Service contract for laser cutting machines

Objectives

• Prevent sudden breakdowns and increase availability
• Detect problems before they cause damage
• Protect laser source, cutting head, electrics and optics
• Increase mean time between failures (MTBF), reduce mean time to repair (MTTR)

Measuring equipment at every inspection

Instruments and purpose

Instrument	Purpose
Air quality monitor	Dust and particle load at the machine (PM1, PM2.5, PM10) – protecting cabinet and optics
Thermal imaging camera	Hotspots on power supplies, drives, contactors and terminals
Electrical cabinet test kit	Circuit breakers, servo drives, PLC, DC supplies, terminal connections
Focus and nozzle test	Beam centring, focal position, nozzle centring – with photo documentation
Laser power meter	Actual power at the cutting head versus rated power
Protective window scope	Burn marks, dust and coating damage on windows and lenses
Earth resistance tester	Earthing resistance to protect CNC electronics and staff
Water quality measurement	Conductivity, pH and flow in the cooling circuit

In practice: recurring lens failures

At one customer, the focusing and collimating lenses in the cutting head failed about every three months. Instead of replacing lenses again, we measured the cooling circuit: flow at source and head well below target, strongly elevated conductivity and pH of the coolant, and a clogged inline filter. After the cause was fixed, the lens failures stopped.

Contract terms

Visits per year, response times, service hours and exclusions (e.g. spare parts, consumables, major repairs) are set out bindingly in the contract. Terms for customers in Germany to be defined by the company