Laser Cutting Machine Configurations

There are three different configurations for laser cutting machines:

Moving Material Configuration

In moving material configuration, the laser head is completely stationary. The workpiece material is moved relative to the laser cutting head. The benefit is that there is a single location where the removed material is accumulated. This makes material extraction easier. However, the cutting speed of this process is slower because moving a large workpiece is more difficult than moving the small cutting head.

Another main advantage of moving material configuration is that the laser’s travel distance remains constant. Therefore, fewer optics are required.

Hybrid Configuration

The hybrid configuration has a partial movement of the material and partial movement of the cutting head. Conventionally, the material moves along the X-axis, and the laser moves along the Y-axis since the latter is shorter.

The distance that the laser beam travels is not constant. When the cutting head moves in Y-axis, the distance between the resonator and the cutting head will keep on changing. Therefore, some compensation is required to keep the power of the laser constant. This is done by increasing optics in comparison to moving material configuration. However, the working process of these lasers is faster.

Flying Optics Configuration

Flying optics configuration has a movable cutting head but a stationary work table. The cutting head can move in both the X and Y axis. Flying optics configuration provides a faster cutting speed among all three options.

However, the laser distance constantly changes as the cutting head moves. This requires a complex optics setup that can account for the variable distance.