Laser Welding Cobot
A fiber laser welder paired with a collaborative robot arm
One complete fiber laser cobot system: handheld welding speed, fully automated
Ascent Lasers Pro supplies a high-power fiber laser welder and a collaborative robot arm as one system, with a light-tight safety enclosure rated Class 1. Guide the torch into place by hand and begin production on the first day.
- Up to 4x the welding speed of traditional TIG
- Very small heat-affected zone, so thin metals do not warp
- Clean welds that need no grinding afterward
- Joins dissimilar metals, for example aluminum to copper or steel to brass, with the right process development
- Drag-and-drop programming with no code. Weld paths are taught by hand.
- Mobile cart with a built-in Class 1 laser enclosure
What the Laser Welding Cobot does
The Laser Welding Cobot combines a collaborative robot arm (a cobot) and a high-power fiber laser welder. You buy it as one integrated system. The laser welder, robot arm, controls and safety enclosure all come from Ascent Lasers Pro.
The fiber laser gives you welding speed and precision. The cobot gives you flexibility and simple operation. Traditional industrial robot cells are rigid. They need complex programming, and their price can run to hundreds of thousands of dollars. With the cobot, your operator guides the laser torch into position by hand, and production can begin on the first day.
How it works
- Teach by hand. You program a weld path by moving the arm into position yourself. The software needs no coding and uses drag and drop, so no robotics background is needed.
- One set of controls. A single teach pendant runs the arm and the laser power source. Some other systems use separate controls for each.
- Focused heat. The laser puts its energy into a small, tightly focused spot. This keeps the heat-affected zone (HAZ) very small.
- Enclosed beam. The built-in laser enclosure contains the beam and gives Class 1 safe operation.
Key features
- Compared with traditional TIG welding, the fiber laser is up to 4x faster. It is also much faster than MIG, so throughput rises sharply.
- The small heat-affected zone prevents the warping and distortion that thin stainless steel and aluminum parts often show.
- Welds come off the line clean and good-looking. You skip the grinding, brushing and other cleanup after welding, which can save hundreds of hours.
- It can join dissimilar metals, for example aluminum with copper or steel with brass, after process development. These pairs are hard to weld with traditional methods.
- Programming needs no code. Most systems use drag-and-drop software on a tablet. A welder with manual experience needs only minutes to learn how to program a complex weld path, simply by moving the robot arm by hand.
- One teach pendant controls both the arm and the laser.
- A mobile cart carries the whole system, including its built-in Class 1 laser enclosure.
Why a laser cobot needs an enclosure
Standard MIG and TIG cobots work beside people with no safety fence. Force-limiting sensors make that possible. Laser welding cobots cannot work that way.
The arm is still collaborative and will not crush anyone. The danger is the fiber laser beam, which is Class 4. A stray reflection lasting a split second can blind a person permanently or cause severe skin burns.
So a fiber laser cobot has to work in a light-tight cell with safety interlocks, or in a separate room built for laser work. This Class 1 setup keeps scattered laser light away from everyone else in the shop. For general guidance, read our laser safety guide.
Flex Lase Cobot Cart
The Flex Lase Cobot Cart is built for high-mix manufacturing. It adds a collaborative robot to a Flex Lase laser system. The design grew out of handheld laser welding and takes it to full automation. If you prefer to weld by hand, see our handheld laser welder.
The operator works from one teach pendant, which controls the robot and the laser source together. You get an efficient welding platform that is ready to program and made for daily production work.
The cart is mobile, so the system can go wherever the work is. Its built-in laser enclosure gives Class 1 safe operation.
Specifications
The brochure page below lists the cobot arm parameters, the optional vision camera and seam tracking system, and the A-STR-AW series laser welding machines. Click the image to enlarge it.
What's included
- The complete system: fiber laser welder, robot arm, controls and laser enclosure on a mobile cart
- On-site setup, professional installation and training for your team
- 2-year warranty on the fiber laser source and 1-year warranty on non-consumable parts and workmanship
- Software updates at no extra cost
- Remote diagnostics and support for life, with AnyDesk remote desktop software pre-installed
- No add-ons or hidden fees in the quoted price. Freight is the only extra cost.
- Service technicians based in Buffalo, Toronto and Kentucky
Typical applications
Fiber laser welding cobots cover the middle ground of fabrication. The cobot is a good fit for job shops and manufacturers that run many different parts in small quantities. Typical work includes:
- High-mix, low-volume production
- Prototype parts
- Thin-gauge sheet metal assemblies made in repeat batches, where the look of the weld is critical
For a quote on the Laser Welding Cobot, contact Ascent Lasers Pro or call 1-800-927-5107 ext. 1008. You can also review our financing options.