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22 August 2011

TLM Laser Ltd Partners Coherent in the UK as Coherent introduces unique laser cutting machine's into the European market

After the successful installation of more than 200 machines in the American market, Coherent now introduces its compact and powerful BEAM-Series laser cutting machines into the European market. A sophisticated technical center has been established in Germany, available for convincing customer presentations, applications development and training. A European sales and service network with capable and carefully selected partners has been set up to support customers locally.

Beam-Series laser cutting machines are designed to meet highest industrial requirements regarding precision and reliability. At the same time they offer lowest cost of ownership.
All Beam-Series laser cutting machines offer a working area of 1,22m x 1,22m and are equipped with Coherent's completely sealed and virtually maintenance free E-Series CO2-lasers with power levels from 150W to 1000W. Coherent is the only manufacturer of laser cutting machines in this range providing machine and laser source out of one hand, resulting in unmatched performance and reliability.

All Coherent laser cutting machines incorporate optically read 2µm step linear encoders, providing a unique repeatability of 5µm even at highest cutting speed. A gantry system with two synchronized brushless servo motors considerably contributes to this precision.

The beam path is completely sealed and purged to avoid contamination of optical components further reducing maintenance efforts. Coherent laser cutting machines are completely covered and comply with laser safety class 1 even during operation. No additional protective measures for the operator are required.

Coherent offers 3 types of machines, each one tailored to meet specific market requirements.
The LightCell, although considered to be the entry level model, already offers a powerful 150W laser source. Cutting of plastics and organic materials up to 20mm thickness is made easy with this machine. Digital power control and look ahead of several hundred vector points allow cutting intricate shapes in any material. You can find the LightCell in graphics, sign, electronics and wood industry where highest precision and perfect cutting results are required. An optional vision system is widely used in printing and label industry to exactly match cutting path and printed pattern.

The OmniBeam is available with 150W, 250W or 400W laser sources. This variety of higher power and optionally available automation systems, such as shuttle tables, make the OmniBeam even more productive. The OmniBeam comes with an automatic focus system that easily sets the right cutting height for different materials. This machine is effectively used from prototype to industrial serial production. Equipped with automation features, an OmniBeam can be easily integrated into existing work flows.

The MetaBeam comes with a 400W or with a powerful 1000W laser source. Special features, such as a capacitive height sensor, a cutting head with collision protection and a CNC-controlled high pressure assist gas valve make this machine ideally suited for metal cutting applications.

With the MetaBeam 1000 Coherent addresses a market that is still wrongly considered to be a niche market. 70% to 80% of metal cutting is below 5mm thickness and 60-70% of the work pieces are shorter than 1m. Until today a user with such a range of jobs had no other chance than to buy a highly expensive large format laser cutter with typically more than 2kW laser output power. With such machines manufacturing costs are often by far higher than the value of the work piece.

Now Coherent offers a much more reasonable solution. The MetaBeam allows doing all these jobs with almost no limitations in thickness and size but at a fraction of investment and operation costs. Furthermore maintenance costs, space requirements and operator's training are minimal compared to large format laser cutters.

Laser job shops and manufacturers of highly precise metal parts like this machine as it is highly flexible, highly precise and extremely cost efficient.

With Coherent's proprietary software BeamHMI operation of Beam-Series laser cutting machine is extremely easy. With only a few clicks a part program is selected from a network, loaded into the CNC and cut easily by only pushing Start. All cutting parameters come with the selected part program. This guarantees perfect cutting results on the first attempt.

All machines come with powerful CAD/CAM software that allows to import many different types of graphic files (dxf, jpg, bmp, hpgl, G-code...) and to easily generate new files. For cutting and engraving within one part program up to ten different laser parameter sets can be selected from a comprehensive material database.


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