How to Maintain Laser Cutting Machines?

With the laser cutters, you can produce the most accurate and high-quality cuts for fabrication. In order to maintain the efficiency and consistency of these machines throughout, fabricators need to perform preventive maintenance on a regular base. After all the laser cutter is an expensive piece of equipment. The first tip is to avoid procrastination. Because the lack of maintenance leads to a lower quality cut without any perfection. To understand how laser parts can work more optimally, read the below steps to keep your laser machines up to date.

Never Leave the Laser Machine Unattended
One of the Laser Materials like acrylic is prone to catch fire when it goes unattended during the cutting process. There have been instances when people had to replace the whole laser cutting machine in cases of fire. To eliminate such cases, we need to make sure that someone is within 3 feet area all the time.

Keep the Lens Clean
Every fabricator has a different type of laser cutting schedule. Daily maintenance is one of the major things we need to make sure for the laser parts involved in the process. If you wish to replace any of them consider Mazak laser parts. They come with good quality features and provide an ample amount of cutting. One more thing to make sure that after the cutting schedule, check the lens and clean if necessary. As the top lens and mirror are right above the laser beam and exposed to a lot of dirt, smokes, debris, and fumes. With the dirty lens you might get:

• A need of lower speeds or higher power to cut.
• Uneven and blurry images.
• Damaged lenses

The simple way of cleaning the lens and mirror is removing it gently and cleaning both the sides with a q-tip or lens paper.

Clean out the Filters
With regular maintenance tasks, you need to maintain the filter as well. Based on its usage and the type of materials, you need to change the inner ‘pad’ pre-filer and clean the foam dust collector.

Here are the hints that indicate that you need to replace the filter:

• Smoke is collecting in the laser bay.
• Fire/flares in the bay.
• Odor emanating from the machine.
• The filter is dirty on both sides.

Here are the steps to follow to replace the filter:

1. Open up the machine.
2. You will see the inner filtration assembly inside. There would be a foam dust collector inside the metal mess. Since it catches the big dust particles, rinse this out in the sink and dry it out.
3. There would be a wrapped pad pre-filter on the outside.
4. You can buy new pre-filters and wrap them around.

Consider Warranties
Warranties are a key part of the buying process. If you are a fabricator and pursuing a maintenance contract or extended warranty, it is important for the purchasing department to have a complete understanding of points covered in it. Do the contract cover maintenance and parts? If yes then does it cover quality laser parts Trumpf laser parts? Is there any discount provided on any needed replacement part? How much more an emergency service call would cost without a contract? What are the possible limits of the contract?

Replace Charcoals
With the cutting, plastics, there are chances of developing odors. However, the pre-filer works the best to get rid of particle matter. But the Electrocorp also has 20 lbs of carbon particles. And they absorb the nasty smell. Eventually, the charcoal gets 'full' and doesn’t absorb fumes.

Some indications that you need to replace the charcoal:

• The smell of burning plastic is strong.
• Smoke sucked away.
• The filter is clean but the problem doesn't go away.
• The charcoal smells of fumes.

To replace the charcoal, pour out and throw out the old charcoal. Pour in cup-full of fresh charcoal while tamping down with a rubber matter or a wooden dowel to pack the charcoal.

Final Thoughts
Maintenance of laser parts is varied by its usage and type. There is no one-size-fits-all solution to properly maintain the laser fabrication process. And while you replace the laser parts, you can find several options from the web if you write queries like ‘Trumpf laser parts’ and ‘Mazak laser parts. The maintenance lessons result in a more consistent, reliable, and cost-effective laser operations.

How to Get Rid of Shearing Defects?

Shearing is a fabricating process used to cut metal sheets. The Shear blade machine consists of a shear table, blank holders, upper and lower blades. A back gauge is used to make sure that the cutting process is streamlined. When it comes to a perfect cut of the metal you need a high-quality shear blade like Amada shear blade which reduces the effects of variable sheet metal characteristics, internal stress, geometry to reduce the possible defects in the shear blades.

In this case, you need to take care of these natural effects. As they can make your shear blades defected and may reduce the final cutting quality of the product. If you work at the metal forming factory you must know that it is important to maintain your shear blades time-to-time. In this article, we have a list of variables used in this process along the solutions to get rid of possible shearing defects.

Cutting Angle
It is the cutting-edge angle of the blade. With two square edge blades, it requires higher cutting force than the upper blade. It is at an angle of 87°. And the lower blade is always at 90°. These are the ‘four-edge’ blades. Angled blades are called ‘two-edge’ blades.

Shearing Angle
This angle has a great effect on the shearing force. When you shear thin strips, this angle has an important effect on twisting. The shearing angle is less than 3°.

Blade Clearance
It’s the perpendicular distance between the shearing blades. The quality of results depends on plate thickness and material strength. If the cutting clearance is too small, the costs will be higher. If it’s too large, the result will be precise and large plastic deformation.

Clearing Angle
The clearing angle is fixed and set to 1.5°. The Blade ram is not perfectly vertical but is tilted pointing towards the backside to facilitate the piece separation.

The Shearing Defects and Solutions:

Twisting
In shear blades, this defect twists the plate with its axis. When shear narrow down the strips, it results in twisting. Other responsible shearing conditions are related to metal geometry. For example, high thickness and short length reduce the width, material characteristics like the soft material, uneven stress distribution and cutting parameters like high rake angle, high cutting speed etc.

To get rid of this defect it is recommended to lower the rank angle. This way, it would become useful to add an anti-twist device. Also, this option consists of a series of cylinders that push the plate against the top blade. This force applies when it corresponds to the plate thickness.

Poor Edge Quality
During the shearing process, the material initially deforms in a very small area, with a residual deformation. Then the upper blade penetrates the material where cutting is neat and clear. At the end of the shearing process, the material would give up. Because of that, the material cracks with a rough and irregular surface known as the fractured zone. This is often not perpendicular to the plate but a variable angle. You can improve edge quality by adjusting blade clearance, and keeping blade wear under control.

Crooking
In this defect, the surface stays flat, and a plate is curved along its plane. The responsible conditions include strip width, thickness, material strength, and previous cold rolling direction. The best way to reduce crooking is to use a smaller shearing angle and performed-cuts along rolling direction. Guillotine shear is another condition where blade ram supports its ends instead of the entire length.

Even during the shearing process the blade will become crooked because of the cutting force and will tend to open in the center. The best solution is to choose a shear with adjustable blade pads to keep it perfectly liner. You can opt for ‘Amada shear blades’ as they come with these specifications.

Bowing
In such a situation, the metal is no longer flat as this effect results in bowed sheet metal. Generally, it is related to cutting angle and plate strength. The best way to reduce this is by using a smaller shearing angle and hold the sheet metal with back support.

Does your shearing blades have experienced such defects? Amada Replacement Parts help you to avoid such types of defects for a period of time with their high tech functionalities. Although the regular maintenance and above-mentioned steps would help you to eliminate the shearing deficiencies.