Large working envelope welding on a small footprint

Rofin’s Remote Welding System concept has the laser system mounted above the working area, on a gantry, with the laser beam being delivered to the working area below by a series of mirrors. The complete system is enclosed by perimeter safety guarding allowing for safe and easy operation. Mounting the laser source on a gantry above the work area reduces the system’s footprint while providing a large processing area. This concept is ideally suited to automotive applications where large ‘body in white’ components can be easily processed within the system. The system can incorporate one of a range of Rofin CO2 slab lasers. One option available is the Rofin DC 060W, a CO2 Slab laser with an average output power of 6 kW and beam quality factor of K=0.9. This can produce a spot diameter of 600 micron for the longest focal length offered of 1,600 mm. The nearly perfectly Gaussian beam of the Rofin slab laser gives a depth of focus measured in tens of millimetres and the effective working envelope of the RWS has now been increased to 1,500 by 2,000 mm. Placing the beam-steering mirror on an independent high speed linear-motor driven axis further extends the overall travel of the focusing lens thus further increasing the working envelope in the Y-axis. This ability to determine the position of the beam steering mirror provides even greater flexibility for the operator when programming around clamping fixtures and part tooling.