For more than 30 years, LaserCheval has been a pioneer in the design and production of laser micromachining equipment. LaserCheval is the only industrial Laser Engraver manufacturer in France, specializing in customizing machines and equipment for laser marking, welding, cutting and drilling.
Laser from LaserCheval's latest design can engrav logos on watch components that are extremely small (for example, the crown diameter is only 5-8 mm), while maintaining positioning tolerances within 50 microns. This machine can process up to 1200 parts per batch in 20 hours.
In the past, each workpiece had to be manually positioned precisely under the laser head one by one, and then the logo was engraved on the workpiece. Finally, the operator performed a visual inspection of the engraving quality of each workpiece. Operators must be constantly present to perform these tasks.
Based on the successful integration of Cognex vision systems for multiple existing products, LaserCheval decided to automate the engraving process on this new Laser Engraver machine. However, many restrictions must be met:
>> The vision-based automatic positioning system must match the positioning tolerances (within 50 microns) obtained by the old manual system;
>> Workpiece positioning must be simple, without prior positioning;
>> The system must be able to run independently for at least 20 hours (the time required for 1,200 workpiece processing capabilities) without operator intervention;
>> Additional quality inspection requirements must be strictly controlled to a minimum;
>> The vision-based system must have the same cycle as the old system (processing a workpiece every 60 seconds);
>> LaserCheval hopes that machine users can easily and simply modify the Laser Engraver configuration (as a function of workpiece type).
>> All these requirements urgently need to choose a high performance vision system.