Isselguss Gießereierzeugnisse from the Borken district produces, among other things, flywheels for well-known engine manufacturers, which also need to be permanently marked. Isselguss therefore turned to marking specialist Sic Marking to mark its flywheels.

The Isselguss application is not a standard application. It quickly became clear that a special design was needed for marking the flywheels. Isselguss's customer requires that all cast flywheels, which are produced in a three-shift operation, are marked with a Data Matrix code.

The challenge here was the size of the flywheels of up to 500 millimetres and the heavy weight of up to 50 kilograms. Components of this size and weight are not easy to handle, which makes marking difficult. In addition, the marking laser must be robust so that it can withstand the harsh environmental conditions in a foundry. This is why the powerful laser is installed in an individual housing device.

After Isselguss had outlined its requirements, visited the site and clarified all technical questions and details, it only took a short twelve weeks for Sic Marking to install the special marking system in the foundry. The i103 L-G laser was selected because it writes alphanumeric characters, barcodes and data matrix codes, graphics and logos with precision and high contrast.

Laser marks almost all surfaces
Laser marking technology is mainly used for direct markings on metal or plastic parts, regardless of whether the markings are straight, curved or curved. The hardness and surface quality of the material are irrelevant, making it ideal for the stable flywheels.

The laser technology is based on a powerful laser beam generated in a laser source, which is amplified and guided to the workpiece via mirrors. The energy transmitted by the laser beam causes a surface change on the workpiece at the focal point, depending on the material. Some materials vaporize and thus allow a deeper marking, others become discolored, such as the flywheels.

The marking window of the laser marker has a size of 100 x 100 millimetres or optionally up to 170 x 170 millimetres. The i103L-G fiber laser consists of a galvonometer head and a controller unit, known as the fiber unit, in which the laser source is located. The complete power electronics are housed in a black box underneath the housing. The beam is generated and amplified in the laser source.

The beam then passes through the fiber cable to the collimator, which aligns the beam before it reaches the galvanometric head. The galvo head has two mirrors, each measuring around 15 by 15 millimeters, which are attached to stepper motors and deflect the laser beam for fast and precise markings.

Finally, a lens concentrates the beam to 30 micrometers. Sic Marking uses a ytterbium-doped fiber laser for its laser marking systems because it is reliable and offers low operating costs. Fiber laser-based marking technology is currently the most efficient. Modern fiber laser marking systems are also low-maintenance and have around 50,000 to 100,000 operating hours.