Founded on 30-years of experience in supplying industrial CO₂ Laser systems and with more than 20,000 systems installed worldwide FANUC now offers a complimentary range of advanced CW Fiber Lasers.

FANUC FF Series Fiber Lasers deliver exceptional performance with the same reliability that FANUC end-users have come to expect from the industry’s leader in CNCs and robotic automation. FANUC fiber lasers are ideally suited to high-speed cutting of thin to medium sheet metal, with a range of 500W to 6kW continuous-wave, multimode oscillators operating at NIR wavelength of 1070 nm. The ingenuity of the FANUC oscillator design lends itself to easy integration of FANUC advanced CNCs and servo drive systems. FANUC Fiber Laser is not limited to FANUC CNCs and can be controlled by General Automation PLC’s and motion control systems. Conversely, the FANUC 30i-LB LASER CNC and Alpha-i Series rotary and linear servo-drive systems are available as advanced motion-control platforms for most leading third-party laser oscillators.

The versatility of the FANUC FF Series Fiber Laser opens a wide field of laser processing possibilities, from regular metal-plate and complex 5-axis tube cutting, welding and additive manufacturing. When combined with the FANUC Series 30i/31i-B Milling, Turning and Punch CNCs, true hybrid mill/turn/punch/laser multi-processing centers become a reality.

To maintain the quality during high-speed laser fly-cutting it is critical to have an oscillator control-system that is tightly synchronized to the machine servo-axes position-loops. Both the FANUC Fiber and CO₂ Laser signals are applied over the FANUC proprietary noise-immune, high-speed optical FSSB (FANUC Servo Serial Bus) servo bus at an update speed of 31.25µs.

FANUC Series 30i/31i-LB CNCs support high-speed processing with a feature-rich suite of intelligent laser control functions help to optimize cut quality. These features include corner edge cut quality control, laser gap control, feed-rate dependent laser power control and minute laser power output control, typically used for laser etching.

FANUC Fiber Laser oscillators are classified as Continuous Wave (CW) lasers, they can also be operated in Pulse Modulation mode at frequencies of up to 32KHz. Pulse frequency and other laser-process parameters are typically preset through CNC program command, E-Word, referencing cutting, piercing, and edge control data-tables specific to material-type and thickness. Not only do these data-tables set Laser Gas, Power, Frequency, and Duty Cycle, they can also set the laser Lower-Pulse Power-Level during laser pulse-modulation. This feature plays an important role in controlling heat propagation during the lasing process.

In real-time operation, the FANUC Laser CNC applies many intelligent features to optimize work throughput, including Contour Control Look-ahead (AICC), Automatic Retract and Approach of Gap Control Axis, and Auto Cutting Restart for interrupted processes. The FANUC predictive Laser and integrated Laser-service diagnostics monitor, Laser Back-Reflection, Assist Gas, Chiller, and Safety I/O, all help maximize machine up-time and optimize machine utilization.

For those laser processing applications where CO₂ is, and will continue to be, a more appropriate laser processing technology, FANUC continues to offer RF-excited fast axial flow CO₂ laser oscillators in five power ratings, 1KW through 6KW. Complimented by high-fidelity power control, high-frequency pulsing and precise axis/laser-synchronization of the 30i/31i-LB CNC, FANUC CO₂ Lasers deliver maximum performance over a wide range of processing applications and material types - from high-speed sheet metal fly-cutting to high-power cutting of steel plate up to 32mm (1¼-inches) thick.

The FANUC 30i/31i-LB Laser CNC supports many CO₂-specific laser technology requirements, like servo-driven Optical Path Length Control, used to maintain an optimal laser beam length between the oscillator and the cutting head. In keeping with the high-speed laser/servo-synchronization demands of the Fiber Laser interface, FANUC now applies the CO₂ Laser communications across its proprietary, noise-immune CNC optical bus FSSB (FANUC Servo Serial Bus) – controlling the servo velocity-loop at rates of up to 31.25 µs and offering performance gains that are essential for true high-speed laser fly-cutting.