Fiber-laser cutting with NESPERT CAM

The fiber laser cutting CNC machines nowadays achieve incomparably high performance, processing accuracy and cost efficiency.
They cut sheet parts with high laser power – over 8KW up to 60KW, on plates with dimensions up to 2500x12000mm, and on tables with a length of up to 25000mm. More and more often, these machines are equipped with bevel heads and use air as a cutting gas.  
The high laser power enables high-speed cutting of sheet parts of any thickness.
Manufacturers show  cutting regimes with 60KW on sheet parts with a thickness of 100 mm.
The increased cutting speed and reduced kerf size lead to the removal of most of the heat from cutting into the melt.
Therefore, the cutting is characterized by the lowest temperature load on the cut parts and, as a result – the least increase in the size of the parts. 
The constructive innovations in fiber-laser machines place a complex of requirements for the true shape nesting and NC programming software:

For thin sheet metals up to 3mm, with powers up to 5KW, high-speed cutting is performed using the "fly cutting" method.
For larger thicknesses, in NESPERT CAM, high-speed fiber laser cutting means cutting with a common cut.

For small thicknesses, up to 3mm, a cutting with kerf between 0.1 and 0.23mm is programmed with full processing of the parts, and a common cut is programmed without kerf consideration. The error from the imprecise kerf is within the tolerance and consequently has little effect on the accuracy of the parts,

For cutting plates with thickness over 6.8 mm with fiber-laser cutting with powers higher than 5 KW, the kerf is increased significantly with increasing material thickness.

NESPERT CAM allows kerf management in three ways, and always imports parts with "clean" geometry:

Equidistant: NESPERT CAM programs the processing along the center of torch movement. Each path is equidistant to the contours of the part and is calculated by NESPERT CAM. The offset values for each contour type are taken from the system's Technological Datasets Base.

Non-equidistant: NESPERT CAM programs the processing along the contour of each part. An offset for taking the kerf into consideration in the NC program is set by a correction number/layer/technological table. The value of each offset is specified in the corresponding registers of the CNC controller,

Combined: NESPERT CAM programs the processing of the outer contours along the center of torch movement, all other contours including the inner ones programs with offset by a correction number.

Choosing a method for considering the cutting diameter is a matter of accepted and established manufacturing practice to ensure processing accuracy.

Equidistant and combined kerf management in the nesting allows using the full functional capabilities of NESPERT CAM for high-speed cutting and achieving the highest processing accuracy, including universal processing with common cuts, automatic change of machine and the use of special processing methods that require edge burning.

Cutting plates with long lengths requires the CAM systems to work with Usable Remnants (UR).

Their storage and use is a task of increased complexity, depending mostly on the quantities of processed metal per period. NESPERT CAM offers highly developed functionality for working with UR.

NESPERT CAM integrates with NESPERT Manager to manage nesting production preparation.

The pricing of true shape nesting is a task, the complexity of which largely depends on the type and volume of the production orders.

Production according to orders for own products is reduced to resource planning according to the production orders schedule, and the pricing is done by accounting.
Producing orders for external customers requires the fastest and most accurate response to an inquiry in the form of an offer. The increase in inquiries is shifting the burden of true shape nesting from shop floor production to offering in the office.

NESPERT CAM allows the user to choose how orders are priced. Calculations of nesting orders are based on estimates for:
- total length and number of contours of parts by processing type and material, plus consumption estimates by material types, or
- path lengths and number of pierce points by processing type and material, plus material consumption based on rectangular plate blanks, or
- path processing and piercing times, plus material consumption accounting for used plates, scrap, burnout and returned scrap.

NESPERT creates prices and offers with library NESPERT rSales for: Parts from a nesting layout; Job; Order.