Buyer’s Guide: Understanding Laser Machines
Laser Machine Beam Delivery Design
How does laser beam delivery influence the machine’s performance.
There are 3 major beam delivery designs in the laser equipment market:
1: Mirrors-on-gantry
The laser beam is reflected off of mirrors mounted on a two-axis gantry, then down through the focusing optics onto the workpiece.
2: Post-Scanning Focusing
The focal lens is installed after the galvanometer-mounted mirrors.
3. Pre-Scanning Focusing
The focal lens is installed before the galvanometer-mounted mirrors. This style is also called 3-axis or 3D beam delivery.
Beam Delivery Mode Performance comparison
| Laser Processing Speed | Laser Processing Field Area | Laser Processing Precision | Workpiece 3D Surface Capability | |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Mirror-on-Gantry Motion | Moderate, up to 3m/s | Large, popular gantry sizes are 48″ or 60″ | Low. This can be improved by high precision gantry integration, but at higher cost | Not natively. Additional software and hardware required. |
| Post- Scanning Motion | Fast, up to 10m/s or 15m/s | Limited by lens. Standard sizes are 4″, 7″, and 12″, with a maximum of a 15″. This can be supplemented by integrating with X-Y linear travel or robotics. | High. Based on high resolution beam motion calibration, galvo feedback, and error correction. | Not natively. Additional software and hardware required. |
| Pre- Scanning Motion | Fast, up to 10m/s or 15m/s | Limited by lens. Max scanning field up to 24″ area, can be further integrated with robotics to extend | High. Based on high resolution beam motion calibration, galvo feedback, and error correction. | Yes, natively supported. |
Note: These parameters are based on the most common designs, and do not include high costn non-beam delivery motion control integration setups.
