Mitsubishi eX laser cutting machine launched

It's being sold in the UK through World Machinery and Wayne Hipkiss, managing director, says it's designed to meet the needs of the most demanding users in today's 24/7 competitive manufacturing environment. "It provides customers with the ingenuity and innovation to stay competitive on all levels," he explains. "The eX combines ease of operability, faster cutting, upgradable automation, and eco-friendly, cost-saving features. This makes it the smart choice for small job shops or high volume production facilities." Mitsubishi holds a patent on the machines cross-flow laser resonator and says it gives 1.4 times the productivity of others lasers in its class. Thick mild steel plate up to 27 mm can be cut with sheet feed rates of up to 50 m/min. Stainless steel and aluminium alloy up to 17 mm thick can be cut too, when using nitrogen as an assist gas. Running costs are cut by up to 90% during standby, thanks to an eco-mode, and carbon dioxide emissions are 30% less than competitor's high speed axial flow lasers, the firm claims. Best of all, the eX consumes less than one bottle of laser gas a year and a single resonator charge of fresh gas enables continuous operation for 24 hours without needing replenishment. Mitsubishi also points out that because it has cross-flow resonator design, there isn't any expensive quartz tubes or turbine blower systems, and this means it requires two to five times less maintenance than other laser equipment on the market. The eX is operated using Mitsubishi's latest CNC controller, which the firm says is easy to program and use even for beginners. Thumbnail illustrations are displayed on the screen and describe the machine's action to users. The controller also has a bar code reader to quickly transfer programs and cut down on the processing time.