Laser Wire Solutions uses the MKS Spectra-Physics® Explorer® One™ to develop the world’s smallest laser wire stripper.
Laser Wire Solutions provides laser processing equipment and engineered solutions for demanding manufacturing applications. More than 90% of its machines are exported, serving global leaders across the medical, electronics, aerospace, and automotive sectors. Often, new products emerge from dedicated OEM projects, which play a key role for the company headquartered in Cardiff, United Kingdom.
Fast solution required
A customer from the MedTech sector approached Laser Wire Solutions with an urgent request: The medical device manufacturer was about to launch a new product, installed several new manufacturing lines but couldn’t commission them as the mechanical wire‑stripping processes did not deliver sufficient quality. Due to space constraints in the facility only micro‑abrasive sandblasting was an option at that time to mechanically strip the catheter electrode wires. However, the validation of the process failed as the results of different operators varied significantly. The company addressed Laser Wire Solutions to develop a laser-based solution with exactly the same size on the bench that could deliver higher quality.
Small footprint, precise beam
Laser Wire Solutions evaluated various lasers that met the specifications required to perform the sophisticated ablation process. A UV-wavelength was selected to enable the clean ablation of polyimide and polyurethane insulations. With wire diameters ranging from 0.076 mm to 0.120 mm, it was essential to focus the beam to very fine spot sizes. As the team valued the quality of Spectra‑Physics lasers, they quickly approached MKS to learn more about the Spectra‑Physics Explorer One HE 355-100, the smallest UV laser in the portfolio. The ‘It’s in the Box’ design already incorporates all electronics within the compact footprint of 165 x 95 x 76.1 mm.
The combination of relative short laser pulses, high peak intensity, and the 355 nm UV wavelength results in an exceptionally small heat‑affected zone in the material—and promised a remarkable level of performance for such a compact laser system. After the theoretical evaluation, Laser Wire Solutions became access to a demo unit to validate the process before committing.
Confidence for the long-run
When testing the Spectra‑Physics Explorer One laser onsite, the R&D team at Laser Wire Solutions was not only impressed by the laser’s compactness, but also by its overall well‑designed and powerful concept. Spot sizes of 15 – 20 μm were achieved with high beam quality and stability. In addition, the laser delivered strong process control with minimal tuning once set up. That stability directly translated into confidence in scalability and long‑term production use, rather than being limited to strong performance only in an R&D environment. William Tindle, Applications Manager, Laser Wire Solutions, explains: “The Spectra-Physics laser gave us confidence early on — not just that the process would work, but that it would remain stable, supported, and scalable in a regulated production environment.” The team at Laser Wire Solutions also considered the strong Spectra-Physics heritage in UV laser technology and the vast experience in regulated markets as huge benefits.
Consequently, Laser Wire Solutions selected the Spectra‑Physics Explorer One HE 355‑100 laser as the basis for a compact, enclosed, benchtop 360° laser wire stripping solution designed for OEM production. Within only six months, the project was successfully accomplished. Laser Wire Solutions developed the smallest benchtop laser wire stripper available on the market (478 x 168 x 278 mm), providing a perfect fit for the available space in the clean‑room production facility. The customer was able to fully validate the production process and launch the new medical device.
From customer project to core product
The advantages of the compact solution—based on the Spectra‑Physics Explorer laser—over mechanical benchtop methods such as tweezer-style strippers or abrasion wheels were so clear that Laser Wire Solutions decided to commercialise the solution as the Odyssey‑8 laser wire stripper for single, bi-filar, and tri-filar wires.
What started as a customer-driven project has now become one of the most adopted benchtop platforms. Without the small footprint and high beam quality of the MKS Spectra-Physics laser, the development of the new platform would not have been possible.
Contact: Dagmar Ecker