Method and apparatus for position-accurate triggering of a machine part

A machine part, such as a laser, is moved along at least one axis of movement relative to a workpiece. Position pulses are generated by means of an incremental encoder, with the number of position pulses in a position pulse train being representative of the movement position of the machine part. A trigger signal for the machine part is generated when the current number of position pulses corresponds to a predefined number of pulses. In a preferred embodiment, the current number of position pulses and the defined number of pulses are compared remote from a higher-level drive control circuit. It is particularly preferred if the current number of position pulses and the defined number of pulses are compared in a comparator which is arranged on an interface card of a computer unit, with the drive control circuit for controlling the movement of the machine part being implemented with a closed loop controller in the form of a controller program, which is cyclically executed by a central processor of the computer unit.