[Jewelry making - Article 00062] - Re: [Orchid] Laser welding eyeglasses

[Peter W . Rowe]

========[ Invite a Friend - http://www.ganoksin.com/invite.htm  ]========

    laser welds intrinsically tend to be work hardened, and sometimes a
    bit brittle, and this seems especially so with the non-precious
    metals, or various white metals other than platinum.  Also, watch
    out, while welding for those thin spiderweb like lines appearing on
    the surfaces of the weld spots.  Those are cracks, which can easily
    extend deeper, or may already extend through the weld, meaning the
    weld will fail if they're not corrected. 

    A couple steps you can take to help. 

    Use argon sheild gas 

    Use lower power, but longer millisecond weld pulses.  they tend to
    be slightly more self annealing in my experience with some metals. 
    If your laser offers pulse shaping, play with those settings to
    eliminate weld cracks. 

    Build up the weld to a thicker cross section than the metal you
    repair.  Don't trim it totally flush afterwards.  leave the weld a
    bit of a lump. 

    Consider using a filler metal that's as ductile as you can for the
    welds, rather than necessarily an exact match.  I usually use 18K
    yellow gold for welding any yellow metal frame, even when the frame
    is base metal.  The welds crack less than with lower karats, or base
    metals.  And I've now and then used platinum filler wire to weld
    plain white metals, or for a lower welding temp, palladium white gold
    (not nickel white gold, which is quite prone to weld cracking) 

    Test your weld when done.  Flex the thing a little and see if it
    holds for you. If it's gonna break, better it does it while you're
    still sitting there at the laser than later with the customer holding
    their glasses... 

    Understand that some of the metals they make glasses frames from
    simply aren't good candidates for laser welding, and you may not be
    able to tell before hand. Consider doing this work with a disclaimer
    stating that some types of frames simply don't weld very well, and
    such repair work can be unpredictable... 

Peter

____________________________________________________________________
T h e   O r c h i d   L i s t
Open Electronic Forum for Jewelry Manufacturing Methods and Procedures
____________________________________________________________________
Orchid FAQ:
~ http://www.ganoksin.com/orchid/faq.htm
Orchid Archives:
~ http://www.ganoksin.com/orchid/archive
Orchid Galleries:
~ http://www.ganoksin.com/orchid/gallery.htm
Invite a Friend:
~ http://www.ganoksin.com/invite.htm
____________________________________________________________________
Tips From The Jeweler's Bench - Article Archive
~ http://www.ganoksin.com/borisat/tip_sear.htm
The Jeweler's Selected Bibliography List
~ http://www.ganoksin.com/jewelry-books
Buy Orchid Jewelry:
~ http://www.ganoksin.com/shop
____________________________________________________________________
-Unsubscribe:
-Email: orchid-request AT ganoksin.com Body=unsubscribe subject=blank
____________________________________________________________________