Esprit Automation and Bosch Rexroth partner up

Esprit Automation, a leading British manufacturer of CNC cutting machines, saw a gap in the market for easy-to-use, high-speed laser cutting machines. The result of two years of Esprit's R&D is the Photon 5G, able to reach vector speeds of 325 m/min at 5 g acceleration. At such speed, precision and control are vital.

Esprit Automation decided to work with Bosch Rexroth for the drive and control solution of its high-performance laser cutting machine, “given the excellent experience with Rexroth drives and motors in their existing market leading plasma cutting machines”, it states.

You can see the machine in action in the video above.

Crucial collaboration

Saquib Ansari, managing director of Esprit, recently said: “After having researched the marketplace for CNC and drives suppliers, Esprit chose Bosch Rexroth. The collaboration between Esprit and Bosch Rexroth has been great over the development period of the Photon 5G machine and was crucial for its unique features LiveNest and LiveControl.”

Together, the two teams were able to take advantage of vast application experience, as well as commercial support and assistance from Rexroth’s manufacturing plant in Germany.  

Bosch Rexroth´s MTX with the latest XM42 hardware, one of the most powerful CNC machines on the market, was selected for commercial production. The biggest advantage of using the Rexroth control system is the ready-made shape cutting templates with powerful laser cutting functions such as height control, fly cut or leapfrog and more within the MTX, which are used to create Esprit’s software.

Much reduced development time

This feature has allowed Esprit to significantly reduce its development time and bring the machine to market much faster than expected. It also enables Bosch Rexroth to provide better support, as this is a standard feature of the MTX.

The ‘Fast Actions’ feature within communications between the drives and controller for height control, contouring etc make programming much faster than typically expected for this kind of application, it is reported. “The speed and accuracy of the XM42 combined with the drives make the Esprit’s Photon 5G a market leader, in terms of dynamic performance.”

In addition, the Bosch Rexroth power supply units make use of the regenerative power to further enhance the performance, while reducing the energy consumption of the machine. Moreover, Esprit benefited from the easy connection of the MTX to its own software, thanks to standardised interfaces such as OPC UA.

Processes simplified

Advanced vision systems make the Photon easy to operate, adds Esprit. “The plate loading and positioning processes have been simplified and, as operation is prompted by the mere push of a button, there is less idle time. This ease of use guarantees immediate take-up of the technology by anyone, regardless of their experience.”