{"id":1382,"date":"2022-03-04T14:23:45","date_gmt":"2022-03-04T14:23:45","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/novanta.com\/precision-manufacturing\/?post_type=novanta_tech_paper&#038;p=1382"},"modified":"2026-06-26T13:29:33","modified_gmt":"2026-06-26T13:29:33","slug":"choosing-the-correct-beam-delivery-method","status":"publish","type":"novanta_tech_paper","link":"https:\/\/novanta.com\/precision-manufacturing\/resources\/whitepapers\/choosing-the-correct-beam-delivery-method\/","title":{"rendered":"Choosing the Correct Beam Delivery Method"},"content":{"rendered":"\n<h2 class=\"wp-block-heading\" id=\"h-for-your-co-2-nbsp-laser-cutting-application\">For Your CO<sub>2<\/sub>&nbsp;Laser Cutting Application<\/h2>\n\n\n\n<h2 class=\"wp-block-heading\" id=\"h-technical-paper-overview\">Technical Paper Overview<\/h2>\n\n\n\n<h3 class=\"wp-block-heading\" id=\"h-choosing-co\u2082-laser-beam-delivery-scan-head-vs-cut-head\"><strong>Choosing CO\u2082 Laser Beam Delivery: Scan Head vs Cut Head<\/strong><\/h3>\n\n\n\n<p><em>Beam delivery, not laser source, decides whether your cut works.<\/em><\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>The CO\u2082 laser source is half the equation. The other half \u2014 the half that decides whether your cut succeeds \u2014 is how the beam gets to the material. Scan head or cut head. Galvo-steered or gantry-mounted. No assist gas or coaxial gas jet. The same source delivers razor-clean cuts on one system and charred edges on another.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>This technical paper documents three test comparisons \u2014 card-stock flower patterns, 0.25 mm acrylic film, 1 mm PETG panel \u2014 to show where scan head wins (on-the-fly converting, intricate shapes, hard-to-reach geometry) and where cut head wins (thick materials, smaller spot sizes, vertical edges, assist-gas cooling). A 7-criteria decision matrix resolves the choice for any new application.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<h2 class=\"wp-block-heading\" id=\"h-key-takeaways-include\">Key takeaways include:<\/h2>\n\n\n\n<ul class=\"wp-block-list\">\n<li>Why the same Synrad CO\u2082 laser produces dramatically different cut quality on scan-head vs cut-head delivery<\/li>\n\n\n\n<li>How material absorption (vaporization, melt shearing, chemical degradation) drives the delivery-method choice<\/li>\n\n\n\n<li>When to choose scan head: on-the-fly converting at 50-100 m\/min, intricate shapes (5\u00d7 faster than cut head)<\/li>\n\n\n\n<li>What cut head delivers that scan head can&#8217;t: 100 \u00b5m spot, coaxial assist gas, vertical edges, thick-material cuts<\/li>\n\n\n\n<li>A practical 7-criteria decision matrix to apply to any CO\u2082 laser cutting application before specification<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n\n\n\n<p>Download the full technical paper for the three test cases (card stock, acrylic, PETG), the material-interaction physics behind each delivery choice, and the 7-criteria decision matrix you can use to specify the right beam delivery for any CO\u2082 cutting application.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>For Your CO2&nbsp;Laser Cutting Application Technical Paper Overview Choosing CO\u2082 Laser Beam Delivery: Scan Head vs Cut Head Beam delivery, not laser source, decides whether your cut works. The CO\u2082 laser source is half the equation. The other half \u2014 the half that decides whether your cut succeeds \u2014 is how the beam gets to [&hellip;]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":342,"featured_media":1091,"template":"","meta":{"_acf_changed":false,"show_table_of_content":true},"class_list":["post-1382","novanta_tech_paper","type-novanta_tech_paper","status-publish","has-post-thumbnail","hentry"],"acf":[],"yoast_head":"<!-- This site is optimized with the Yoast SEO Premium plugin v27.0 (Yoast SEO v27.4) - https:\/\/yoast.com\/product\/yoast-seo-premium-wordpress\/ -->\n<title>Choosing the Correct Beam Delivery Method - Precision Manufacturing<\/title>\n<meta name=\"robots\" content=\"index, follow, max-snippet:-1, max-image-preview:large, max-video-preview:-1\" \/>\n<link rel=\"canonical\" href=\"https:\/\/novanta.com\/precision-manufacturing\/resources\/whitepapers\/choosing-the-correct-beam-delivery-method\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:locale\" content=\"en_US\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:type\" content=\"article\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:title\" content=\"Choosing the Correct Beam Delivery Method\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:description\" content=\"For Your CO2&nbsp;Laser Cutting Application Technical Paper Overview Choosing CO\u2082 Laser Beam Delivery: Scan Head vs Cut Head Beam delivery, not laser source, decides whether your cut works. 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