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This article seems circa 2019. Laser welding with flexible, lightweight heads and 1-3kW fiber lasers are poised to change methodology by removing parameters. Sm

by aj7 3y ago

This article seems circa 2019. Laser welding with flexible, lightweight heads and 1-3kW fiber lasers are poised to change methodology by removing parameters. Smaller, handheld units area easier than glue guns to handle.

DannyBee 3y ago
I own a 3kw handheld laser welding rig. Yes, they are easier than glue guns to handle. But you know, a lot more dangerous. Particularly since the lasers currently used are invisible and reflected light will still destroy your eyes (or someone elses) at 50+ft, easily. Not to mention the actual laser danger itself (you can easily get a 4th degree burn in an instant). So despite being easier to get right/handle from a welding perspective, they require significantly more safety precautions. Almost all videos show how easily and quickly they weld or clean or cut. Which is true! It's really easy and fast to get right. But they also often don't show that you need laser curtains, etc. You also have to understand what kind of laser is being used to understand what safety equipment to get. It's not as easy as mig/tig where you just get a welding helmet and declare victory, you have to understand the laser wavelength and required OD to protect yourself. They are also still really expensive, but that will change. But using laser welding on like a construction site or whatever the same way non-laser welding is would be quite dangerous. All of this is why serious safety interlocks/etc are used on laser welding equipment, even handheld, by everyone not making some crazy youtube video.
- nullc 3y ago
  Other than a smaller HAZ, whats the advantage of laser welding vs mig/tig arc welding?
  - digdugdirk 3y ago
    Ease of getting a quality weld is probably the most important thing with these. I'm sure someone with more experience than me can jump in if they have another reasoning.
  - DannyBee 3y ago
    They are much easier to get good welds with - they are essentially computer controlled. So you can just select the right profiles, and pretty much drag the head in the right place and get a good weld. It will get better, as well. While it hasn't gotten to handhelds yet (AFAIK), you can actually measure pretty much all of the variables that matter live using the same optics. So it can get realtime feedback - which means it can adapt, and also, measure the quality of the actual weld for you. See, e.g, https://lasersystems.ipgphotonics.com/technology/real-time-weld-process-monitoring https://lasersystems.ipgphotonics.com/technology/real-time-w... So it's not just the betterness of the welding technology, but what it enables. In that sense, it's like what CNC did to production woodworking over time. You can always make what a CNC does by hand, though it's sometimes annoying or slow. So some looked at it as just a better wood cutting thingy, and were unimpressed or didn't want to have to learn. But looking at it as a better cutter misses the point. It enabled automation and other things that simply did not (and arguably could not) exist without it. You will find essentially no production woodworking that is not CNC based anymore, often with entire lines that go from "raw wood" to "finished product" without human intervention. Those who looked at it as a better wood cutting thingy, or didn't want to learn, were all left behind. (Note i carefully am talking about production woodworking) Whether it's automation or other things, laser welding will do the same. It isn't just a better welder. Using lasers enables things that were really hard or complicated to do before. Even Miller Electric (for those not in the know, they have a significant percent of the market share of MIG/TIG welders) realizes this, and 2 weeks ago announced a partnership with IPG to bring laser welding to the masses. Given the price point of most handheld 2-3kw laser welders is still 20-30k, and miller's price point is <5k, this is a fairly forward looking thing on their part. They clearly don't hope to try to convince most welders to spend 20-30k. They instead must think that laser welding is going to eat them somehow, and think they need to lead instead of try to catch up. Given what i've seen, i think they are right on the money there.
    - nullc 3y ago
      > They are much easier to get good welds with - they are essentially computer controlled. this didn't seem compelling to me at first glance because its pretty easy to get reasonable welds in mild steel. But I checked out some videos and see people breezing through with stainless and aluminum and getting good results fast, much faster than tig welding. (and point and shoot welding stuff like thin aluminum that a non-expert would just blow apart with arc welding)... pretty interesting.
- joshu 3y ago
  Can you talk about this? What do you make?
  - DannyBee 3y ago
    I weld the same way anyone does. I happened to be able to get it really cheap for various reasons.
- jacquesm 3y ago
  Yes, they're great tools, but even more dangerous than plasma cutters because they don't seem quite as dangerous.

