XL Precision Technologies Meet the Demand For Micro-Tube Medical Components

New laser welder adds capacity and flexibility

XL Precision Technologies has become renowned for the manufacture of stainless steel tube components and assemblies, producing around 900,000 individual parts each year. To meet the ever increasing demand for these products, the company purchased their second laser welder earlier this year. The new StarWeld Select compliments XL’s existing Rofin laser, which has been in production for over 2 years, and provides not only the much needed additional capacity, but also ultimate flexibility in the way in which the system can be used. Rofin’s StarWeld Select (Fig.1) is an ergonomically designed and fully integrated laser welding system. The system incorporates four high precision axes which can be controlled manually by use of a joystick or operated under full CNC control.

The multi-mode operational capability of the StarWeld Select is particularly suited to the needs of XL Precision Technologies, enabling different techniques to be used for product development, prototyping and full production runs. Used in its simplest form, as a manual welding machine, component sub assemblies can be aligned and tacked manually if required. When used in semi-automatic mode, the system can be operated under joystick control for manual deposit welding or prototyping new and complex welding geometries. The full CNC operational mode provides the functionality required for large batch and continuous production runs.

Micro products present major challenges

Typical examples of medical industry components and sub-assemblies laser welded by XL Precision Technologies include part of a minimal invasive surgery (MIS) procedure instrument (Fig.2). Comprising of 6 individual items – 4 tubes and 2 spacers - the part is produced in two separate stages. The first operation is to circumferentially weld the smaller 1.2mm outside diameter tube, longitudinally to the larger 1.6mm outside diameter tube.

Two sub-assemblies from the first operation are subsequently located in a custom designed fixture, together with the 2 spacers and then laser welded on both sides to complete the assembly. All welding operations on these parts are performed by the StarWeld Select laser under full CNC control. The dimensional tolerance achieved on the finished assembly in this application is +/- 0.030mm

A further example, illustrated in (Fig.3), is an irrigation tube used for operation procedure irrigation fluid vectors. At first glance this might look like a relatively simple part, however with an outside diameter of only 2.0mm and an acute welding angle this is an especially challenging component to produce. The welding operation on this part requires not only accurate positioning but very precise control of the welding parameters and complex component manipulation, all key attributes of the StarWeld Select and instrumental in achieving the desired result.

As an innovative & dedicated company which prides itself on quality & customer care, XL Precision Technologies is already a preferred supplier for major customers in the medical, aerospace, motorsport and marine industries. The addition of this latest Rofin laser welding system will allow XL to continue to help their customers develop products which completely satisfy functional requirements and which can be manufactured accurately with ongoing repeatability