Don’t Blow a Gasket! Laser Cutting System is Fast,  Accurate, Easy to Use	Volume 6 Issue 21 Spring 2002
story by Scott Weersing  /  photos by Scott Rathburn   Mention lasers to most people and they envision explosive scenes from science fiction movies, or a web of “Star Wars” defense satellites encircling the earth, knocking out nuclear missiles with beams of light.

But today’s lasers find use in most peoples’ everyday lives: grocery store scanners, CD players, pointers – they all use lasers.

Lasers also find common use in the medical, fabrication and manufacturing industries. These industrial lasers are designed to concentrate high amounts of energy into a small, well-defined spot – approximately 0.003 to 0.006 of an inch in diameter. The resulting energy density vaporizes materials in a very small area, and because the beam’s energy is applied only where it is needed, the heat-affected zone surrounding the focus area is minimized.

The J. Miller Company has been using a Haas Z-1 laser cutting system – the first such system from Haas – to make gaskets since November 2001, and is finding it to be faster and more accurate than other lasers on their shop floor. The Sun Valley, California, company specializes in die cutting and gasket fabricating, and has been using an Italian laser for several years. But Richard Miller, production manager of the laser division, has been surprised with Haas’ first entry into the laser field.

The J. Miller Company is using the Z-1 laser primarily to make gaskets, and is saving production time in the process. The company uses automatic flat platen machines to make many of their gaskets out of rubber, paper and other materials, but the Haas laser speeds up production of complicated gaskets. “Instead of making a tool to cut a complicated gasket, the laser can just make the gasket, saving hours of production time,” explains Dennis Miller, president of the company and father of Richard.

The laser can vaporize a variety of materials, such as plastic, paper and rubber, as well as others. “Anything that can be die-cut can be done on the laser,” Dennis adds. One advantage of laser cutting is the simplicity of handling without having to worry about stretching and distortion from a die-cut machine. “We were trying to die-cut a Teflon ring, and were having a lot of problems with it stretching when trying to get it back out of the die,” says Richard. “The Haas laser cut it in a minute – cut it right to specs and held the tolerances we wanted.”

The material being cut on the Z-1 is held in place by a vacuum fixture mounted to the table. “Since the laser does not make contact with the material, you don’t have to worry about the material moving,” says Richard. “But the vacuum does help suck out any smoke produced by the laser cutting, and it clears away the smell when you open the door.”

One advantage of the new Z-1 laser over others is the acclaimed user-friendly Haas control. Richard didn’t have any Haas CNC experience, but still was able to pick up the control quickly. He especially likes features such as single-block feed and being able to program subroutines at the control.

Just like CNC machining saves time, so does the new Z-1 laser. “I have run stuff on the other laser and it takes a minute and half, and then on the Haas, it takes me half the time. The Haas laser is saving us time, and we are able to better utilize all of the material through subroutines,” relates Richard.

Richard designs the gaskets in AutoCAD, then imports his work into a MillWrite CAD/CAM program to generate the G code. “The MillWrite has saved me hours in programming, and I can edit the program later while I am running the job at the machine, so I don’t have to go back to the computer,” he says.

The laser can also be used for engraving. “The laser is much faster and cleaner for engraving than the normal engraving process,” notes Dennis. “We are using it to show a client who does silk screening how the laser can engrave artwork on anodized aluminum.

"The software we have is great for serialization, where we can engrave serial numbers, fonts or artwork on parts.”

Richard Miller likes the accuracy, speed and reliability of the Haas Z-1, but wishes that it had larger travels. “Since we have been using the Haas, we have decided that if the builder of our other laser doesn’t get their butt in gear, then there isn’t going to be any competition for the Haas. Especially if Haas comes up with a laser with a bigger table,” Richard says.

Providing solutions to customers’ problems is a Haas trademark. The company is already building the new Z-2 laser that will offer more cutting power with a 500-watt laser, and travels of 40" x 20" x 25" to handle larger jobs and heavier materials.  ~~

J. Miller Company
800-297-3344

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