5 Axes computer aided laser milling

In this paper a 5 axes CAM procedure for the laser milling of free form surfaces has been developed and experimentally verified. The laser beam is deflected by a galvanometric scanning head and is directly moved on the working surface by the CNC controlled axes of a machine center. The procedure has been implemented in a software called CALM (computer aided laser manufacturing) able to generate the laser paths and the movements of the controlled axes reducing the defects on the workpiece. The approach is based on the sequential overlapping of the scanning passes on the working area. The different working areas in every laser displacement are obtained directly from the triangulation of the whole surface to machine.

► We implemented a method to laser engraving free-form surfaces. ► The method generates instructions for the galvanometric head and for the CNC head placements. ► The procedure is based on the triangulation of the free-form surface. ► The joining errors are controlled by a randomly shift of the placements.