Winlase Laser Marking Software D
Ludmila Hargett
WinLase laser marking software and the LEC embedded controller provide direct communication from a PLC to the laser marking system(s) on the manufacturing floor for tighter automation control. Dynamically interface directly with the LEC over Ethernet to update data such as barcodes, logos, serial numbers, date codes, UID and to be laser marked on parts.
A robust, high-performance laser marking software solution that simplifies management of pulsed fiber lasers, which require Serial Script Text files for laser control, and supports PCI-based Scanlab RTC/4 and GSI HC/3 controller cards.
A robust, multi-threaded, and high performance laser marking solution, WinLase Professional supports the Scanlab RTC/4 controller card.
WinLase Professional also simplifies management of pulsed fiber lasers, which require Serial Script Text files for laser control. These files can be generated within the software and sent to the laser controller via the COM port and a serial cable.
As a manufacturer of home appliances, Whirlpool had discovered the many advantages of laser marking at its more than 70 manufacturing and technology research centers around the world. With the right partner, however, Whirlpool was able to take laser marking to new levels of productivity and cost-efficiency.
The result is a suite of integrated controller boards and software that lower PC and equipment costs, deliver unsurpassed accuracy, and provide power laser marking control whether over Ethernet, USB or PCIexpress.
Lanmark Controls manufactures powerful laser marking software
and scan control hardware. The interfacing between the laser, motor tables and galvo scan head is fully synchronized with the help of these scan controllers and software.
WinLase Professional software is a powerful laser marking solution for Windows XP Professional and Windows Vista. The WinLase Professional software supports the most popular PCI scan control control cards currently available such as the RTC/3, RTC/4, SCANalone and the HC/3.
Also in beta, the LEC-2 controller board features a brand new architecture and CPU. Featuring 600 MHz of processing power, 512 megabytes of storage (up to 4 GB optional), and a 20-bit architecture (versus the current industry standard 16-bit), the LEC- 2 offers total flexibility with high-speed, real time laser marking functions. In addition, the LEC-2 features a USB version which offers users the same high performance as the LEC-2 Ethernet board but at a lower cost.
New WinLase LAN manual released today. Complete documentation on the newest features for laser marking, laser etching, laser engraving with WinLase LAN and the LEC-1 embedded scan controller. Please complete the request form to receive a copy of the pdf version.
Finished my SURI poster today, and sent it off to Kinko's to be printed. Arul and Dave had the idea that I should laser etch my whole poster in an 8cm x 8cm square just for fun, so I gave that a shot. Turns out you can import JPEG files into Winlase, and it will cut a rasterized version. Unfortunately the resolution wasn't nearly good enough to work properly, but I have a few more ideas to try before Friday.
Masked thin CCK with spray paint, laser then chemical etch an electrode pattern, then removed the paint. Electrical isolation while retaining the pattern. High voltage electrostatic adhesion test, observed adhesion 3kV, more prominent adhesion on the Kapton side rather than the copper side. Attempting a finer pattern (250um spacing), we'll see how it turns out.
Tried laser etching an electrode pattern, then applying a quick ferric chloride dip to remove the remaining copper in the etched areas. Although this method worked in some simple circular test patterns, I was not able to achieve electrical isolation on the electrode pattern without significantly distorting the original design. The new plan is to return to the spray paint masking method that I used on the thick CCK.
I resolved the laser issue! Turns out it was only the focus height, so the fix was straightforward. In fact, when I tried an etch test on a piece of Kapton, I nearly cut all the way through the glass slide as well! I was easily able to cut through the new Pyralux CCK, and did some preliminary tests removing just the copper layer. I have not yet checked for electrical isolation, but I could imagine that a solution involving chemical etchant might deliver the best results.
Ordered more Kapton, since we ran out. There have been some issues with laser power today. I kept trying to cut through the new thin CCK without success. Retried the thicker CCK with the appropriate settings, also with no success. I called DPSS to help troubleshoot, here are some tips I got:
Made a few more cool Kapton contraptions. First, I refined the cat claw gripper a bit, so the guiding slots and support structure is stronger. I skipped the laser cut spines altogether and went straight to the fishhooks, and the result turned out pretty well.
