[Jewelry making - Article 00217] - Re: [Orchid] Laser welder

[Peter W . Rowe]

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>      I'm about to add a Laser Star  laser welder to my toolchest. 
>     After  checking out the array of  welders at the MJSA show  I
>     decided on the bench model with 80 joules.  Does anyone have any
>     experience with not enough power with these units?  We work with
>     mainly with silver/14k 

    Rona,  While I don't know that particular model, and can't speak to
    it's power ratings, your mention of  silver is worth addressing. 
    Welding silver takes more power than most other welds (very high
    karat gold does too), much more than you'll need for 14k or platinum.
     Don't buy a lower powered welder if you're planning to get useful
    welding with silver.  Also, you'll likely find it useful to choose a
    model that allows some control over pulse shape.  I don't know if the
    CPP pulse optimizing thing works well or not, but I'd prefer a laser
    like the Rofin, and others, where you can actually define a pulse
    shape.  That can be very helpful in addressing problems with weld
    cracking, which sometimes show up with silver, as well as some other
    metals.  In general, I'd say silver of the most difficult metal to
    weld, and you'll be grateful for all the power you can afford.  the
    key figures are not overall power, which might relate not to just the
    power of an individual pulse, but it's repeat rate too.  That's
    nice, but what you need to compare is the actual maximum power of a
    single pulse.  That can be specified in joules, or you can compare
    maximum voltage settings for an idea, as well.   it can be difficult
    to compare lasers from different manufacturers since they don't rate
    their machines according to any uniform standard.  One can, for
    example, rate the power delivered in a laser pulse, or one can
    specify the power the machine draws from the electrical outlet. 
    Both might be given in watts or kilowatts, but the two are wildly
    different measurements.  You might wish to actually get a salesperson
    to let you sit down at one of the lasers you're contemplating, and
    try a typical weld in silver. Use the heaviest type of thing you
    expect to be able to weld, and see if you and the salesperson can get
    it to give you an acceptable weld.  then repeat this with the other
    potential candidates.  With the cost of these things, it's worth your
    while to do this sort of homework.   Were you doing only 14K gold,
    or platinum, then I'd say almost any laser out there would do what
    you want. But your specifying a difficult to weld metal when you
    mention silver.  Not all of the machines out there will be powerful
    enough for that. 

Peter



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