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The cutting of patterned edges of Lace fabric using a machine based purely on mechanical concepts has fundamental problems. This process imparts forces into the workpiece causing local deformation of the fabric which reduces the cut edge quality and leads to bunching up of the fabric around the pattern following guide and the cutting blade. The process requires constant operator involvement and reduction in processing speeds when cutting complex patterns. It is difficult to apply to elastic fabrics. A non-contact cutting concept for separating the Lace pattern from the backing net using a vision directed Co2 laser is described. This approach removes the problems associated with the mechanical lace cutting machines and allows automatic processing at higher feed velocities with improved cut edge quality. The high fabric transport speeds of one metre per second place significant demands on the vision system for sensing the real time position of the material pattern. Also, there is a high speed, high accuracy requirement for the laser beam manipulation system. The design approach for the integrated high speed laser cutting system and bulk lace material handling system is described. A proof of concept demonstrator is presented and results of initial tests are discussed.

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A vision directed CO2 laser cutting concept for separating a patterned material from a backing net web has been successfully achieved. The concept allows automatic processing of flexible materials at higher feed velocities with improved cut edge quality, when compared with conventional mechanical cutting concepts. This paper presents the aspects of the analysis and test work undertaken to establish suitable parameters for the CO2 laser cutting system of a lace processing machine operating at feed velocities of one metre per second. The issues investigated include analysis of workpiece characteristics and how this determines the laser beam manipulation requirement, power and type of CO2 laser, fundamental cutting performance data, quality of cut ends of the net fibres, optical arrangement for high speed pattern cutting and finally the performance of the integrated vision tracking and laser cutting system.