AL-IN 500 F NEO

The resonator moves, not the workpiece

On a conventional welding station, the part is fixtured and moved beneath a fixed head. That works well for small components and badly for a two-tonne injection mould. The AL-IN inverts it: the workpiece is positioned freely on the table and the resonator travels over it across 400 × 210 × 300 mm of X, Y and Z movement.

For repair and modification work on tooling, that removes most of the setup. A die can be craned onto the table, welded where it needs building up, and craned off again — with none of the re-clamping and re-datuming that would otherwise dominate the job.

The NEO generation adds significantly higher cladding volume per unit of time than the original AL-IN, so the same repair is finished in fewer passes. It sits alongside the standard AL-IN in the range rather than replacing it.

Features

• 500 W average power fibre source at 1080 ± 10 nm.
• Movable resonator with 400 × 210 × 300 mm travel in X, Y and Z.
• Pulsed and continuous-wave operation, with pulse duration adjustable from 0.2 to 50 ms.
• Weld seam widths from 0.1 mm to 5.0 mm for both fine detail and structural build-up.
• Gap bridging up to 0.6 mm, so imperfect joint preparation does not stop the job.
• Handles filler wire up to 1.6 mm diameter.
• Air-cooled — no chiller, no water services to plumb in.
• Higher cladding rate than the standard AL-IN, for faster tooling build-up.

Technical data

• Laser type: fibre, 1080 ± 10 nm
• Average power: 500 W
• Operating modes: pulsed and continuous wave (CW)
• Pulse duration: 0.2–50 ms
• Weld seam width: 0.1–5.0 mm
• Maximum weld depth: 3 mm
• Gap bridging: up to 0.6 mm
• Wire diameter: up to 1.6 mm
• Travel (X × Y × Z): 400 × 210 × 300 mm
• Maximum traverse speed: 25 mm/s
• Cooling: air-cooled
• Weight: 230 kg

Typical applications

Tool and mould making is the core application — building up worn or damaged cavities, correcting machining errors, and modifying tooling for an engineering change without scrapping and remaking it. The low heat input means the surrounding tool steel is unaffected, so a repaired die goes straight back into service.

Beyond tooling, the AL-IN 500 F NEO handles sheet-metal fabrication and general repair welding where components are too large or too heavy to bring to a benchtop machine. GWB installs, commissions and supports the system throughout Australia and New Zealand.