Laser/Thermal cutting Training/Education

I'm looking for a training resource for laser and thermal cutting for something beyond operator level manufacturer specific training. Not maintenance training per say, but something like technician level training/education.

WI or surrounding would be great. With the web searching I've done, about all I can find is OEM training or technical school "laser operator" programs, which I'm somewhat dubious about.

Basically, I am looking to develop one or more employees into an in house thermal cutting expert. Someone with the knowledge and abilities to troubleshoot cut quality problems, interface between the offline nesting and operators to achieve better solutions in how we program, and be able to identify when a problem is something requiring maintenance or OEM support intervention.

what brand of laser
what material and thickness
there are a lot of things going on in a laser
beam focus is a biggy
focal point is a factor
is your beam in centert
was at a shop that bought a trumpf
4000 watt
took the week course
turned their info into what was presented to me
and adjusted to it
have a manual and could send you some info
if desired

Sounds as though you have specific problems.Most people I know with lasers,plasma etc manage fine without needing an expert in all aspects of the job.
I would have thought that apart from the more technical side to laser maintenance that it would be more beneficial to improve the expertise of all concerned rather than one person.

hello
just regular shop maintence of a laser
we had 5 different gas banks
plus shop air
3 for the beam itsself
the other 2 assist gasses
low gas pressure was as bad as no gas pressure
made it work weird
there is lens cleaning
which entails disassembling the head
and knowing which end of the lens is up
lenses were $350 apeice at the time
if you screw one up
water maintence
1 tank usrd an aluminum additive
the other a copper
it was all deionized water as well
that we had to test for whatever properties wher specified
then there was waste removal
not the drops from the parts
bust this fine dust that was collected by the laser itsself
from cutting
evry metal is different
and does usually require a little tweaking
in the parameters
its not some bridgeport you turn on and run from wake up
45 minutes to purge the baffles with nitrogen
any air in there they burn up
turn it on
wait till the turbine hits some god awful rpm 75000 comes to mind
its about hour and a half to start cutting
from when you turn it on
i would consider sending someone for the week course on it
we spent 2 days till we touch the machine itsself
if you know what ypur doing they are great
if you dont
downtime and repair is costly
the more people you have in the mix
they should talk amogst themselves on wat was done
keep a record of what was done
to much maintenece is just as bad as to little
its like the 3 stooges making beer
we all put the yeast in
if you have ever seen that episode
hope this helps

Mark McGrath said:

Sounds as though you have specific problems.Most people I know with lasers,plasma etc manage fine without needing an expert in all aspects of the job.
I would have thought that apart from the more technical side to laser maintenance that it would be more beneficial to improve the expertise of all concerned rather than one person.

Click to expand...

I have no problem with divulging expertise shop wide, but what I've found in my experience, is that to do that I need to find one individual (or a small group) who is motivated and ambitious enough to own an area of expertise first, and allow them the freedom they need to transfer that expertise across a department. We're not a union shop, and regardless of management/employee relations, there's always a "shop floor vs. management" culture. Add in to that, that some people simply don't want to think critically about problems or problem solving on the job, they want to be an operator and have everything laid out for them so they can do their job and go home and not have a lot of responsibility outside of that. And I don't have a problem with that. I love guys like that. They make my life as a supervisor easy - until something goes wrong, no matter how minor. Then it becomes my problem to solve for them, and that's not ideal for a number of reasons, but chiefly because I don't work in the area closely enough to have the technical knowledge that an individual like I'm describing, would.

I've had a lot of success with this method of employee development. The coolest part is: No, we don't have any specific problems right now. But that's only because we don't even know what we could be doing better. My past experience with developing employees has shown that they can and will identify areas where we could make improvements, even vast improvements, to our processes, through their advanced knowledge, interest, and freedom from over bearing middle management that doesn't possess the same technological skillset.

The last reason, is that developing employees like this opens doors to them for more advancement in the future. The next time we need a mechanical engineer, or engineering tech, or some position we don't even staff yet, I'd rather be able to point to the guy who's been working on the floor, in our shop culture for ten years, who has shown initiative and the ability to problem solve, as well as commitment to continuous learning, and say, "Why hire outside, when we could put him through school?"

Hachu might want to look into some other lasers. I have only been around a amada. 5 minutes from flipping the isolator switch you can be cutting. No turbines on a amada, just fans. Lenses and such are not something you mess with daily, but just clean occasionally. Eventually they get to stressed or marked and have to be replaced. Insuring the assist gasses have sufficient pressure aint exactly rocket science. Even stirring a cryro tank to boost its pressures darn easy on a good set-up. If its all installed properly its easy to do. Heck i was shown it in under 1/2 hour. Ok i can't trouble shoot per say, but changing nozzles and such is simple enough. Cutting not going well, just look into the book, the amadas come with a book full of settings for beam hight material and power levels. As to emptying the dust extractor ours cleans its own filters and dumps it in a bin in the bottom. Bin has plastic liner, pull out and tie it up + chuck in scrap skip then put a new liner in and clamp it back into place. A three year old could do it if it is not too full - heavy!

If you think running a laser is harder than a Bridgeport your doing something seriously wrong! There's way more ways of stuffing up on a Bridgeport. A Bridgeport won't alarm out when its not happy! If you can use a bridgeport to dril lholes on size and location and are reasonably computer literate you should do just fine with a laser if its like the amada i have been around.

heck if hachu had the 500000 to pay csh for a laser
he would be early retired in alaska not worring about shop
our employer saw a demo like the cycle times
and bought this thing
until than a laser was a movie gimmik or phaser gun in star trek
we had the 1 week course and waited a month for delivery
the girl that went with me to class
turned out to be exceptional at operation and general maintence
we had noone to as you say
heck show me in a half an hour
we had to learn it alone
had jobs handed to us that should not have been on a laser
imagine a slinky
lay it down the long way
turn it into 40 split rings with out making 80 half rings
i in no turn meant running a laser was harder than a bridgeport
ours wasnt a grab a cutter collet it up hit the switch and cut
hell no double cocking the head rotary table
and yes any yahoo can change a nozzle
if all shop would be that easy
wouldnt it be nice
dont know what its like across the pond
but here
we had enviormental tra lala hoops about the dust disposal
in the self cleaning deal
i guess my point was
if tossing a newbie into a beam enviorment
and wanting an expert fast
its alot easier to walk a path that has been walked before
than it is to blaze a trail in unknown jungle
have a good day