Rofin Hand over the 5,000th CO2 Slab Laser to Daimler

New Laser Power Source for Existing Machine

This Daimler manufacturing facility produces a range of engine and power transmission components including motors, gears and axles. The plant has a history of investigating, developing and implementing new technologies, clearly demonstrated by the 18 Rofin CO2 slab laser systems which have been welding gear components here for many years. The new 5kW DC 050 laser will be used within an existing two-station welding machine, built by the German company Arnold, to weld planet carrier components.

This laser processing system, originally built in 1997, was moved to the works in Stuttgart-Zuffenhausen in 2001 and configured for its new task. Since then the system has been welding planet carriers for the all wheel component used in the 7G-TRONIC - 7-speed automatic gearbox. After almost 10 years of trouble free operation the decision was made to upgrade the laser beam source.
The long-term and positive experience gained from their existing slab lasers, led Daimler to purchase yet another Rofin laser, this time the DC 050. With exceptional beam quality of K ≥ 0.9, DC Series lasers are ideal for the deep welding required in gear manufacturing and allow processing with minimal heat input, ensuring little or no distortion of the work-piece. Over the years, the process development and production groups within Daimler have acquired extensive knowledge of these well-established laser beam sources, which are used for welding and cutting applications world-wide. The decision to continue with Rofin, as the supplier of the DC 050 slab laser, meant that no additional application development or training exercises were required and production could start immediately following the installation of the new laser beam source within the existing machine.

Using the 7G-TRONIC gearbox component produced on this machine, Daimler engineers have also successfully found a way to increase traction and at the same time reduce the additional fuel consumption when using all wheel drive, from the typical 1.0 litre to 0.4 litres per 100 km travelled.
The delivery of this 5,000th slab laser to Daimler is just one of many successful milestones achieved by Rofin over the years with the diverse range of lasers which they manufacture and the many markets which they serve.