Droptec Drones Welding with Laser

Success Stories24 Jun 2019

A loud buzzing sound is heard in the air... Is it a swarm of bees? No, the buzzing sounds too unnatural for it to be bees. Finally, we look into the air to see what it is: a drone. What used to be an uncommon thing to see, has now become part of everyday life.

Like most people, when we think of drones, we think of impressive pictures from a bird's eye view. Lately, more movies are being made entirely with the use of drones, since they can film from various angles.

However, not all drones buzz through the air with permission or good intentions. It's not uncommon for drones to be used for other purposes, such as spying on people. Unexpectedly, drones fly into the air over private properties to film or take pictures.

Criminals use drones to transport drugs, weapons and secret messages, which is a problem for prisons. Swiss start-up, Droptec GmbH, has created a unique drone trapping system, Dropster, that resembles a spiderweb and provides an intriguing solution to the recent drone issues.

Protective film for cartridges welded with LEISTER laser welding system

The net that wraps itself around the drone and disables it, is pressed into plastic cartridges. To protect the cartridges, Droptec uses a LEISTER laser system to weld the film. When this laser system was at Leister for service work, Droptec needed a quick solution to avoid delivery delays.

The laser engineers at Leister Technologies were able to help by using the laser laboratory in Kägiswil to weld the protective films around the cartridges so that Droptec could continue to supply its customers on time. In addition, Droptec also needed cartridges for customer training. Although drone-catching with Dropster is not difficult, it takes some practice.

Managing Director, Philipp Furrer, is happy about the positive and seamless cooperation, "Even at 6.45 a.m. Leister is on the spot. It's been really great and has helped us a lot to bridge the repair time of our laser system."

Laser from Droptec back in operation

From left to right: Michael Werner, International Sales Engineer Leister and Philipp Furrer, responsible for development and production at Droptec GmbH, laser welding the Dropster cartridges in the laser laboratory at Leister Technologies AG in Kaegiswil, Switzerland.

The Droptec laser was repaired at Leister on short notice and is now working again. Managing Director, Philipp Furrer, visited our laboratory and was able to weld additional Dropster cartridges together with Michael Werner.