Offsite open house during D2P 2017 delivers the laser processing goods
This past week, I attended the Design to Part (D2P) show in Marlborough, MA. Industry giant IPG Photonics has a number of buildings located within a mile or so of the conference venue, and they took the opportunity to host an open house both days to showcase their latest offerings.
D2P is a smaller regional show and there are a number of such events around the country. They are generally small enough that one can go through them in a couple of hours. Most of the exhibitors offering laser material processing were using either fiber lasers or CO2 lasers, so there wasn't much going on in the UV or ultrashort-pulse (USP) space. These shows, besides being convenient, offer the opportunity to meet with a lot of people that do not get the chance to go to the bigger, national venues—like the people actually operating the machines. The show started at 9 a.m. and the first hour was pretty slow (but a good time to talk to vendors before the crowd arrived). After 10 a.m., the floor got pretty crowded (it is a little tightly packed and a bit difficult to move when the crowds arrived). I am not sure about the afternoon attendance because I went to the IPG Photonics open house from noon to 2 p.m.
IPG Photonics invited show attendees to visit their Materials Processing Systems open house, located within a newly occupied extensive engineering development and manufacturing center in Marlborough, MA.
Attendees were offered demonstrations on the LaserCube, the company's small-format flat bed cutter, and the family of multi-axis products, as well as given a tour of the systems' final assembly and test area.
The LaserCube is designed for cutting metals up to 0.25in. thick, with users able to select lasers from 500W up to 4kW to suit the application. Leveraging the company's experience in precision machining, the LaserCube offers an optional vision recognition system for matching cut-position on pre-processed or marked parts.
The Multi-axis product family has three base platforms, designated Standard, Compact, and Micro, able to handle different-sized parts. The machines provide up to 4 axes of synchronized motion, and can be paired with the company's lasers and process heads for welding, cutting, drilling, or cleaning applications.
The Marlborough facility will also be the home of the company's East Coast systems applications development and demonstration facility, with several large robotic laser work cells currently under construction. IPG Photonics expects the new demonstration facility to be fully open to customers in 2018. For more information, please visit www.ipgphotonics.com/en/products/laser-systems.
More blogs will be forthcoming over the next couple months as the fall travel continues.
Finally, if you missed the Laser Focus World webcast by Dr. Sterling Backus on femtosecond lasers, it is archived here.
I am always interested in hearing your thoughts concerning laser micromachining, the laser industry, comments on entrepreneurial endeavors, etc. AND … we are always looking for fresh, publishable material. Please feel free to contact me at [email protected].
Ron Schaeffer
Ron Schaeffer, Ph.D., is a blogger and contributing editor, and a member of the Laser Focus World Editorial Advisory Board. He is an industry expert in the field of laser micromachining and was formerly Chief Executive Officer of PhotoMachining, Inc. He has been involved in laser manufacturing and materials processing for over 25 years, working in and starting small companies. He is an advisor and past member of the Board of Directors of the Laser Institute of America. He has a Ph.D. in Physical Chemistry from Lehigh University and did graduate work at the University of Paris. His book, Fundamentals of Laser Micromachining, is available from CRC Press.