Handheld fiber welding laser 1000W

In terms of design and maintenance, this is a very simple machine creating excellent welds.

Advantages of laser welding

• prevents deformation of the material during welding,
• minimum material heating,
• thin hair feud, very nice to look at,
• high speed,
• we weld various types of materials (stainless steel + brass, copper),
• possibility of welding even in places with limited access,
• suitable for food industry or laboratories.

A huge advantage of this technology is its speed - at an output of 2 kW and penetrating to a depth of the mentioned 2 mm, the welding speed is around 2 meters per minute. Thanks to the contactless and electrodeless technology, no impurities are introduced into the weld. The resulting weld created by laser technology has a very narrow trace in the color of the metal and, unlike traditional technologies, no longer requires further treatment by grinding.

Thanks to the high accuracy of the input energy regulation and the precisely defined point of the laser beam, it is possible to perform high-precision welding with a pre-guaranteed output. At the same time, only the most necessary amount of energy is introduced into the process at a predefined point, so there are no thermal deformations of the weldment.

Another indisputable advantage of laser welding is the breadth of materials that can be welded. In addition to the mentioned carbon steels, it is also possible to weld low-alloy and austenitic stainless steels, aluminum or carbon alloys, titanium alloys but also copper or nickel. In many cases, it is possible to weld these materials together, which is impossible with conventional welding processes. Some types of plastics and composite materials can also be welded using laser technology.

The welding process takes place in two basic ways:

• The first welding variant is deep welding technology, also referred to as keyhole welding. In this process, which requires a very high concentration of energy, the beam is focused on the surface of the welded material where it begins to melt and evaporate the metal. The steam (more precisely, the plasma) generated by melting the metal is highly ionized and can absorb the energy of the laser again, thus further increasing the efficiency of the whole process. The depth of such a weld can be ten times greater than its width.
• For thinner materials, the principle of conduction welding is more often used, in which a slightly defocused beam is guided along the joint of the welded materials. The energy is absorbed by the material which is melted and mixes at the weld. Heat is propagated only due to the thermal conductivity of the materials themselves. With this method, the width of the weld is always greater than its depth. An extremely clean and smooth weld is created.

Another advantage of laser welding compared to conventional MIG / MAG or TIG technologies is the possibility of very precise setting of welding parameters on the welder's control panel, thanks to which it is possible to weld even very thin materials (from 0.3 mm). Precise control of the laser source allows the use of a whole range of beam welding modes - continuous mode, pulse mode, mode of gradual increase of power called loop, beam oscillation according to the pattern, or their preset combinations.

As with other technologies, welding can take place with or without added material. Laser welders are often equipped with an automatic material feeder with a diameter of 0.6 - 1.2 mm. The feed speed to the weld is freely adjustable and can therefore be regulated very precisely.

The laser head does not come into contact with the material during welding. For manual welders, the miniature laser head is placed in a gun grip and is connected to the body of the welder by a flexible cable leading the optical fiber and possibly providing guidance of additional material and assist gas. This design ensures very good handling of the entire tool. In the front part of the head there is a "nozzle", supplied in various shapes, which facilitate the execution of individual types of welds. Thanks to good handling, welding can be performed even in hard-to-reach places where it would not be possible to use traditional technologies.

To be objective, it is necessary to mention the disadvantages of the principles of laser welding. This technology is not yet suitable for welding very strong materials, which will still have to wait for welders with higher power. Another disadvantage is the need to ensure laser safety by creating a suitable welding workplace - but it is a one-time cost that is solved within the installation of the technology. As with other welding technologies, the principles expressed in the safety standard must be observed.

Another minor disadvantage may be the preparation of the parts themselves for the welding process. As the laser welding technology itself is very precise, it is also demanding on the precise fitting of the welded parts. The last disadvantage that should be mentioned is the higher price of the welder itself, which today is in the range of 0.5-1 million CZK.

Laser welding technology is suitable for precise welding of mainly metal elements with the required weld depth up to approx. 4 mm. It creates a clean joint without clogged dirt, which no longer needs to be further modified. It excels in the high speed of the welding process and is also suitable for creating welds in metal combinations, which cannot be achieved with conventional technologies.