by aj7 3y ago

DannyBee 3y ago

I own a 3kw handheld laser welding rig. Yes, they are easier than glue guns to handle. But you know, a lot more dangerous. Particularly since the lasers currently used are invisible and reflected light will still destroy your eyes (or someone elses) at 50+ft, easily. Not to mention the actual laser danger itself (you can easily get a 4th degree burn in an instant). So despite being easier to get right/handle from a welding perspective, they require significantly more safety precautions. Almost all videos show how easily and quickly they weld or clean or cut. Which is true! It's really easy and fast to get right. But they also often don't show that you need laser curtains, etc. You also have to understand what kind of laser is being used to understand what safety equipment to get. It's not as easy as mig/tig where you just get a welding helmet and declare victory, you have to understand the laser wavelength and required OD to protect yourself. They are also still really expensive, but that will change. But using laser welding on like a construction site or whatever the same way non-laser welding is would be quite dangerous. All of this is why serious safety interlocks/etc are used on laser welding equipment, even handheld, by everyone not making some crazy youtube video.

nullc 3y ago
Other than a smaller HAZ, whats the advantage of laser welding vs mig/tig arc welding?
- digdugdirk 3y ago
  Ease of getting a quality weld is probably the most important thing with these. I'm sure someone with more experience than me can jump in if they have another reasoning.
- DannyBee 3y ago
  They are much easier to get good welds with - they are essentially computer controlled. So you can just select the right profiles, and pretty much drag the head in the right place and get a good weld. It will get better, as well. While it hasn't gotten to handhelds yet (AFAIK), you can actually measure pretty much all of the variables that matter live using the same optics. So it can get realtime feedback - which means it can adapt, and also, measure the quality of the actual weld for you. See, e.g, https://lasersystems.ipgphotonics.com/technology/real-time-weld-process-monitoring https://lasersystems.ipgphotonics.com/technology/real-time-w... So it's not just the betterness of the welding technology, but what it enables. In that sense, it's like what CNC did to production woodworking over time. You can always make what a CNC does by hand, though it's sometimes annoying or slow. So some looked at it as just a better wood cutting thingy, and were unimpressed or didn't want to have to learn. But looking at it as a better cutter misses the point. It enabled automation and other things that simply did not (and arguably could not) exist without it. You will find essentially no production woodworking that is not CNC based anymore, often with entire lines that go from "raw wood" to "finished product" without human intervention. Those who looked at it as a better wood cutting thingy, or didn't want to learn, were all left behind. (Note i carefully am talking about production woodworking) Whether it's automation or other things, laser welding will do the same. It isn't just a better welder. Using lasers enables things that were really hard or complicated to do before. Even Miller Electric (for those not in the know, they have a significant percent of the market share of MIG/TIG welders) realizes this, and 2 weeks ago announced a partnership with IPG to bring laser welding to the masses. Given the price point of most handheld 2-3kw laser welders is still 20-30k, and miller's price point is <5k, this is a fairly forward looking thing on their part. They clearly don't hope to try to convince most welders to spend 20-30k. They instead must think that laser welding is going to eat them somehow, and think they need to lead instead of try to catch up. Given what i've seen, i think they are right on the money there.
  - nullc 3y ago
    > They are much easier to get good welds with - they are essentially computer controlled. this didn't seem compelling to me at first glance because its pretty easy to get reasonable welds in mild steel. But I checked out some videos and see people breezing through with stainless and aluminum and getting good results fast, much faster than tig welding. (and point and shoot welding stuff like thin aluminum that a non-expert would just blow apart with arc welding)... pretty interesting.
joshu 3y ago
Can you talk about this? What do you make?
- DannyBee 3y ago
  I weld the same way anyone does. I happened to be able to get it really cheap for various reasons.
jacquesm 3y ago
Yes, they're great tools, but even more dangerous than plasma cutters because they don't seem quite as dangerous.