Made some new iterations of landing springs (takes 2 minutes to cut), attached 4 laser-cut spines (took 60 minutes to cut). It looks like the fishhooks are actually better, since they have a farther reach, and are much faster to cut/attach.
We had our weekly perching meeting, where I got to show off my Kapton springs and laser-cut spine, as well as get some new ideas. Some new directions I wanted to take were to include Kapton spines on the spring itself, add a preload spring component normal to the main axis, and to implement a spring constant that varied along the length of the spring. I explored all of these directions, with varying levels of success.
Today was Bobby's last day in lab, so he presented his work on the Crazyflie at lab meeting, and gave a tutorial on how to use the Crazyflie. Afterwards, I transitioned to working on laser-cut spines. My first attempt was too small, but the second cut (pictured below) works quite well.
More Crazyflie struggles. Opted to switch gears partway through the day to revisit my idea of cool laser-cut geometries. As I was leaving, I ran into Elliot, who had an idea for stacking several Kapton springs, flipping them 90 degrees, and surrounding them in a protective housing, that way each spine gets its own spring. Another idea is to try laser cutting the spines themselves from metal shim stock. I tried 0.004" brass first (that's what we could find), with no luck. We looked for some steel, and I managed to get through that with some difficulty (100mm/s x 4500 passes = 45 seconds/mm). Ran out of time to try for the spines themselves, but I'll get on that first thing tomorrow.
I finally got in touch with the DuPont rep, and he said to just fill out the sample request form, which I did last week. So hopefully we'll get our hands on some samples soon. I also looked into installing the Aerotech PRO115 XY stage, only to find that it is too big for the laser housing in one dimension. I guess that means we'll try to return it and get a slightly smaller one. On the plus side, I was able to find a pretty comprehensive manual for the Aerotech PRO115, which is great since there was no manual with the stage itself. I finished up the day by doing some test cuts on fiberglass. The 0.12mm thickness was straightforward, but the 0.50mm thickness had some interesting results, with the vertical cuts going through, but the horizontal ones not.
I spent most of today playing around with Inkscape with the intent to eventually be able to create designs that can be cut with the DPSS laser. I explored lots of cool capabilities of the program, and then finished up by making the same interlaced electrode design that I made on the laser software, and tried exporting it as a .dxf file. Unfortunately, it didn't quite work, as the filled rectangles showed up with borders only, and the cloned shapes that populated most of the original Inkscape file did not translate at all.
Today, I focused on an entirely different technique for using the laser to print electrodes, this time on the copper coated Kapton. Since it is very difficult/impossible to etch off the copper and leave the Kapton, the new method is to apply a masking material, use the laser to print the desired pattern, then etch the exposed copper away with ferric chloride. The process of etching the copper is actually quite straightforward, so the primary challenge is finding a suitable masking material that will adequately block the ferric chloride, is easy to print on with the UV laser, and will not distort the high precision designs that are necessary for good electrode design. The first obvious choice was a photoresist film, which either exposes or blocks the underlying material when exposed to UV light. I ordered some, but unfortunately it is shipping from China and will take several weeks to arrive
I tried more cuts on the copper coated Kapton, this time using two lines with a slight offset. Under the scope, the cut width was in fact wider, but it was still conductive. I also tried cutting across one of the cuts to check the cross sectional profile, but due to deformation from the Xacto knife and unevenness in the surface, I couldn't get a clear image. In the early afternoon, Arul brought back a successful casting that bonded the PDMS to the metal side of the Mylar, using the same primer as used to bond to Kapton. Interestingly, you can quite easily peel off the Mylar layer, leaving the "gold" side exposed (we're not sure exactly what it is, but it doesn't appear to be conductive). This is a promising discovery, and it would be far easier from a laser etching standpoint if we could use the Mylar instead of the copper coated Kapton.
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