Lincolnshire, IL - GF AgieCharmilles has taken the wraps off what it says is the largest laser-texturing machine on the market, a 5-axis machine capable of processing a component as big as 3 × 4 m and 18 tons.
The Laser 4000 5Ax sports what the comapny says is "a completely new mechanical design" where the 4th and 5th axes are attached to the Z-axis head, so all the machine's axes can move around the large component to texture on all sides if needed. The system also manages 3D distortion of texture and texture direction related to part shape. The system includes onboard machining strategies to ensure optimal performance, best material removal rate, and accurate reproduction of the intended texture.
GF AgieCharmilles says that material texturing with lasers achieves 30-50 layers of etching, vs. 3-5 for chemical etching, allowing more creativity in part design across a wide variety of materials including graphite, aluminum, copper, steel, carbide, brass, and ceramics. It is also a pollutant-free operation producing no fluids, slurry or chips, and in vacuum guarantees a clean operation by automatically extracting any dust particles produced during the process.
