June 2007 Edition
Lasers
30 Years of Expertise Pays Off
With three decades of laser experience, a shop owner cashes in on his knowledge
Ron Sanders had 30 years of laser
expertise, which he used to strike
out on his own. Today, his company,
Southwestern Laser, Inc., Tucson, AZ,
profits from his knowledge.
Getting the most out of multi-axis
laser-machining systems has been
Sanders’ passion. For three decades he
has applied laser technology in aerospace,
power generation, and automotive
applications. He contributed to the
development of laser systems for Laserdyne,
a subsidiary of Prima North
America, Chicopee, MA.
Through his experience and input,
he contributed to developing many of
the Laserdyne systems and software
features since the early 1980s, the
same systems he uses for customers
such as Pratt and Whitney Canada
and Solar Turbines.
Sanders involvement with laser
machining began when he managed Laserdyne’s application lab and job
shop for more than 14 years.
A Profit Center
The job shop was a company profit center first designed
to develop, then produce customer parts. It also served as a
research and development facility where machine designs
and software were tested. Sanders contributed to many of
the designs, particularly specifying the critical operating
software for the machines.
“Ron Sanders is what multi-axis laser processing is all
about,” Terry VanderWert, general manager of APA Optics,
Inc., said. VanderWert is a former associate of Sanders, and
APA is a manufacturer of fiber optic products.
“Sanders helped design those BeamDirector systems, so
he knows them from the ground up. He thinks in terms of
multi-dimensions and defines the tooling and software to
do the job.”
First North, then Southwest
When Laserdyne’s job shop was sold in 1995, Sanders went
north and founded Northern Lights Laser in Minneapolis.
But, after a few years, he returned to Tucson where he and
his wife, Victoria, founded Southwestern Laser and found
the weather more clement.
The company’s customers include GE, Sundstrand, Rolls
Royce, Allison, Turbo Tech, and others. With three laser systems
– two Laserdyne 790 BeamDirectors and a Laserdyne
550 BeamDirector – his company has an annual revenue of
more than $2 million.
“It’s all about being able to do difficult laser work that
customers can’t or don’t want to do,” Sanders said.
“We take a project in one day and begin shipping finished
parts the next. We have customers throughout North America
and do work for virtually all of the aircraft engine and power
generation manufacturers. We have complete in-house CAD
capabilities, including conversion of wire frame, solids, and
DXF files to CNC program files. Turnaround time is everything
and we’re able to do difficult work quickly because of
our ability to wring the most out of our systems.”
He Knows the Drill
Wringing the most out of its laser systems is almost an
understatement for Sanders. The company specializes in
processing difficult materials, such as super cobalt, exotic
nickel alloys, and stainless steel. Much of the work involves
creating holes with diameters from 0.003" to 24" in materials
with thicknesses from films to 1". Hole angles range from 10° to 90° for rotary parts up to 48" diameter and preformed
parts up to 24" in diameter and widths to 48".
“Our ‘through the lens’ viewing – magnification is 45
times – produces accurate feature placement on these
parts,” Sanders said. “Laserdyne’s automatic focus control
follows the contour of the part regardless of surface irregularities.
It’s the speed that we’re able to operate at that really
gives us an advantage. We employ percussion, trepanning,
and fire-on-the-fl y techniques for drilling effusion holes
in the preformed parts. From one hole to thousands in a
single part, we have the equipment and know-how to do it
cost-effectively.”
Produced at the rate of one part per second, Southwestern
Laser cuts 0.050" rounds from 6"-long stainless steel wire.
Used in a confidential military application, these parts have
smooth, square surfaces part-to-part and are accurate to
±0.0002". Produced in quantities of 3,000, a part run barely
fills a thimble.
In contrast to these minute parts are 4'×4'×0.050" stainless
steel panels drilled with 11,000 holes per square inch.
Each 0.005" hole is percussion drilled on 0.010" centers.
Each hole is drilled twice, the second pass cleans out debris
from the first, with each finished hole completed in less than
a second.
“Repeatability – within 0.0001" – of the machine really
comes into play on work like this,” Sanders said. “Accuracy
has to be throughout the entire work envelope, not just in a
sweet spot of the envelope.”
Accuracy, Accuracy, Accuracy
Sanders says his two 790 BeamDirectors achieve volumetric
accuracy equivalent to coordinate measuring machines.
Like CMMs, the accuracy is attained in the system’s axis
straightness, squareness, and rigidity.
“Positioning accuracy is a cumulative result of many factors
working together that effect the overall system’s accuracy and
the quality of the parts produced,” Sanders said.
Laserdyne www.rsleads.com/706mn-205
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