Bilateral drive and unilateral drive for fiber laser cutting machines

With the many advantages of fiber laser cutting machines being explored by manufacturers in various processing industries. The applications are becoming more and more extensive. Many laser equipment manufacturers have different home configurations, and it is difficult to distinguish them. Our common fiber laser cutting machines are generally gantry structures. And the gantry structure laser cutting equipment has two modes of motion. One is the gantry movement during processing, the table is fix. And the other is the gantry fix and the table moves. The bilateral drive and unilateral drive.

The bilateral drive :

The two sides of the gantry beam are symmetrically mount with rack and pinion and servo motor to realize double-gear rack drive and double servo motor drive. The bilateral drive ensures that the beam is balance and the beam runs synchronously. Under the premise of ensuring that the two motors of the left and right rails are synchronize.  The double-drive drive starts faster than the single-drive drive speed regardless of the idle speed, cutting speed and acceleration.

The unilateral drive:

The servo motor is install at one end of the gantry beam. And then transmits the driving force to the other end through a long shaft to realize double-gear rack drive and single servo motor drive.  The unilateral drive makes the ends of the beam asymmetrical. Affecting the synchronization accuracy and reducing the dynamic performance of the machine tool.

In summary, when the motor of the double drive is turn on, the start is very fast, that is, it can make the acceleration reach a large value in a short time.  When the motor driven by one side is turn on, the starting will be gentle and the acceleration will be slow.

Therefore, when you buy a fiber laser cutting machine, you must find out whether the equipment purchased is unilateral or bilateral. Because it is related to the processing speed and accuracy of the entire equipment.