Page 20 - MetalForming June 2014

Energy Savings Convince Management of the
Benefits of Fiber Lasers
A custom fabricator conducts a power-consumption runoff
pitting a CO2 laser vs. a fiber laser, cutting steel and aluminum sheet. The stunning results convinced management that the relatively
new fiber-laser technology was well worth the investment.
BY BRAD F. KUVIN, EDITOR
Three new CO2 laser-cutting machines joined the ranks at cus- tom metal fabricator Reflex Industries, Elkhart, IN, in 2008. That’s when the fabricator, born just nine years earlier, moved from its original 70,000-sq.-ft. shop to a 125,000-sq.-ft. plant. Then, still riding a wave of rapid growth, Reflex added (in 2010) its fourth 4000-W CO2 laser-cutting machine to its stable; it also operates 1500- and 2500-W CO2-laser cutting machines. Along the way, since 2012 Reflex, a sup- plier to the recreational-vehicle, travel- trailer and utility-truck industries, among others, also has added four new press brakes and three turret presses.
Its latest laser acquisition, though, has become the apple of engineering manager Chris Heffner’s eye: a 2.5-kW fiber-laser cutting machine. The side- loading setup, from Cy Laser, Geneva, IL, provides a maximum cutting-feed rate of 1200 in./min., positioning accu- racy of ±0.001 in., and can carve through carbon steel to 0.70 in., stain- less steel to 0.32 in. and aluminum to 0.40 in. Cy recommends the side-load-
Reflex has acquired several pieces of metal-fabricating equipment in recent years, including this Cy Laser 2.5-kW fiber-laser cutting machine. The side-loading dual-table machine design is noted by Cy Laser for its compact footprint, ideal for limited-space applications.
18 MetalForming/June 2014
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ing dual-table machine design, noted for its compact footprint, for limited- space applications.
Along with seven laser-cutting machines, the shop also runs eight tur- ret presses. “These are low-tonnage presses,” Heffner says, “15 to 35 tons. We run all of our really thin-gauge steel and aluminum—12 gauge and lighter— on the turrets, particularly hole-inten- sive work.”
Most of the work Reflex runs on its new fiber laser—and the machine runs around the clock—is aluminum from 0.10 to 1⁄8 in. thick, to support the firm’s market push into the utility-truck mar- ket for end-use OEMs such as FedEx and UPS.
“The 2500-W fiber laser can cut alu- minum faster than the 4000-W CO2 laser can,” Heffner says, “and consume a mere fraction of the energy.”