How Can You Prevent Laser Cutting Machine Head Collisions?

[Bluces]

Hi there,

I recently purchased a 3000W YiHai Laser Tube Cutting Machine for processing H-beam steel, but I feel uneasy as a first-time user. My biggest concern is accidentally crashing the laser head during operation—it’s a costly component, and I’m still learning the machine’s nuances. H-beams’ uneven surfaces and alignment challenges heighten this anxiety. Are there specific collision-avoidance protocols, sensor calibrations, or software safeguards I should prioritize? I’d hate to risk damage due to rookie mistakes. Any guidance on setup best practices or real-time monitoring tips would ease my mind!

Thanks,
Bluces

 

[IRstuff]

I would think there's software for this sort of thing. Milling machines would have the same sort of need and there's no way that an milling machine operator is going to do that sort of thing manually.

 

[ghostdigital]

I elevate my laser head high and run the program with laser power off and observe the travel.

This is a good idea on the first setup and cut for anything you CNC program.

 

[BrianPetersen]

CNC equipment in general has limited idiot-proofing. It might stop you running the tool out of bounds of the machine itself, but it has no idea where you've put clamps, fixtures, or parts of the workpiece other than whatever you are directly working on.

+1 on the post above. Step through any first-run program slowly in manual mode, if possible with the expensive bits of the tooling not installed and no workpiece in place (obviously laser power off). Then do it again with the tooling in position (but laser power off). Then again with the workpiece in place. Then do it again in auto but at low speed (laser power still off) with your finger over the e-stop while you watch. If the later part of your program is contingent upon having earlier steps properly completed ... guess what, you get to debug and complete this for the prerequisite steps, then do it again for the later steps. Fun.

Same thing goes for CNC machines, robots, etc. They're all dumb, and try to follow your instructions to the letter ... including smashing into themselves or the fixture or the workpiece, whether or not you knew that's what you were telling it to do. Anything you can touch, you can smash into.

 

[mfgenggear]

CNC equipment in general has limited idiot-proofing. It might stop you running the tool out of bounds of the machine itself, but it has no idea where you've put clamps, fixtures, or parts of the workpiece other than whatever you are directly working on.

+1 on the post above. Step through any first-run program slowly in manual mode, if possible with the expensive bits of the tooling not installed and no workpiece in place (obviously laser power off). Then do it again with the tooling in position (but laser power off). Then again with the workpiece in place. Then do it again in auto but at low speed (laser power still off) with your finger over the e-stop while you watch. If the later part of your program is contingent upon having earlier steps properly completed ... guess what, you get to debug and complete this for the prerequisite steps, then do it again for the later steps. Fun.

Same thing goes for CNC machines, robots, etc. They're all dumb, and try to follow your instructions to the letter ... including smashing into themselves or the fixture or the workpiece, whether or not you knew that's what you were telling it to do. Anything you can touch, you can smash into.

Good post Brian
OP
There is an old saying measure 3 times cut once.
Have a decent cnc program master cam or equivlant. Run it in the program.
Hire a setup guy to help program and run several projects. Boy it really helps
Us the override switch and turn down the feeds and speeds to crawl. And stand next to the power stop.
Run it with out tooling or parts as Brian said.
Again Hire some one to help tool proof
For a while. It really helps.

 

[3DDave]

In the case of a laser head I am surprised that they don't simply have a small cage around them with an aperture for the laser that can stop the movement when there is contact. It could use MEMS accelerometers to detect the spike from a collision and be sized with enough clearance to stop the machine at some design speed. Regular CNC can't really manage that as the cutting takes place with the same tool that needs protection, but the basic operation of a laser doesn't have that limitation.