Machine has the ability to cut plate weighing up to 7 tons.

Years ago, whenever you visited a precision sheet metal business the talk would be about what material they were cutting, the thickness of material and what speed they were achieving on their 2kW, 3kW or 6kW CO2 laser system. Then the disrupter – the fibre laser – was introduced. Talk of jaw-dropping cutting speeds and feed figures burst forth, while at the same time running costs were reduced.

Subsequently it was common to see one high-powered fibre laser replace multiple CO2 machines. Fabricators could rely on fewer cutting machines to produce more than ever. That being said, if one of those extraordinarily productive fibre machines happened to produce bad parts that needed to be recut, all those efficiency gains go out the window. If the machine crashes, the downtime can throw a serious wrench into the schedule and, at worst, starve the rest of the fabrication shop. Work flow grinds to a halt.

The increased wattage from these power sources and cutting heads that have the ability to adjust the beam mode for thicker materials has made the fibre laser a machine tool capable of addressing all sorts of cutting applications

But that was more the unusual than the norm. What hindered the work flow and caused bottle necks were the downstream operations that have not met the criteria of the upstream technology advancements. These days, speed is king. A high-powered fibre laser coupled with automation can feed an enormous number of downstream processes. It has made modern metal fabrication extraordinarily productive, even if some parts need deburring.

The transition to fibre laser cutting was quicker than most thought. Initially fibre laser cutting catered for thin gauge material and CO2 looked after the thicker gauge but not so as to encroach on the plasma cutting niche. Fibre laser cutters gained a reputation for working best on thinner materials.

Additionally, CO2 lasers can’t cut through reflective materials such as copper, brass, and bronze because the beam reflected by the metal may bounce back into the laser lens and mirrors, causing significant damage and potentially breaking the machine. With no mirrors or delicate lenses added to their narrow wavelength range, fibre lasers can cut through any metal, including highly reflective ones, at incredible speeds without energy loss or equipment damage. Fibre lasers are now the tool of choice for cutting metal below 15mm thickness.

Gears for Africa have recently purchased a Penta BOLT VII 6025 15kW fibre laser from African Laser Solutions and will in future do the profiling of material, especially where thick material is involved or a large component is required, which was outsourced previously

Fibre laser cutting produces generally high-quality cuts and edges for thinner parts, which means costly secondary finishing or cleaning usually isn’t required. Post-cutting tooling often isn’t required as well, as it often is with other processes like stamping. As well as the cost and time associated with the tooling process, tools don’t need to be maintained or checked for deviation as much. A reduced amount of contamination of workpiece cutting edges also occurs.

Generally, when laser cutting metals with fibre lasers, the upper limit on thickness of metal sheet that can be cut is around 20mm to 25mm for mild steels. However, with specialised fibre lasers that are available it is possible to cut plates thicker than this. The notion that fibre lasers can only cut thin materials is now a tale of the past. Today a 12kW fibre laser can cut mild steel as thick as 60mm, while a 20 or 20kW machine can work with up to 100mm of the same material.

Gears for Africa is an established manufacturer of industrial and heavy-duty gears, sprockets, pullies and splines. They also repair and service gearing related plant and equipment in the heavy-duty industrial plant sectors including mining, rail, earth-moving, building, electrical and agricultural industries. Their clients range from large mining enterprises, multinational and local conglomerates to small and medium enterprises (SME’s).

Gears for Africa’s shop floor is equipped with the latest technology in machining and tooling available on the market including a number of high-end CNCs such as a DMG MORI DMF 260/11 5-axis linear milling machine, a DN Solutions Puma V8300 vertical turning center, a DMG MORI CTX beta 2000 turning center, a GF Machining Solutions CUT 30 P wire EDM, a Kapp Niles ZE 800 gear profiler and others to perform the most common gear-cutting processes of hobbing, broaching, milling, grinding and helical, bevel, spiral, spur, worm, crown, rack and pinion, face and hypoid gear manufacture and spline shaft manufacture.

Gears for Africa have not worked out the time savings yet as the machine was only installed in November 2023. And the machine will not be operating anywhere near capacity. But estimated costs saved by reduced lead times is going to be significant and then of course there will be spare capacity on the machines to acquire new clients

Advances in cutting with ultrahigh-power fibre lasers: New applications
Ultrahigh-power fibre lasers enable fast, high-quality thick cutting, including air-assist cutting of steels, and offer many advantages over other cutting options. With these recent breakthroughs, fibre lasers are providing high-quality cuts with thicker materials. With this development new applications for fibre laser cutting are being discovered and tested by OEMs and companies.

