In a wide range of applications for surface treatment laser technology is technically superior to conventional technology. One problem that inhibits the increased use of these applications in industry are cost and process stability. The cost of lasers is declining, but today and for the next few years, they will still be mentionable.
The costs for a complete machine with multi-axis CNC, laser, filler material supply, housing, security functions and other items of a modern work place easily reach 1,5 Mio $. The economical investment of this money limits laser applications to a small field of applications in industrial use. The applications must have a high added-value for the laser treatment, and/or the laser machine must be used for mass-production. Mass-production, in general, calls for fully automated laser machines for tool repair jobs.
Solutions to realise such an economical and reliable laser machine in tool repair are presented in this presentation. The solutions refer especially to combined CNC-code generation, laser process control and a compact machine.