Laser machine manufacturer Arnold is your expert for laser systems
Laser machines from Arnold - more than standard
A wide range of requirements and a wide variety of processes, especially in laser technology, often require solutions that can only be offered to a limited extent or not at all with standard systems.
Custom laser machines to realize is the specialty of Arnold Ravensburg. Most of the systems that we have supplied are laser welding machines. Other systems with applications such as laser cutting, laser deposition welding, laser hardening and even laser polishing were developed and put into operation by our company.
Various additional processes with solutions developed in-house such as pressing stations, ultrasonic testing units, automation solutions, brushing stations and others then form a complete production line together with laser welding.
Complex laser systems according to customer requirements
Advantages of Arnold Ravensburg
- Integration of all common laser beam sources
- Beam guides and optics for CO2 and solid-state lasers
- Complete solutions including automation
- Plant concepts for several laser processes
- Contact persons and participants in funded research projects
- Laser systems since 1985 - manufactured and developed in Ravensburg - in use worldwide
Laser welding system
Whether gear wheel, differential, shaft, vibration damper, rotor shaft, die-cast aluminum, copper, electromobility components.
All this is possible with our flexible laser welding systems. Various systems are available for different component sizes and cycle time scenarios. In order to achieve the best possible process quality for our customers, we are able to integrate all technologies available on the market such as fiber, disc, diode lasers and CO2 lasers into our systems.
Welding optics, scanners and wobble optics are available as process optics.
Clamping technology and automation are developed by us on a project-specific basis and supplied with the turnkey systems.
3D laser center flex cell
Our flex cells are as flexible as a Swiss army knife. With 3 - 7 axes and travel distances from 750x250x250mm to 1200x1200x750mm in the linear axes as well as rotary swivel axes for optics and components, there are almost no limits to the applications.
Processes such as welding, cutting, soldering, polishing, hardening, LMD are exemplary applications on the laser cell.
The use of several different lasers, some of which are integrated at the same time, make the flex cell not only a flexible production system but also the ideal solution for your application laboratory.
LDRS system
Arnold an excellent laser system manufacturer
Arnold Ravensburg is according to the Quality management system ISO 9001 certified. In this way we guarantee our customers a high standard of all services and products.
That means largely trouble-free systems with maximum availability as well as turnkey solutions and processes.
Frequently asked questions about Arnold laser systems
What is a laser welding system?
The core components of a laser welding system are:
A laser as an energy supplier to reach the melting point of the components to be connected, suitable clamping devices and NC-controlled machine kinematics to control the course of the laser welded connection.
In our laser systems, the laser radiation is focused on a specific point with an in-house developed optic. This point is in the immediate vicinity of the abutting edge, i.e. the connection point of the components to be welded. The exact position of the focus in relation to the workpiece surface (above or below the surface) is an important parameter affecting the weld joint. The focus point in laser welding has a typical diameter of a few tenths of a millimeter. This results in very high energy concentrations in the focal point, especially since the laser power in our welding systems is several kilowatts. This results in a rapid increase in temperature at the connection point of the components to be welded, which leads to the formation of a melt. Due to the rapid cooling of the weld seam, a hard weld zone usually develops, which loses toughness depending on the material
The flexible Arnold laser welding systems from Ravensburg enable the processing of various components, including those used in electromobility, including gear wheels, differentials, shafts, vibration dampers, rotor shafts, die-cast aluminum and copper components. Depending on the component size and cycle time requirements, we offer various system options. In order to guarantee optimal process quality for our customers, we integrate all common laser technologies such as fiber, disk, diode and CO2 lasers into our systems.
Various optical systems are available for the welding process, including welding optics, scanners and wobble optics. We develop and deliver project-specific clamping technology and automation solutions as part of our turnkey systems.
What is a laser cutting machine?
A laser cutter uses a focused laser beam to make precise and controlled cuts in various materials. The system usually consists of a high-performance laser, appropriate optics for focusing the laser beam, machine kinematics suitable for laser cutting and an NC control. Most laser cutting systems are 2D systems, 3D laser cutting systems for more complex component geometries are of course also available in a wide variety of designs.
With laser cutting, the laser beam is directed at the material to be cut. By bundling and focusing the laser energy in a small area, the laser beam heats the material very quickly, causing localized melting or vaporization. At the same time, a so-called assisting gas is used to support the cutting process. The gas can remove the molten or vaporized material residue from the kerf and cool the cut area.