Ultrahigh-power (UHP) fibre lasers in the range of 10kW to 100kW (IPG’s high-power CW fibre lasers cover output power range from 1kW to over 100kW) have seen rapid adoption for cutting during the past few years, and the maximum laser power used for cutting is expected to continue to climb. UHP lasers are defined here as greater than 10kW of power, and they enable new process regimes to facilitate the expansion of laser cutting into new markets, e.g. by cutting up to 50mm steels 4x faster than high-power plasma using air-assist gas.

New Penta BOLT VII 6025 15kW fibre laser cutting machine purchase
Gears for Africa is one such company that has integrated a new application into the company’s processes, using an UHP laser.

“Manufacturers are always looking to stabilise costs and prices and one way to do this is to assess raw material challenges. Lead times is a delicate and difficult subject to discuss with customers and are often due to a whole host of issues that are out of your control. Of course, the most advantageous way to navigate these issues is by simply fostering good relationships and providing good communication with both customers and suppliers,” said Chris van Aswegen of African Lazer Solutions, the sole agents in South Africa for Penta Laser machines.

The Atlas Copco compressed air system has been beefed up to 13 bar 22kW so as to save on cutting costs

“The other way is to take control of matters that you can and bring outsourced work inhouse. Material supply you cannot change but where you rely on others to do some processing of material you can. This can dramatically reduce lead times and downtime on expensive machinery.”

“Fibre lasers (named so because the laser beam is created using solid-state laser diodes and then delivered to the cutting head with fibre-optic cable) have come a long way in being able to handle the variety of metal thicknesses that an engineering business has to tackle on a regular basis. The increased wattage from these power sources and cutting heads that have the ability to adjust the beam mode for thicker materials has made the fibre laser a machine tool capable of addressing all sorts of cutting applications.”

“Gears for Africa were committed to responding to their customers’ demands and to keeping up with the latest technology to produce quality parts more quickly and more cost-effectively,” continued van Aswegen.

“Before this new machine investment Gears for Africa would rely on material suppliers to do the profiling of material, especially where thick material is involved or a large component is required.”

“To circumvent the frustrations Gears for Africa decided to purchase a new Penta BOLT VII 6025 15kW fibre laser cutting machine, one large enough to accommodate their profiling needs while not compromising on efficiencies or quality.”

The Penta BOLT VII 6025 15kW fibre laser comes equipped with a chiller, a stabiliser and a Donaldson extraction system

“The Penta BOLT VII 6025 15kW fibre laser features a modular bed frame design, with separate components for high dynamic motion and high load-bearing. This design ensures the loading capacity when cutting thick plate and the long-term stability of the machine tool.”

“The machine is powered by the Italian laser CNC, based on Z32 Windows, with a 27-inch full touch screen, has a bed size of 6m by 2.5m, has a bevel cutting option included, has 2 extra axis (the B and C axis rotate in 45 degree to optimise cutting ability), operates on a two-frame system (both the machine and the table have their own frames) and has a two table hydraulic shuttle changing system.”

“The machine also comes equipped with a chiller, a stabiliser and a Donaldson extraction system. The Atlas Copco compressed air system has been beefed up to 13 bar 22kW so as to save on cutting costs.”

Amongst the other gear cutting CNC machines that Gears for Africa has is a 5-axis DMG MORI DMF 260/11 Linear milling machine that was supplied by Retecon

“The type of investment is not a first but it is inventive for the type of business and primary operation of Gears for Africa. Once profiled, material can be immediately sent directly to a CNC machine for final machining.”

“Gears for Africa have not worked out the time savings yet as the machine was only installed in November 2023. And the machine will not be operating anywhere near capacity. But estimated costs saved by reduced lead times is going to be significant and then of course there will be spare capacity on the machines to acquire new clients.”

“These days fibre lasers have a dynamic operating power and cutting range. They are being used for new applications daily. Soon the only restrictions will be governed by the size of material available and the downstream automation and efficiencies.”

For further details contact African Lazer Solutions on mobile: 060 518 4453, email: chris@africanlazersolutions.co.za or visit www.africanlazersolutions.co.za or Gears for Africa on TEL 011 420 3314 or visit www.gearsforafrica.co.za