Automated laser-brazing cell for cutting tools

Cutting tools carry small superhard inserts that must be brazed onto the tool body. Done by hand, the work is slow and depends on a skilled operator. Repeatability is hard to guarantee, and every new tool shape needs an expert to set it up.

The goal was a cell that brazes these tools automatically and repeatably, and that can be prepared for a new tool from its 3D model.

• Two industrial robots: one prepares inserts, solder and fixtures; the other handles the tool and presents it to the laser.
• A high-power fibre laser with a motorised head.
• Cameras and a measuring bench that find the exact position of the tool in the gripper.
• A central control software that runs each recipe step by step and checks every step before the next.
• A browser interface for the operator, with a live 3D digital twin of the cell, and a simulator for preparing work in the office.

The tool's 3D model drives the set-up. The system proposes which faces to braze, where to heat and how to angle the laser, and plans robot movements that are checked for collisions. The operator confirms or corrects the proposals.

Each part of the system (robots, vision, laser, safety, logging) is a separate service connected through defined interfaces. The digital twin and the simulator share the geometry of the real cell, so a recipe can be prepared and tested before it reaches the machine.

Safety is built in: interlocks around the laser and moving axes, collision checking, and no movement outside an authorised cycle.

The cell is installed and its subsystems are integrated. Tool handling, measuring and probing run on the real machine at reduced speed. Recipe preparation from the 3D model works in the simulator and is being validated on the cell.

The project is in commissioning and pilot.