Cutting result: The controlled cutting process of the laser beam creates a precise cutting edge with minimal heat influence. The cut quality depends on various factors such as the laser setting, the material type and thickness, and the speed and precision of the movement.
What is the speed of a laser cutting machine?
The speed is an essential parameter in laser cutting (incidentally also in laser welding) and depends on various factors. These include the type of material to be cut, the thickness of the material, the type of laser and the quality of the cut desired.
In general, it can be said that laser cutting machines work very efficiently and have a high cutting speed. With thin sheet metal, for example, cutting speeds of over 100m/min can be achieved. Further advances have also been made in recent years in terms of sheet metal thicknesses that can be cut, and sheets with a thickness of more than 30 mm can be cut with good quality using beam sources of high beam quality.
How much does a laser system cost?
Laser machines from Arnold are created according to our customers' specifications and range in system complexity from simple individual solutions to complex machining centers or production lines. We design and plan these systems individually at the customer's request and therefore offer based on the requirements.
For which laser applications does Arnold build systems and machines?
In addition to the classic processes of laser cutting and laser welding, the product range of the Arnold company also includes other laser applications such as
LDMRS Process for treating transformer sheets
The Maschinenfabrik Arnold GmbH from Ravensburg, in cooperation with the Fraunhofer IWS from Dresden and well-known laser manufacturers, has supplied and installed systems for the so-called domain refinement of grain-oriented (GO) electrical steel in the steel industry.
The development of the patented scanner-based beam deflection took place together with the Fraunhofer IWS and differs from the conventional polygon wheel-based system solutions essentially by the uninterrupted processing of the sheet width of up to 1200mm in one step, the speed-independent processing with constant parameters up to 160m/min conveyor speed and the use of standard components and thus high system availability.
The laser treatment of grain-oriented (GO) electrical steel, which is carried out vertically to the strip running across the sheet, causes a so-called domain refinement of transformer sheets, which ultimately improves the electrical efficiency of power distribution transformers and thus enables corresponding energy savings. The use of high-performance lasers with a high beam quality (initially CO2 lasers, today mainly fiber lasers) and the use of very fast-moving scanner mirrors (spot speed up to 300m/sec) enables the efficient and fast processing of electrical steel for transformers with nested cores. Work is in progress on the development of (heat-resistant) laser processing for so-called wound transformers.
laser cladding
When deposition welding (according to DIN 8580) is done with a filler material (wire or powder) builds up a volume, usually in the form of a top layer to the base material.
A highly alloyed one Steel can, for example, be applied to a soft surface and thus serve as surface protection for highly stressed components. In addition to the arc welding process, laser cladding and Plasma powder build-up welding employed.
With the laser systems from ARNOLD RAVENSBURG are almost exclusively made with lasers. There is the possibility of combining the optics and additional components for build-up welding in a standard system with other laser processes as a multifunctional system. The other variant is a series machine exclusively for build-up welding. The Arnold company has such systems in its portfolio, for example for coating brake discs and for plating highly stressed valve surfaces.
Laser polishing and laser deburring
“Polishing with laser radiation is based on remelting a thin surface layer of the workpiece and smoothing the surface as a result of the interfacial tension. The innovation of laser polishing lies in the fundamentally different operating principle (remelting) compared to conventional grinding and polishing processes (removal). Diode-pumped solid-state lasers are generally used for metallic materials. If the surfaces are already slightly rough, e.g. B. after grinding, pulsed lasers with pulse durations of a few 100 ns can be used. If the surfaces are rougher, e.g. B. after milling or additive manufacturing, continuous lasers are used. The depth of remelting is between a few 100 nm when using pulsed lasers and up to 100 μm when using continuous lasers” (source laser brochure ILT, Fraunhofer Aachen)
The laser polishing systems from ARNOLD RAVENSBURG were used for polishing glass as well as metals. The aim is to replace time-consuming manual polishing with a reproducible mechanical process.
Laser hardening
The aim of all hardening processes is a structural transformation of steel and cast iron materials with an increase in strength. Hardening with the laser beam can bring the beam directly to the surfaces to be hardened, so only these areas are stressed. With the alternative method of induction hardening, local hardening is usually not possible and has various disadvantages compared to laser hardening. The distortion of the components is less with laser hardening than with other hardening processes and usually does not require any rework.
Several laser hardening systems from Arnold have been tried and tested in industry and are used successfully in production. In most cases, stressed edges of tools are hardened with the laser process in order to extend the service life of the tools.
