Laser cut, drill, and mill—no handling required

For years, multifunction cutting machines have epitomized the done-in-one ideal in plate fabrication. And if you visited FABTECH 2025, your eye might have caught more multifunction machines with a new thermal cutting tool: the fiber laser. This introduces a host of benefits, including taper-free edges and some extreme plate-cutting speeds.

Usually, all the cutting occurs under the same gantry on the same table. But especially on thinner plate, the laser cutting head can cut so quickly, secondary drilling and milling might become a constraint, especially as volumes rise. Would there be a way to integrate milling, drilling, counterboring, countersinking, and tapping into an automated laser cutting system—but on a separate table?

Mazak Optonics Corp. took this approach when it introduced the Smart Driller system at this year’s FABTECH. At the booth, Al Bohlen, company president, held up a part with a laser-cut hole and a precision counterbore. “The inner hole was laser-cut, and then [the Smart Driller] returned to this location to make the counterbore. We can also tap this laser-cut hole to create the threads. We could even ream this hole, if a precision assembly required it. Think of a large assembly for a combine or a tractor, one where a pin is placed within the hole, an application where the location tolerances are razor thin. We can ream that hole after laser cutting, to make sure the fit is just right.”

The machining occurs in a work envelope separate from laser cutting. The Smart Driller comes as a module that can be attached to the company’s automated laser cutting systems. The machine automatically retrieves the tool it needs from a 20-tool carousel, then machines plate with a 3,500-RPM spindle, capable of drilling holes in steel up to 1 in. diameter and tapping holes up to 0.750 in.

First, a Mazak fiber laser cuts a nest of parts, including cutouts, holes, and part perimeters. Unlike in a conventional nest, however, the laser leaves a relatively thick microjoint, ensuring the blank remains secure for the machining that will follow.

After laser cutting, the plate is moved to the Smart Driller system, which then performs the necessary machining. After this, the drill cuts the last microjoint, at which point it’s ready for denesting. Then, the plate can be delivered to a manual offloading table. Systems also can be fitted with automated parts picking and sorting.

“All the machining occurs as the laser is cutting the next job,” Bohlen said. “It’s simultaneous processing.”

Several key technologies make all this possible. First is a CCD camera integrated within the Smart Driller’s processing head. As the automation moves the cut nest from the laser to the machining work envelope, parts on the nest can move ever so slightly. The camera gives the system the information it needs to adjust. If, say, a laser-cut hole needs to be tapped, the camera shows exactly where the hole is, after which the system adjusts its position.

“If you’re going to run a tap through a laser-cut hole,” Bohlen said, “you’ve got to be dead center.”

That hole also must be free of debris. As Bohlen explained, “Let’s say the laser cut a hole, yet for whatever reason, the slug didn’t fall out. That creates a possible collision. So, we might have to run a drill through it first to make sure the slug is gone before we tap. The camera will identify that issue.” Bohlen paused, then pointed to a monitor in the FABTECH booth showing the tapping tool in action. “The key to it all really is that camera.”

Bohlen next pointed to the drilling module’s unique “double” slat table. Entirely different from a conventional slat table for laser cutting (or other thermal cutting processes, for that matter), the Smart Driller’s slats have a resin coating that secures the plate during machining. Most critically, alternate slats retract downward as needed, allowing clearance for drilling and tapping tools.

“One slat retracts as the other slat comes up,” Bohlen explained, adding that this eliminates the possibility of interference between the slats and the system’s cutting tools. “And you’ll notice that we have no clamping here. If we add clamping, we add a dead zone. We want to process the entire sheet.” Bohlen said this while pointing to a series of threaded holes positioned right near the plate edge.

The system can machine partial plates up to 1 in. thick, but because of weight limitations of the Smart Driller’s slat table, it handles full plate sizes up to about 5/8 in. thick.

If machined elements on one part might cause issues for machined elements on another nearby part, the system’s software can separate those pieces on the nest layout to ensure a stable cutting cycle. Nests also need to have web sections of certain widths, to ensure the drill has enough room to cut through the final microjoint and release the part from the skeleton.

That slightly wider web, however, might be a small price to pay to eliminate time-consuming secondary operations that can add hours or even days to a product’s overall manufacturing time. “Again, if we integrate part sorting into the cell, we can pick the part after machining, then sort and stack pieces directly onto a pallet,” Bohlen said. Those pallets don’t go to a machining or tapping station, but instead directly to the next major manufacturing step. “We’re now eliminating those secondaries and doing it all on one automated system.”