bysoft software with disc file conversion enables us to receive drawings in formats such as dxf, iges, dwg, geo, wmf and postscript thus ultimately saving the customer time and money, resulting in a raised standard of service and improved delivery times.

Quality and service cannot be compromised by high costs.' Laser cutting offers WRES many benefits including zero tooling costs making it an ideal option for prototype work and batch work, guaranteed accuracy to 0.1mm and a burr-free finish meaning reduced production times.

In addition to the general benefits of laser profiling the Bystronic Byspeed boasts a laser that is up to 2.4 times faster than a conventional laser profiling machine, an automatic shuttle table to allow continuous cutting, a flying optic with automatic height sensing meaning no material marking, dissimilar parts nesting to allow profiles of different shapes to be cut from the same material sheet, minimal thermal distortion as well as a maximum sheet capacity of 3 x 1.5m.

The Byspeed is able to cut stainless steel (up to 20mm), mild steel (up to 25mm), aluminium (up to 12mm), copper, titanium, zintec, montel, brass and armour plate meaning WRES can handle a wide variety of customer requirements.

Hamer concluded by saying: 'To our regular and potential new customers WRES offers a free local delivery service, a 'platinum' next day cutting service, no minimum order charge on quantity, no programming costs on client-supplied digital drawings, minimal costs for conversion of non-digital drawings, mill certificates and certificates of conformity and importantly, our guarantee of quality and satisfaction.'