High Speed Laser Hole Drilling

[RobF]

We're trying to determine what laser technology is required for the high speed pierecing of thin metals. Our application calls for 0.004" hole in both 6061 and CRS of thicknesses varying from 0.015-0.025.

From several RFQs and respective quotes, we've learned that many if not most laser drilling shops specialize in precision rather than speed. For cost reasons, our application requires us to be able to drill about 800 holes in 1-5 minutes. Currently, the suppliers we've found will need about 40-60 minutes.

Based on several high speed drilling videos, we know the technology exists. A great example is the Macbook unibody video:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=sxbiIpXZfG8#t=2m10s

What type of laser job shop should we be targeting in our search? Are we looking for something like a pulsed YAG laser? Any thoughts on where to find a supplier capable of what we're asking?



Engineering Incredible Solutions

http://www.incredilution.com

 

[unclesyd]

I believe that your hole size and required thickness will fall under the definition of a Pinhole.
Here is one company that might be able to help. I would give them a call.

http://www.precisionpinholes.com/

 

[tygerdawg]

You don't make any comment about the tolerance & edge condition of your required holes. If all you want is to blow a bunch of holes with variable geometry, melted edge-swag, underside blow-through, questionable location tolerances, and heat-affected zone issues, then your problem turns into more of a motion control problem: how fast you can move one or more laser sources of sufficient wattage over one or more parts, or vice-versa.

If you require precision, that's a different story.

You mention laser job shops. My experience is that most of those have the heavy duty flat bed laser systems like Trumpf, Amada, etc. This may not be what you need. You might want to investigate the process engineering of hole creation with equipment like the laser marker suppliers (Keyence, Trumpf, Rofin, etc) and the shops that would have that equipment. Perhaps you could contact any of the Application Engineering departments to do some trials and get some shop recommendations.

And again with process engineering, 800 holes per minute or 160 holes per minute is quite a spread. Just the motion control, even with steerable laser optics, may be tough to do if you have hole quality requirements. You may need to focus on throughput rather than hole-creation cycle time. And that would mean more machines working in parallel.

You must ask your team & customer: what is really required?

TygerDawg
Blue Technik LLC
Virtuoso Robotics Engineering

http://www.bluetechnik.com

 

[RobF]

@unclesyd
Thanks for the info. That company looks like the UK division of Oxford laser for which we've spoken with. It sounds like they do great work but not at a price we can afford to product the product.

@tyerdawg
Thanks for the concern. Our prints have all the details on them including tolerances and finish. Based on the information I've gathered, our requirements are on the light side as far as laser drilling capability. Our step over is only 0.010 and as such motion control will not be an issue. The issue that is a concern is the laser technology. From the several videos I've watched and reading I've done, all aspects of our application are possible. It is just a matter of figuring out who can do it and with what technology.

You have a good suggestion about contacting the laser suppliers. If they're willing to pass on shop recommendations, we'll be on the right track.

Engineering Incredible Solutions

http://www.incredilution.com

 

[Compositepro]

You may want to also consider the chemical etching process. If you make many parts it will probably be far cheaper than laser.

 

[unclesyd]

These sites might be of interest Micro Hole Punching. i can't find the machine I was looking for from xxxxxx Elena of sewing machine fame. They had a hole punching machine used on our Acrylic Fiber Jets. The jets were about a 9" dia with 8000 holes. The machine had a goniometer platform with the punching machine head looking like an overgrown sewing machine. We actually punched some holes in Pt using shoe repair sewing machine.

You might also want to give Najet a call with your task.
They can make small holes very fast.

http://www.schneidermarquard.com/MHPMachine.html

http://www.najet.com/micro/newDefault.htm

http://www.najet.com/microedm/newDefault.htm

 

[flash3780]

Couldn't you just EDM all of the holes at once?

 

[CastMetal]

Repeating one hole .004" diameter .025" deep is difficult with an EDM machine. Repeating 800 holes simultaneously being burned is impractical. That small of a diameter would take closer to 20 min than 5 min to go .025" depth. And lastly you would need a .006 dia endmill .025" LOC to make the electrode described in the OP.

 

[unclesyd]

CastMetal,
Been there and done it. We would perforate/punch 0.001" through 0.008" dia. holes and use shaped electrodes for non-circular cross sections. 0.009" dia. holes we would normally drill, broach, plug the hole, and lap to 0.012" capillary length. I don't know how fast Najet's Micro EDM is but they drill a lot holes in one component.
We were never in a hurry until someone dissolved
about twenty large special spinnerets in toilet bowl cleaner.

http://www.najet.com/microedm/newDefault.htm

 

[unclesyd]

Here is a very article on hole making that gives you the aspect ration of the various processes along with some leads

http://www.ctemag.com/aa_pages/2010/100701_Holemaking.html