Technical Manufacturing Glossary

Contents

• LASERS

• PRESS BRAKES

• FINISHING, DEBURRING & GRINDING

Taken from https://www.mcmachinery.com/

Ytterbium (e-tur-bium)

• The most common Gain/active media in manufacturing fiber lasers today.

Gain, Active media, laser crystal

• When generating the correct wavelength for fiber laser processing (1.064 micron) an active media is required release the needed photons to do the actual cutting.

• Think of gain or active media as the laser gas equivalent to Co2.

Semi Conductor laser: Term often used to describe diode based lasers.

Pump source or pump light

• All fibers lasers use a light source. In solid state lasers the diodes or flash lamps are a “pump source”. This “light source” is then amplified and manipulated to be used for the application.

The “disk” in disk lasers refers to the ytterbium disk (active media) that’s located in the resonator. Very similar to YAG rod technology

Solid State

• Refers to the aggregate state of the gain media. (the material that is being excited is “solid” and not gas or liquid.

• In solid state lasers pump light can come from sources other than single diodes like flash lamps or diode stacks.

BPP (Beam Product Parameter)

• Is an industry standard for establishing the quality of the beam measures in mm mrad.

• This measurement is a combination of beam radius and beam divergence.

Beam Divergence

• Is the measured rate at which the beam expands from its narrowest point or “waistline”.

Beam homogenization

• A term used to describe the process of creating a laser beam with uniform power across the profile of the beam.

Collimation- A term used to describe the process of making rays of light parallel when exiting an optic.

Emitters or diodes- Industry terms for the “source” of light. Think LED lights.

Passive Cooling- Term used to describe a cooling process in which pressurize water is NOT needed.

Multimodal and single modal- Terms used to describe light wave lengths, In short- Multi-mode beam can only be approximately collimated and focused. Single-mode beam can be collimated and focused to a theoretical limit that allows efficient propagation of laser beam over large distances without losses and maintaining a very tight focus.

CW or continuous wave- Term used to describe the operating state of a laser. “The beam is always on”.

QCW- quasi continuous wave- Term used in some lasers, means that its pump source is pulsed on for short periods at a higher current, which are short enough to reduce thermal effects significantly, but still long enough that the laser process is close to its steady state.

Bragg Grating- fiber Bragg grating (FBG) is a microstructure typically a few millimeters in length that serves as a type of optical reflector.

DPSS- acronym for “diode pumped solid state” term sometimes used to describe fiber lasers.

Taken from https://www.mcmachinery.com/

K Factor – Ratio of the position of the neutral axis to the MT.

Bend Deduction – The difference between the sum of the flange lengths (from the edge to the apex) and the initial flat length.

Bend Allowance – The length of the arc of the neutral line between the tangent points of a bend in any material.

BDC – The position of the brake when it is fully closed into the die (also known as shut height) differs with each die set.

TDC – The position of the press brake when its opened to its maximum height (compliment to BDC).

Day Light – The maximum open height a brake can achieve.

Gibb – Also called ram slides a mechanical assembly to control the beam motion.

Pinch point – The location the punch touches the work piece and begins to apply tonnage.

Deflection – The deformation caused by the force generated to bend a work piece between the upper and lower beams.

Throat – The depth of the press brake before the vertical supports limit flange length.

Taken from https://timesaversinc.com/

De-Burring

Customers looking to De-Burr will have a burr from a Laser, Plasma, Oxy-Fuel Torch, or a Punch/Shear. Laser, Plasma, and Oxy- Fuel burrs are generally larger, fused, vertical burrs (melted material that isn’t fully removed during the cutting process, which then re-hardens on the surface/edge of the part). This extra material needs to be ground off (flush to the surface of the mate- rial) first; this is done with a belt head. to some customers, this part would now be “De-Burred” (Using a single belt head). How- ever, this will not be acceptable to most customers. Grinding the vertical burr off leaves a Lateral Burr (the edges are still sharp). These edges need to be dealt with using 1 or 2 Barrel Brushes, a Rotary Brush, or a Disc. Machine choice is largely de- pendant on customer requirements.

Belt:

One belt is adequate if the final finish isn’t an issue. Two belts are recommended if the customer requires a nice final finish. The burr tends to damage the first abrasive belt, which will cause streaking on the surface of the part.

Barrel Brush:

Generally made of a Non-Woven (Scotchbrite) abrasive, these brushes run either with or against the feed direction of the machine (which means the brush is only effective on the leading or trailing edges of the parts being processed). One brush can only De-Burr 50% of a part. If this isn’t adequate, two counter rotating brushes need to be used (after the cus- tomer feels the difference, they usually opt for using two brushes).

Disc:

A Disc uses a round Non-Woven (Scotchbrite) pad mounted parallel to the conveyor belt. The parts being processed convey under the rotating disc. These parts are de-burred from multiple directions as they convey under the disc. This is the ideal machine for the Aerospace industry since it can de-burr cladded Aluminum parts without removing the clad- ding. The disc also does not leave linear lines, which is a re- quirement in most Aerospace applications.

Rotary Brush:

A Rotary Brush uses strip abrasives spinning at high rates of speed to de-burr and soften the edges of parts. This ma- chine does a fantastic job of removing any sharpness a part may have. The RB is not aggressive enough to remove a large burr, so the customer’s parts will dictate weather a belt head is required first. This machine is also able to soften the edges of parts that are galvanized, claded, or have laser film (as long as it is good quality laser film) without harming the coatings. This machine produces a non-directional scratch pattern as well (almost looks like a Random Orbit scratch pattern, but will not pass as one).

Slag Grinding:

Slag Grinding applications are mainly plate steel that has a large build-up of sla@dross on the edges (usually from Oxy- Fuel as well as some Plasma). These are usually machine specific applications.

Edge Rounding:

Sometimes a customer will only be concerned about getting “the maximum edge rounding possible”. On very thin mate- rial, this is done using a Brush or Disc. Anything thicker than about 12 Gauge (0.105”) will have better results using a Rotary Brush.

Types of Finish:

• Paint Adhesion/Roughing: Generally a single head belt running a coarse abrasive

• Grained Finish: Between 1 and 4 Belt Heads (# of heads dependent on targeted budget and throughput)

• Brushed Finish: Mixture of 1-3 Belt Heads followed by 1 or 2 Brush Heads

• Random/Non-Directional Finish: No linear lines (Applicable to Disc or Rotary Brush)

• Target Surface Roughness: 1 to 4 heads (generally all belt heads, but may need to add a brush at the end depending on requirements). These applications usually have a target Ra or Microlnch (pin) value.