Now available from Coventry-based Bystronic UK Ltd (www.bystronic.co.uk) is the ByTrans Cross loading/unloading system for its fibre laser cutting machines.

According to the company, this system offers full automation for producing long runs of components, while retaining the flexibility of manual handling for smaller jobs.

The basic configuration has two loading carriages for storing material.

However, with the addition of the optional BySort system and two sorting heads featuring gripper modules, unloading with the ByTrans Cross is said to be highly versatile.

The automatic sorting system, which can be factory-fitted or retrofitted, deposits processed sheet-metal components onto a pair of pallets next to the laser cutter.

BySort has been designed to increase the speed of the entire unloading process.

First, the cut parts are unloaded and sorted; then — using a different route — ByTrans unloads the skeleton, thereby ensuring that the laser cutter’s shuttle table is more quickly available for loading the next sheet, which the system brings from its own stock or from a connected warehouse.

Both ByTrans Cross and BySort are controlled using the laser cutter’s touch-screen.

Bystronic’s ByVision Cutting user interface, which is already in place on the company’s latest generation of fibre lasers, integrates the cutting processes and the connected automation, obviating the need for operators to walk between separate terminals.