Robotic Laser Welding For Small Businesses

Handheld laser welding has brought changes to welding not even considered a few years ago.  Where laser welding formerly was only feasible for larger companies it is now becoming main stream for small companies. The advantage of 85% reduction in heat input, no spatter to clean up, no bevels needed for full penetration welds, and a process that can be learned in hours – not years – can now be realized by even the smallest of manufacturers.

Applying robotic to hand held laser welders is now expanding the power of a small business. Normally a small business will have a few highly skilled welders including many times the owner themselves – who can only do so much. Jobs that are repetitive – work well with hand held laser welding – can now be automated for about the same cost as a experienced welder for a year. Typical parts that laser welding is replacing are TIG welded parts which typically have good fit up – a requirement for laser welding – and are high value parts. TIG welding is a true art that can take years to learn. Laser Welding – which is superior to TIG welding – can be learned very quickly. The co robot on a hand held laser welder magnifies this advantage.

The LightBOT system – which mates a Fanuc CRX co robot with the IPG LightWELD – is one such system that has jumped to the head of the pack because of its ease of use and ability to control all aspects of the LightWELD. The hand held LightWELDER can easily pick up how to use the LightWELD with a Fanuc co robot as using the LightWELD with the Fanuc was designed to be intuitive to the user. The same IPG presets used for hand LightWELDING are also used for robotic welding. So the chart that IPG developed for hand use also works for robot use. There are over 100 LightWELD – Fanuc CRX co robots making parts nationwide – in small to large manufacturers. One off parts can be done or thousands of parts can and are being done.

Robot welding with the LightWELD also allows welding with no wire or filler when the fit up is good. Although its possible to fusion weld by hand typically this is not done because pace of the weld – or movement – is entirely dependent on the human welder. However with the Fanuc co robot the robot paces the weld and does this very well – so fusion welding becomes another application of the hand held Laser Welder – not normally done by hand. Prior to integrating the LightWELD system on a Fanuc co robot this potential way of laser welding was only in the realm of laser automation costing $600,000 +. Now it can be implemented for ¼ of that cost, bringing it into the world of small and medium size manufacturers.

The interface between the LightWELD laser welder and the Fanuc CRX co robot is really the key. The control possible of all laser parameters, in an easy to use format provided by the Fanuc timeline method of programming – takes away the complexity of laser welding with a robot. LightBOT icons were specifically designed for the interface and work perfectly with Fanuc positioning icons. Move the Fanuc CRX arms by hand or pendant, memorize positions by swiping up an icon, and tell the laser what to do by swiping up a LightBOT Icon – and a laser welding robot program is ready to execute. Save the job in the Fanuc robot controller and move to the next one.