Studies in increasing the dynamic of cutting machines

Cutting of sheet metal is still a growing market which has especially changed with the appearance of the new solid state lasers which could improve the cutting speed dramatically. For using the capability of fiber or disc lasers with their excellent beam quality, their higher absorption in metal and the possibility of beam guidance by fibers, the dynamic of cutting machines must be tremendously improved for cutting complex 2D contours. (1)(2)(4) For thin metal sheets it was shown that cutting is possible in 'remote technology' with very high average speeds (2) and without assisting gas. On the other hand the dynamic of the most standard machines is sufficient for cutting thick metal sheets. However, for cutting metal sheets in the most common middle range, a new system will be presented which can highly increase the dynamic and the accuracy of cutting machines by decreasing the peak loads of the machine axes. Especially for cutting complex geometries with a lot of small features, the system offers a promising gain in productivity.