An on-machine measurement and calibration method for incident laser error in dual-swing laser heads

The dual-swing laser head is essential for five-axis laser machining, yet its precision is greatly affected by the incident laser beam. Any positional or angular deviation in the laser can cause the focus spot position of the head to change continuously during rotation, thereby severely compromise the manufacturing performance of the head. However, the current calibration methods for the incident beam of dual-swing laser heads have issues with low accuracy and insufficient engineering applicability. This paper proposes an on-machine measurement and calibration method for incident laser error in dual-swing laser heads. An error model for the incident beam with a dual-swing laser head was established, from which the law of spot position changes caused by incident beam errors during the head's rotation was derived. Subsequently, following this law, a precision calibration method for the laser head's incident beam error was proposed, based on the theory of optical image height. Afterwards, an on-machine error measurement system was established on the dual-swing laser head, and the calibration method was verified through experiments. The results show that the use of this calibration method can improve the accuracy of the incident beam for dual-swing laser head to 0.071 mm, which is approximately 3–4 times better than traditional calibration methods, thereby significantly enhancing the manufacturing precision of the laser head.