With a vision for future demand, QSP Engineering recently moved premises from Loganholme to Bethania in the outer suburbs of Brisbane, and introduced new technology into its metal spraying business.
With the aim of retaining QSP’s position as a key provider of metal spraying repairs for worn parts, Managing Director Neville Brokenshire looked to install the latest innovations in metal spraying technology, to ensure high-quality output and a more efficient, cost-effective process to integrate into its workshop services. Already utilising a fibre-coupled high-power diode laser by Laserline supplied by Raymax Applications for laser cladding with metal powder, Brokenshire sought advice from Dr Cédric Chaminade from Raymax in regard to improving output. A new coaxial nozzle was deemed the solution.
High processing speeds with specifically designed coaxial nozzles used with Laserline fibre-coupled diode lasers provide distinct advantages, including low exposure time, strong metallurgical bonds between the cladding layers and substrate, low warpage, and short, highly energy-efficient cladding times. By introducing a new laser cladding nozzle, QSP has effectively extended the current available advantages to its customer base.
A coaxial nozzle combines inert gas flows and metal powder with exceptional throughput capability. Additionally, protection glass monitoring extends the lifetime of consumables, while at the same time ensuring a reliable process. The new Coax11, developed by the Fraunhofer Institute for Material and Beam Technology, represents a flexible processing tool for cladding applications and guarantees a stable and controllable process as well as the highest precision in material deposition. High-power diode lasers from Laserline in Germany can provide cladding solutions with up to 20kW of laser power, and use wide track processing optics providing the highest powder deposition rates available.
Industries where components are constantly exposed to high stress become fatigued and worn, requiring replacement or repair. Today, high-throughput laser cladding, or metal deposition, is demonstrating not just the effectiveness of repair but the metallurgical connection between the additional layer and the basis material can actually extend the life of the original part. Repairs to large-sized drilling tools used in oil extraction, boring or mining, marine engine parts, or earthmoving equipment can all be effectively repaired using laser cladding.
In Australia, there is a growing market for laser coating of hydraulic cylinders from technical mining facilities such as coal extraction. Its new laser cladding equipment is a timely acquisition for QSP, as the economic downturn and limitations imposed on importing new component parts are changing industry behaviour and fuelling demand for local repairs. With trained and experienced staff and over 25 years in the industry, QSP stands to gain an edge over its competitors, geared up and ready to meet this increased local demand.