New ULS hybrid laser!

[Paul Phillips]

Just saw this email this morning about the new ULS Hybrid laser which "combines multiple laser beams with various wavelengths into a single coaxial laser beam". I read the whitepaper -
http://www.ulsinc.com/downloads/mult...hite-paper.pdf
and while the unique technology looks very intriguing, I think it will take some time to realize what new things are possible with it outside just the few that are mentioned. While I think it would be cool to have one to experiment with, I have the feeling it's not going to be cheap, looks like they are also making it the flagship for "newer-faster-better" hardware as well with new servo motors and drive systems. The other cool feature I would like to see is the new control panel software that will essentially work as a stand alone software that you can use to import .pdf and .dxf files directly to the print driver and be able to manipulate and output, no 3rd party software (Corel Draw etc.) needed! But again it's a cool concept but may not be truly practical for most people, i.e. as a sign shop we still need to have Corel to be able to convert customers non standard files, (think, my niece is taking photoshop in high school, she can make the files for me!)
Some innovative ideas but not sure they have an appeal to a broad market.
Link to brochure.
http://www.ulsinc.com/downloads/spec...S_Platform.pdf
Also, can one of you engineers explain what the difference is in the 9.3 vs. 10.6 co2 wavelengths as far as what the 9.3 is used for, what is the practical difference the end user?

[Dave Sheldrake]

tum tee tum...best way to explain it......

Materials absorb laser radiation at differing degrees, steel for example is highly reflective in the 10,600 wavelength whereas wood isn't. You hit a piece of steel with a 10,600 and it will reflect most of that power away from it, using the shorter wavelength (but higher frequency) of something like a YAG or Fiber the steel becomes less reflective and the laser will mark/cut it.

It's all about how much radiation (Laser power) you can get in to the target material, the more you get in, the more molecular vibration is causes ergo the more "heat" (Laser beams have no effective temperature, they induce heat in the target)

For the end user....well my opinion is...it's a gimmik, it has been possible to combine multiple different wavelengths for many years using VERY simple means such as PBS cubes (a beam splitter used in reverse) and/or TWO beams of the same wavelength (using the same method).

What they are doing is phase stacking, meaning they are piling two wavelengths on top of each other in one beam, seeing how those wavelengths have very different properties I don't see the benefit unless you have duel material items such as a steel frame round a wooden picture that requires both the be marked or cut at the same time.

It's not even a concept as such, the average laser pointer enthusiast has been doing the same thing for many years with home user tools and a tiny budget to get beam colours that aren't available off the shelf. (we are talking under 50 bucks kind of budget)

To me it's all about marketing, "We have a duel wavelength laser" hoping that the average end user will see it as some huge development (based on the fact few laser users understand the physics behind the machinery they use) and will rush out to buy something that in my opinion has very limited uses.

Sum up? expensive gimmik with limited use as a high power 10,600 will do anything a duel system can do.

cheers

Dave

[Paul Phillips]

Thanks Dave, that helps me understand better how it works but I was wondering what the 9.3 wavelength is typically used for since the standard on most of the mainstream machines tends to be 10.6 (from what I understand). I would tend to agree with you about it being mostly hype since they only offer 2 examples on their website, however, I think it will be interesting to see what uses people come up with over time such as being able to get various effects like the deep yet white/frosted letters on extruded Acrylic.
I am quite interested to see how the new machine configuration compares to Trotec as they are marketing it as a complete new model (XLS) with high speed servo motors, no hard numbers though on IPS. Probably all a bunch of marketing hype but time will tell.
I have to see if I can get to the sign expo in Las Vegas in October and see one in person.
I'm actually more excited about the driver/software update.

[Dan Hintz]

Expanding upon Dave's "Materials absorb laser radiation at differing degrees"...

The IR wavelengths of our CO2 cartridges are best used against organic materials... wood, plastics, etc. 9.3um is particularly effective against certain plastics (for example). Polyamides (think flex circuits) are a prime candidate for 9.3um systems, as are other similar materials. There have been several projects come across my desk that would have used a system at that wavelength quite well... but we work with what we have.

[John Warren]

"combines multiple laser beams with various wavelengths into a single coaxial laser beam"

So does the red dot pointer on my Speedy 100 if I'm not mistaken...

[Dave Sheldrake]

A beam can be made coaxial without actually combining it John, what is often called a beam combiner on a laser machine is just a beam *aligner* with one part of the mirror being reflective while allowing another wavelength to pass through. To *combine* actual beams you have to stack the phases or they cancel each other to some extent.

cheers

Dave

[Mike DeRegnaucourt]

After watching a video of this hybrid laser from ULS, it appears that it requires swapping the laser module in the back of the unit each time you want to use a different wavelength laser. The laser units are self contained and share a standard connector plug in the rear of the machine. The machine itself does not appear to have multiple lasers contained in it simultaneously.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=XdubUums-wc

[Dave Sheldrake]

Wasn't this the big announcement ULS touted earlier this year?

Basically a laser machine chassis with semi hot swap sources? (pre-aligned cartridges) if so as I recall it was hugely expensive (around the price of a basic Mazak industrial) and is just a way to have 3 laser machines that only take up the floor space of 1.

Pretty much all of the industrial lasers have quick swap resonators (that can be obtained in different wavelengths) other than saving money on the purchase price of 3 machines Vs 3 sources and some floor space I'm not seeing any benefits (and certainly not at the prices that were kicking around)

cheers

Dave

[Ruben Salcedo]

Mike,

that is a different machine that laser system was intruduced like 2 or so years ago, with the Hybrid you don't need to interchange sources.

[Kevin Gregerson]

Since you all asked, here is a better idea of what this system does.

This model shifts the focal planes of the 10.6µ, 9.3µ and 1.06µ wavelengths so that they are all matched. Matching the focal planes allows the mixing of virtually infinite combinations of these three wavelengths and power levels into hybrid laser energy, which can be applied to materials simultaneously or sequentially at a pixel by pixel level. This gives users the ability to process a wider array of organic, inorganic, and composite materials in one laser system.

Basically, now you can process materials that mix the organic and inorganic materials with less charring, effort, and pain.

Something I think no one is really talking about is the new software included with this system also allows for multiple materials and jobs to be processed on the bed at once. So you could have wood, Metal, plastic, and something else on the bed and it can import all the jobs separately and get them all done on one run.

[Dave Sheldrake]

How do they get round the focal size difference Kevin?

[Kevin Gregerson]

How do they get round the focal size difference Kevin?

I really wish I knew, I tried to pry it out of them for about an hour a few months ago, something to do with Trade secrets, patents etc. But, what I can say is that its so new and different from the typical Universal design mechanically that any service calls are being done by the factory engineering guys for the first two years while they put together the training manuals for it. And, I can say the speed due to the super rigid Chassis design is a huge step up over the current equipment out there. I can't elaborate on that either due to NDA.