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Up Topic Welding Industry / Technical Discussions / laser welding jewelry?
- - By Plasma-Brain (**) Date 01-09-2008 00:02 Edited 01-09-2008 00:19
Greetings all and a happy new year,
My Dads into making jewelry as a hobby and he's getting tired of trying to solder his pieces together. He has seen small laser welders advertised in the Journal and now he's got me wondering if it would work for what he wants to do.
He's mainly working with silver and occasionally gold.
Any help or direction as to where to find prices and capabilities of laser machines would be greatly appreciated.
Thank you
-Clif
Parent - By CWI555 (*****) Date 01-09-2008 01:25
dunno about pricing, but I can't see a reason why a laser could'nt do the job your Dad wants it to do.
Parent - - By OBEWAN (***) Date 01-09-2008 14:04
I would be suprised if he could get into laser welding for less than $30-$40K.
Parent - - By Plasma-Brain (**) Date 01-09-2008 15:24
Ouch, but not unexpected... I had that feeling it was gonna be pricey...
anyone have any ideas as to where we could find equipment? Googles been fairly useless for trying to find this stuff...

thanks for the replies
-Clif
Parent - - By OBEWAN (***) Date 01-09-2008 15:39
You could try Unitek-Miyachi for small lasers.  You might be better off using a small plasma needle arc unit.  Weld Logic makes some good mirco-tig units that can weld at a few amps.  I have welded .002" thick titanium sheet metal with them.
Parent - - By Plasma-Brain (**) Date 01-09-2008 16:07
Funny, I was just talking to my dad about micro-tig...
Any thoughts as to whether or not a Lincoln precision tig 185 would do the trick if I went and got an .040 tungsten setup for it, or do you need a fancy powersource for playing with such low amps?

-Clif
Parent - - By OBEWAN (***) Date 01-09-2008 20:02
I havent used anything besides weld logic for small tig welds. I dont know what the Lincoln would do.  A plasma needle arc should do fine.  They have a wide range of amps and you change the arc by changing the orifice dia.
Parent - - By Plasma-Brain (**) Date 01-10-2008 17:09 Edited 01-10-2008 17:21
Ok, im a little confused, are you describing Micro Tig or Micro Plasma Arc Welding? You mentioned orifice diameter, which I was under the impression applied to PAW.

I was poking around weld logics site and I found the Model PA-10/100-STD which seems like it would work, but like all fun industrial equipment on the web, theres nothing saying how much the dang thing costs :( :(

http://www.weldlogic.com/modelpa.php

Im going to go set up my tiny tungsten on my torch and give it a try once I wake up and get some coffee in me, so ill let you know how it works.
Parent - - By OBEWAN (***) Date 01-10-2008 17:41
I was referring to both micro tig and micro plasma.  Micro Tig would be easier to set up.  I would guess they would both cost about the same to purchase.
Parent - - By Plasma-Brain (**) Date 01-10-2008 18:02
Ah ok I see now.
Any idea where I could find prices for a PAW unit?
Parent - - By OBEWAN (***) Date 01-10-2008 20:14
I have not priced plasma lately. I used to sell them in the 1980's for around $4-$5k. You could try an
ESAB or Miller or Lincoln distributor.
Parent - - By Plasma-Brain (**) Date 01-11-2008 18:03
That much? Cool...
I was figuring they would be around $9 - $10k so that is great news.
Any idea how Thermadyne stacks up interms of powersources?
Parent - By OBEWAN (***) Date 01-11-2008 20:54
The cost I mentioned is 20 years out of date.  It may be more or less now.  I have never used TD.  Only Linde which is now ESAB.
Up Topic Welding Industry / Technical Discussions / laser welding jewelry?

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