PUNCH, PROFILE, BEND LASER PROCESSING BOUNDARIES PUSHED
At GF Laser, this TruLaser Cell 5030 will replace the company’s original Trumpf TLC CUT
5 machine, supporting the 5-axis profi ling and trimming of pressings, extrusions and
spinnings. Compared to a hybrid machine with a CO2 laser, machine hour rate is 20% less,
energy and service costs are halved and footprint is reduced by 30%
when the 10 kW version was installed three
years later, which at the time was the rst in
the UK. However, the 12 kW laser cutter is
the best machine ever.
“We simply plugged it in and it ran from
day one. It is unbelievably quick, so you can
make money even on jobs where you have to
pare back prices to win work – and you can
guarantee short delivery lead-times as well.”
Short adds: “Every increase in power
delivers a cleaner cut edge, especially on
mild steel, which forms the majority of our
throughput. The BeamShaper functionality in
BySoft 7 optimises the shape of the laser
beam when cutting heavier gauge materials
on the 12 kW machine and produces a nish
that is second to none on materials above
15 mm thick.
“Fibre technology reduces running costs
considerably, as there are no expensive
optics to replace and there is no need to
spend a lot of time and thousands of
pounds on maintaining a CO2 machine and
its resonator.
“At the same time, power consumption is
dramatically reduced. In 2013, when we
were running a 6 kW CO2 machine alongside
a bre model of the same power, the former
was drawing 100 kVA while the latter
consumed 33 kVA.
“Three years later, when we went all
bre, we were saving £4,000 per quarter in
electricity costs. It started to make a big
difference to our pro tability, as the cost of
power comes straight off the margin you
make on a job.”
Installed in August this year, Dudleybased
2D and 3D laser-cutting specialist
GF Laser is the user of the rst Trumpf
TruLaser Cell 5030 5-axis CNC laser
pro ling machine in the UK. It comes
following the company’s growth, which has
seen the company’s turnover having grown
from £2 million to £3.5 million in the past
three years, today employing 25 people.
Says Simon Tregillus, director at the
company: “With this order, we are investing
in the latest bre technology. The TruLaser
Cell 5030 4 kW model will replace our
original Trumpf TLC CUT 5 machine and run
alongside our existing TruLaser Cell 7040,
which will be retained.”
GF Laser’s TLC CUT 5 was purchased in
2006 and, although still performing well,
the introduction of the latest TruLaser Cell
5030 will move the company into another
league, regarding speed and energy
ef ciency.
The machine is used for the 5-axis
pro ling and trimming of pressings,
extrusions and spinnings – or any
component containing a form – for sectors
such as automotive, yellow goods,
construction, architecture and art. Materials
processed on the Trumpf TruLaser Cell
5030 will include mild steel, stainless steel
and aluminium. The machine will also allow
GF Laser to process re ective materials
such as copper and brass in ve axes,
a task not previously possible using the
company’s CO2-based TruLaser Cell 7040.
Continues Tregillus: “With the incredible
cutting speeds of modern laser cutters,
growing numbers of customers are turning
to this technology, instead of investing in a
press tool, which creates more business for
GF Laser. The arrival of the TruLaser 5030
Cell will allow us to accelerate the
processing of existing work, thus creating
more capacity. I saw the machine working
rst-hand at the INTECH event at Trumpf,
Germany and could see the efforts Trumpf
has made to maximise cutting performance
and minimise operator involvement. This is
important to a company such as ours, which
runs three shifts over 24 hours.”
Vital statistics for the machine are its
working envelope of 3,000 by 1,500 by 700
in X, Y and Z axes, plus B- and C-axis travel
of ± 135° and 360°. Maximum component
size is 2,540 by 1,040 by 470 mm.
Positioning accuracy is 0.08 mm for linear
axes and 0.015° for rotary axes.
Industry & product news in brief
Lantek has signed a collaboration agreement with the multinational HSG Laser Group
that will allow HSG customers worldwide to use Lantek’s software. https://is.gd/oyarun
Trumpf’s UK operation recorded an order intake of £65 million and sales of £60
million in the year 2018/19, a 29% increase on the previous year. https://is.gd/poletu
MBA Engineering, a supplier of machinery solutions, consumables and support
services, has bolstered its product portfolio with waterjet consumables from
Hypertherm. https://is.gd/guqula
MBA Engineering has additionally provided and installed a bespoke Noblegen nitrogen
generation system to Anord Mardix, saving the manufacturer in excess of £1,000 per
month. https://is.gd/ohixiz
Prima Power has expanded its family of software products with the introduction of the
FastSuite Prima Power Edition, which has been developed for the company by Cenit AG.
The agreement with Cenit provides for the new 3D laser CAM software to be dedicated
to 3D Prima Power laser machines and distributed globally by the Italian company.
https://is.gd/uxupem
32 www.machinery.co.uk @MachineryTweets January 2020
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