Replacing Saws with Tube Lasers: A Clear Trend
Events 2021/05/13
Video Link: https://youtu.be/_N1Mh3EXCko
Mr. Bai is a manufacturer of tubular automotive components based in Asia. He has also been SOCO’s client for 30 years: 10+ sets of SOCO's sawing machines have been working in his factory over this period, until this year. In fact, Mr. Bai decided that 2021 would be the year to make a major upgrade and enjoy the great benefits of laser technology, and decided to employ his first SOCO’s tube laser cutting machine at his factory.
Mr. Bai is a manufacturer of tubular automotive components based in Asia. He has also been SOCO’s client for 30 years: 10+ sets of SOCO's sawing machines have been working in his factory over this period, until this year. In fact, Mr. Bai decided that 2021 would be the year to make a major upgrade and enjoy the great benefits of laser technology, and decided to employ his first SOCO’s tube laser cutting machine at his factory.
The Challenges of Tube Materials Fabricators in the Automotive Industry
Due to gas emission regulations across the globe, automakers are reducing weight and vehicle structure mass to improve fuel economy, with several advanced materials being used. Materials such as high-strength steels, Ultra-High-Strength Steels, Aluminum (Al) alloys, Magnesium (Mg) alloys, and composites are lighter and more resistant. These materials are a challenge for metal fabricators because they are harder to cut: the harder the materials, the slower the sawing machine and shorter the saw blade life. Large volumes and reduced production speed often give the biggest headaches to metal manufacturers. To deliver the orders on time, Mr. Bai's factory had to add another shift, and due to a global shortage of skilled labor, he had to constantly coordinate his team to make sure that they could cover all the shifts and satisfy his customers.
Other than a decreased production, sawing machines have another downside. A saw blade can process up to 1,000 cuts on Advanced High-Strength Steel (AHSS), after which it needs to be replaced and resharpened. This translates into high running costs for manufacturers. The need to cut down costs while producing high-quality parts is the reason why metal manufacturers, like Mr. Bai, are replacing sawing machines with laser cutting machines such as the SLT-RoundCut Tube Laser.
Advantages of Laser Cutting Machines Over Sawing Machines
To satisfy the most demanding customer requests, manufacturers of numerous industries – including automotive, aerospace, sports equipment, and medical – rely on laser cutting systems featuring high productivity and high cutting quality.
While conventional methods of tube cutting work well, laser technology is more efficient, reliable and cost-effective, and can satisfy the growing demand of manufacturing and production. As saw blade have a lower performance in cutting harder materials, the performance of a tube laser excels in both speed and quality. This is the reason why a lot of tubular parts manufacturers are switching from sawing to lasers.
Besides a high performance with different materials, tube lasers have a long list of advantages for fabricators:
- Cut More of Everything: Aside from the superior performance for various materials, SOCO’s tube lasers can cut parts as short as 2 mm (less than 1/10”). With a laser beam spot as small as 0.1 mm, there is also less wastage per cut, as opposed to the 1~3 mm material loss caused by different blade thicknesses, resulting in more pieces produced per stock material.
- Precision and Accuracy: By using fiber optics and a high-performance cutting head to guide and control the positioning of the laser beam, a precise cut is produced without the issues related to saw blade run-out and straightness.
- No Deformation or Damage: Cutting finish quality is extremely important for tube fabricators. Traditional cutting methods can damage the material surrounding the cut: clamping and metal chips can damage the surface and deform the tubes. This doesn't happen with laser cutters, because there is no direct contact with the tube, and the cutting process doesn't produce metal chips: parts are nearly flawless and usually do not need to be deburred or chamfered after the cutting.
- Lower Maintenance Costs: As mentioned above, laser technology is a contactless process: only the laser beam gets in contact with the material that needs to be cut. As a result, there is no friction that can cause tool wear-out. On the other side, saws need periodic maintenance: to make high-quality cuts, the blades need to be resharpened often and eventually replaced.
- Lower Cost Per Cut: As saw blades need to be replaced, resharpened, and recoated, they are a considerable part of production costs. In addition, manufacturers need to manage a stock of blades for different types by applications and tube sizes, which requires management and floor space. Aside from cutting gases and electric power, there are virtually no other consumables. This means that management costs, maintenance costs, and downtime are all significantly reduced. All these factors contribute to a lower cost per part produced.
- Automation: Laser cutting machines can be easily integrated with other SOCO solutions so that factories can achieve different levels of automation and increase productivity.
A Tube Laser Like No Other
While there are various types of tube lasers, the SOCO SLT-RoundCut series is the first of its kind in the world. Dedicated to straight cutting and with the possibility to easily connect to other processes, it is one of SOCO’s most successful lasers among tube fabricators. Equipped with 4 Servo Axis and a 1 kW Fiber Laser (other powers are optional), automatic loader, and with outputs as short as 2 mm and up to 4.5 meters, this series of lasers offers superior performance for all types of tubes.
The SLT-RoundCut series can also be integrated into other SOCO’s standard solutions, such as deburring, chamfering, washing for spatter removal, length measuring, and stacking.
A Clear Trend in the Tube Manufacturing Industry
In the last few years, the tube manufacturing industry has witnessed a clear trend: the replacement of saws with tube laser cutting systems. As Mr. Bai is taking the technological leap from saws to tube lasers, many other tube fabricators are preparing – if they haven’t done it yet - for this change as well. SOCO offers one of the most complete product lines for Tube Lasers, with over 15 different models for a wide range of tubes and sheet metal, in both 2D and 3D Cutting, ensuring that there is a dedicated solution for every type of application.
As such, not only are tube lasers providing a new edge for manufacturers to remain competitive in their present segments, but have also opened doors to many new industries and applications.
If you need more information about SLT-RoundCut please follow the dedicated page here and send us an inquiry.
If you need more information about SLT-RoundCut please follow the dedicated page here and send us an inquiry.
