Patent ID: 7679031

Claim:
A method for checking a nozzle for a laser beam machine comprising: a bed; a pallet which is disposed on the bed and holds a workpiece; a column which moves along an X axis, that is, a longitudinal axis of the bed; a saddle which is supported by the column and moves along a Y axis orthogonal to the X axis; and a machining head which is supported by the saddle and moves along a Z axis perpendicular to the plane formed by the X axis and Y axis, the method comprising the steps of: obtaining image data of the nozzle attached to the tip of a laser machining tool via camera means, processing the image data with respect to an end face of the nozzle to calculate a center of gravity position of a nozzle hole at the end face of the nozzle, measuring the diameter of the nozzle hole in multiple images from the image data of the nozzle and calculating an average value of the nozzle hole diameter to calculate an out-of-roundness of the nozzle, checking whether the calculated out-of-roundness is within tolerances, and if the calculated out-of-roundness is within tolerances, performing a machining process, else if the calculated out-of-roundness is not within tolerances, replacing the nozzle with a different nozzle.