New Software Tool CL WRX Parameter Permits Open Processing of all Parameter Settings
3D metal printing users are accessing process parameters that have been validated on the material side with LaserCUSING machines from Concept Laser. With every machine and every material acquired through Concept Laser, the customer is also provided with one quality parameter and one speed parameter, as far as available, free of charge. Using the CL WRX Control software from Concept Laser, the customer is able to view and vary the most important parameter options. This enables optimum results to be obtained taking account of specific build requirements. But the level of know-how and demands are growing in the sector. Research institutions and experts, in particular from the aerospace sector and medical technology sector, want and need to be able to view and freely vary all parameter characteristics for specific applications. Concept Laser is now offering this target group the new software tool CL WRX Parameter with all the freedoms and configuration options.
Make fine adjustments with the CL WRX Control software With each LaserCUSING machine purchased and for all material purchased through Concept Laser, the customer is also given one quality parameter and one speed parameter, as far as available, free of charge. Whereas the speed parameter focuses primarily on the speed along with good quality, the quality parameter delivers excellent quality with a reduced speed. The user’s application dictates which parameter is used.
But what they both have in common is that with the CL WRX Control software the five most important process settings can be viewed and varied absolutely without any additional costs. The five factors that can be fine-tuned include the following attributes: laser power, scan speed, trace spacing, spot size and offset to original contour. These configuration options enable the user to achieve application-based optimizations for a perfect result.
CL WRX Parameter delivers unlimited freedom
Certain applications, for example the qualification of new materials or products, but also the fabrication of specific geometries require processing and disclosure of all parameter characteristics. These users include research institutions and industrial customers, in particular from the aerospace and medical technology sectors. For these special cases, Concept Laser now also offers the CL WRX Parameter software which enables all parameter characteristics to be viewed and modified as absolute values. In this case, the user is invariably provided with the same tools which the development department at Concept Laser also uses to develop parameters. The software tool can be stored on a PC and can thus be edited directly at an office workstation. For all material acquired from Concept Laser, the customer optionally receives the speed parameter or quality parameter completely, as far as available, open and for individual adjustment. But the user can also purchase the other parameters in each case for a charge.
Intensive training and continuous updates
Before the user can utilize CL WRX Parameter, a license purchase for the software and training from Concept Laser is absolutely essential. During the training, the expert will be specifically shown how to use the tool. The complex relationships between the parameter options will be explained in order to avoid possible damage caused by incorrect settings in subsequent handling. The training will be based on the parameter selected by the customer which it previously acquired from Concept Laser with the machine (speed or quality). The software license is for a limited period of time. Customers of Concept Laser that have entered into a software maintenance contract also receive a free update to their CL WRX Parameter software. This enables them to access experiences from the group of LaserCUSING users and they are always right up-to- date.
Positive feedback from the first group of users
CL WRX Parameter was tested as a pilot ahead of its market launch by selected users. The response was positive across the board. For example, Eric Wycisk, technical director of Bionic Production in Hamburg, says: “CL WRX Parameter gives us the freedom to optimize our additive manufacturing for specific customers and applications and thus exploit the technology to its full potential. This allows us to manufacture products for the medical technology and aviation sectors to the highest quality standards and with qualified processes.”
The patented LaserCUSING ® process from Concept Laser is used to create high- precision mechanically and thermally resilient metallic components. The term “LaserCUSING ®,” coined from the C in Concept Laser and the word FUSING, describes the technology: The fusing process generates components layer by layer using 3D CAD data.
In this process, fine metal powder is melted locally by a high-energy fiber laser. The material solidifies after cooling. The contour of the component is created by redirecting the laser beam using a mirror redirection unit (scanner). The part is built up layer by layer (with a layer thickness of 15 – 500 μm) by lowering the bottom of the build chamber, applying more powder and then melting again.
About Concept Laser GmbH
About LaserCUSING ® in Lichtenfels, Germany is today, unlike almost any other company, one of the real pioneers and key drivers of powder-bed- based laser melting with metals. The technology driver here is the patented LaserCUSING ® process, also referred to as 3D metal printing, which over the course of 15 years has evolved the additive manufacturing of 3D components from a rapid technology to the stage of industrial series production.
When Frank Herzog founded Concept Laser GmbH in Lichtenfels back in 2000, a metal laser melting machine was an entirely unknown variable in the market. How is a 3D shape created from metal powder using a laser? What does 3D printing or a digital process chain mean for manufacturing of the future? The answer was industrial machine technology. Concept Laser unveiled the first machine of this type at Euromold in Frankfurt in 2001. With currently 65 patents granted and about 120 patent applications, Frank Herzog and his workforce of 190 employees continue to champion and develop the LaserCUSING ® process. The company caters to the global market for laser melting machines across all different sectors from sites in Germany, the US and China and through a network of more than 35 distribution and service partners.
Concept Laser’s high quality standards and expertise in processes, applications and materials deliver reliable and cost-effective solutions which prove their effectiveness in everyday production and are primarily aimed at reducing part costs. In addition to the commercial aspects, the process offers a large number of other benefits compared to conventional methods of production. The components are lighter, the designer has new areas of freedom, topology and geometry are optimized, additional functions can be integrated and less raw material is required. This means that components which were previously manufactured using machining processes are now being redesigned to fully exploit the new potential offered by additive manufacturing.
Concept Laser offers a range of small machines (50 x 50 x 80 mm 3 ) right through to the machine with the world’s largest build envelope (800 x 400 x 500 mm 3 ). Machines from Concept Laser equipped with multi-laser technology are among the fastest, safest and highest-quality laser melting machines in the world. About 650 installed machines and prestigious references and projects of this Franconian “hidden champion” around the globe send out a clear message and stand for outstanding technology for the future sealed with the endorsement “Made in Germany.”
For example, today’s aerospace industry, automotive industry, medical technology, dental technology, toolmaking and other sectors focus strategically on 3D metal printing as the economical and high-quality production strategy of the future which embraces the notion of “Industry 4.0.”
