TPT January 2010

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10.02.2009 13:21:3

New laser welder adds capacity and flexibility

XL Precision Technologies has become renowned for the manufacture of stainless steel tube components and assemblies, producing around 900,000 individual parts each year. To meet the ever increasing demand for these products, the company purchased their second laser welder earlier this year. The new StarWeld Select compliments XL’s existing Rofin laser, which has been in production for over two years, and provides not only the much needed additional capacity, but also ultimate flexibility in the way in which the system can be used. Rofin’s StarWeld Select is an ergonomically designed and fully integrated laser welding system. The system incorporates four high precision axes which can be controlled manually by use of a joystick or operated under full CNC control. The multi-mode operational capability of the StarWeld Select is particularly suited to the needs of XL Precision Technologies, enabling different techniques to be used for product development, prototyping and full production runs. Used in its simplest form, as a manual welding machine, component sub-assemblies can be aligned and tacked manually if required. When used in semi-

automatic mode, the system can be operated under joystick control for manual deposit welding or prototyping new and complex welding geometries. The full CNC operational mode provides the functionality required for large batch and continuous production runs. Typical examples of medical industry components and sub-assemblies laser welded by XL Precision Technologies include part of a minimal invasive surgery (MIS) procedure instrument. Comprising six individual items – four tubes and two spacers – the part is produced in two separate stages. The first operation is to circumferentially weld the smaller 1.2mm outside diameter tube, longitudinally to the larger 1.6mm outside diameter tube. Two sub-assemblies from the first operation are subsequently located in a custom designed fixture, together with the two spacers, and then laser welded on both sides to complete the assembly. All welding operations on these parts are performed by the StarWeld Select laser under full CNC control. The dimensional tolerance achieved on the finished assembly in this application is ±0.030mm. A further example is an irrigation tube

used for operation procedure irrigation fluid vectors. At first glance this might look like a relatively simple part, however with an outside diameter of only 2mm and an acute welding angle this is an especially challenging component to produce. The welding operation on this part requires accurate positioning as well as precise control of the welding parameters and complex component manipulation, all key attributes of the StarWeld Select. XL Precision Technologies – UK Email: info@xledm.com Website: www.xlprecisiontechnologies.com

The new Rofin laser used by XL

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J anuary 2010

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