PURPOSE: To provide a laser beam machine to machine an article to be finely machined at a low cost by providing a space holding means in the laser beam machine to machine a sheet-shaped work whose thickness is below the prescribed value.
CONSTITUTION: A metallic sheet 11 of ≤3mm in thickness is fixed by a clamp 13 on an XY table 12. A CO2 gas laser beam oscillator 1 is turned on, and the assist gas is introduced from an inlet port 8 with the prescribed pressure and ejected from an opening 10 at the tip of a laser beam nozzle 9. The assist gas film flow in formed on the upper side of the metallic sheet 11, the buoyancy is applied to the metallic sheet 11, the metallic sheet 11 is sucked by the laser beam nozzle 9, and the clearance between the laser beam nozzle 9 and the metallic sheet 11 is kept to the constant value of ≤0.1mm. The laser beam 3 emitted from the CO2 gas laser beam oscillator 1 is converged to the beam spot diameter of ≤75μm by a converging lens 4, and the metallic sheet 11 is irradiated therewith, and the metallic sheet 11 is machined by the movement of the XY table 12.
YOSHIDA TOSHIAKI
FURUTA TAKAAKI
