some welding workpiece

Date 08-02-2013 10:42

Hi

Welcome to the forum. I cant really see the welds in the first two pics very well, but the third pic shows a very consistent weld. Was that made manually, or by machine?

Regards
Niekie

By wguangm Date 08-05-2013 03:38

Thank you Niekie! Those are made manually, laser welder, so it looks smooth

By ozniek

Date 08-05-2013 13:33

Hi

I have never been involved with laser welding. I was under the impression that laser welding is always automated, and that the lasers were rather large machines. Can you give me a short explanation of how manual laser welding is done?

Regards
Niekie

By aevald

Date 08-05-2013 13:58

Hello Nieki, the amount of laser welding experience that I have had could fit on the head of a pin, however, when I was at the AWS Convention in LA a number of years ago there was a booth by Trumpf that had a "manual" laser system. I believe that it was geared more towards electronics applications than anything else. Yet, you could hold the workpiece in your hand and when you had it in focus with the eyepiece crosshairs of the unit you could depress a foot pedal and blast the work piece with a momentary laser shot and perform an autogeneous weld where the crosshairs were focused. The resulting weld pool was approximately .007 to .010 in diameter. This system did not have a provision for the addition of filler metal however. Nice looking welds for a manual application for sure. Best regards, Allan

By wguangm Date 08-07-2013 07:28

Allan's description is very clear,but the filler metal is used sometime, as for me, I use it, here is a picture of my welding wire:

By OBEWAN

Date 08-06-2013 10:59

I have never heard of any manual laser welding processes - all of the laser welding processes I have seen to date are automated. The first major problem would be related to safety since the beam can damage they eyes. Co2 lasers are not as risky to the eyes as YAG lasers. YAG lasers are sometimes much smaller then Co2 lasers and can be somewhat portable, but the weld tooling should be enclosed in a compartment with a special type of glass window to block harmful light waves.

Automated is a relative term for the laser welding process. Usually there is still a human operator to set-up the laser and to load and unload the parts. However, I worked with one system last year that is part of a fully robotic assembly system, with the parts being untouched by human hands as they moved down the assembly line. Most of the work on the laser after the qualification of the welding process was then done by maintenance technicians who did work such as cleaning the glass lens covers when they became dirty.

By cddolan74 (**)

Date 08-02-2013 11:53

Very good steady hand, looks like there is no filler being used??

By wguangm Date 08-05-2013 04:07

Thank you! the welding wire is SKD61,Ф0.2, just looks like no filler.

By Tommyjoking (****)

Date 08-06-2013 19:11

Some years ago there was mention of a handheld laser system coming to market on this forum. I cannot find the thread/link in search for whatever reason. I have some limited experience with automated Co2 lasers so I am a little curious about this.

wguangm I have four 1/2 questions for you. Is the laser/focal head literally held in your hand (freehand) or is it used in some type of fixture/guide? Does the laser pulse or is it continuous? Is the actual beam visible light or not? Do you wear regular welding eye protection while using it and can you post pics of unit or tell us who makes it?

When I operated a laser welding system there was a focal head at the business end of it. Basically the 1/4" sized beam went thru a final lens that focused it down to a finite point. That point in space was usually just below the backside surface of what was being welded. You essentially could control weld profile this way...the depth and width. I do not know if all systems work in that way, however I could not imagine trying to hold proper distance by hand as just a change of a few thousandths of an inch would make or break a weld.

Now a question for all of you folks with big brains. Using a Co2 laser, which was not in a visible spectrum, what caused the actual welding (when the beam struck the weldment) to produce ultraviolet and typical arc flash like an arc weld? If you watched it, it produced light exactly like an arc weld.

By 99205

Date 08-07-2013 00:55

You-Tube has videos of hand held laser welding, interesting stuff.

By Stringer (***)

Date 08-07-2013 01:02

If I google SKD61,Ф0.2 I get Mandarin.

By wguangm Date 08-07-2013 07:00

die steel SKD61 is alloy contain of silicon, chromium, molybdenum and vanadium .you can see the picture,just the apperance of the wire though.

By wguangm Date 08-07-2013 07:14

I will make some videos of me working ,LOL

By wguangm Date 08-07-2013 07:03

To Tommy,
1. If you want, the focal head can literally held in hand, but when you are working, you move the work piece, not the laser head, because the work piece is smaller , easy to control. Actually, it is not as that hot you thought, sometime the laser got to hands, but won’t hurt me if I move it immediately. The laser pulse, controlled by a foot pedal, if you keep stamp on the pedal , it will comes continuous.
2. The beam is visible light.
3. I can wear goggles if I want to , there is a microscope in the machine, no matter you use goggles or not , you need to look through the microscope to do the work., because the beam is very thin.
4. You need to adjust the beam first , the material of work piece will help you decide how strong the beam should be. ,
5. Argon is still used as protective gas if you ask..
best regards
o'neill

By 803056

Date 08-07-2013 12:18

Interesting. I am not familiar with hand held lasers. You learn something new everyday.

Al

By Tommyjoking (****)

Date 08-07-2013 18:01

thanks for the answers...that paints a much clearer picture of what you are doing. pretty cool