hand held laser welding
 

Has anyone been using laser on their metalshaping? It looks like magic in the video. They are no longer priced out of reach. Similar to high end TIG.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=rsTBPh2vKL4

Just seen the video Bill , would love to have a go....

Modern manufacturers like Volkswagen laser weld there roof panels....It is done so that in a impact The forces are transferred over the car and down to the rear of the car..... to save the occupants..... When l used to do jig work we were told to check the back of the car for damage.

Can you add filler rod when using the laser welder ?

laser filler
 

You can add filler with a laser. Mold repairs are frequently done with filler. But this gun thing? I have never seen one live.

Just looked at several vidios , there is a lot of info missing like what shielding gas are they using ,what about how far did it penetrate . It looks like it would be great . do I need 3ph , or would my 220 line work ,or just a regular 110 line .

(some of the early buyers for handheld laser welding were pawn shops - they drove the market for a while, for one mfr.)

They're only showing the gun. Wait till you see the size of the machine... And the price tag. I watched the video and all I could see is that the welds were not full penetrating. Look closely when they show the backside of the weld. In the real world of metal work, how often do you think this method could be used?

hand laser welding - update
 

I am still watching this. The IPG system still looks like the best. With a high price as well. ($16000 and up) I think everything is there now, except the budget. Purge gas is nitrogen, so you'll save some there. There is a cleaning cycle to remove oxide on SST. If you used it enough, the labor savings would pay for it. I signed up for a demo. Stay tuned.

https://go.ipgphotonics.com/lightwel...SAAEgLmd_D_BwE

It's looking great. What about the eyes? A colleague threw away the self-dimming shield. It uses old glass that was used in the distant past. With the onset of TIG, their eyesight deteriorated. All welders switched to the old protections. Something always got into the auto dimming when welding started.

I went and demoed this machine at one of the distributors when the original model was introduced a couple of years ago. You can use standard Argon as a shielding gas and I think there was the possibility of a couple of others if I recall. There are a total of three models now with the most expensive one being around 30K . I still have a sample of SS and the weld is pretty impressive ; at least visually. I never attempted further analysis .
We also welded up a part I designed for a table base made in 16ga CRS and the weld bead size and control were hard to argue with compared to tig.


I looked at it for the possibility of welding brasses ( which is a lot of what I was using and still do occasionally) . It was of no use for this purpose ( hey, I’ll try anything once). Unfortunately I feel this is the future of welding as it becomes perfected further since there’s a shortage of welders and the world automates what is otherwise a great career.