LASER MICROMACHINING SYSTEM IN-LINE WITH A STAMPING PRESS

摘要

A first portion of a continuous material strip is indexed through a stamping press and the stamping press is cycled so as to undertake a stamping operation on a section of the material strip during each cycle. A length of the continuous strip is accumulated in an accumulator either upstream or downstream of the stamping press. A second portion of the strip is continuously fed at a non-zero speed through a laser micromachining station positioned such that the accumulator is between the stamping press and the laser micromachining station. The speed of the second portion of said strip is controlled so that this speed is constant for at least a portion of each cycle of the stamping press and so that the average speed of the first portion of said strip through the stamping press is equal to the average speed of the second portion of the strip through the laser micromachining station. A laser of the laser micromachining station irradiates the second portion of the strip while the speed of the second portion of said strip is constant. The timing of the laser processing event within the cycle of the stamping press may be such that the laser processing event occurs at a time when the ram of the stamping press is furthest away from actual material stamping event in order to avoid the deleterious effects of stamping vibration on the laser processing quality and reliability of the laser micromachining system.