Let's Talk Laser Welding with LightWELD

Cool video. I did some robotic laser welding while in the auto industry, but was always curious how these hand held units worked. Gotta lose those safety glasses though Paul, got you looking like Bubbles from Trailer Park Boys, lol.

I am not a welder. But I work around many irons workers doing welding tasks. Looking at Laser welder that look much time efficient and safer from the sparks flying everywhere.

aw laser weld it requires gas tank same as mig, i thought is a ordinary welding machine with laser gun on it

Buck Rogers? How old are you?! Starsl Wars came out in 1978 dude

I cant work out why welders caps looks so stupid

Please post titanium gr5 welding

Can you do multi pass's

I hope this thing is gonna be alot more common in the future so i can get to work with it then im done with my education.

Not sure how the laser is more advanced than pulse spray arc transfer TIG, especially if the torch is liquid cooled. In welding thin to thick you just bias the weld pool towards the thicker material not a problem. For both processes backing Argon must be used. I think the TIG control and the ability to add the proper filler as you go for the length of the welds shown does not justify the laser as a heat source.

If I'm welding parts 4x faster I better be seeing 4x pay

After 3rd year of using on and off the Ligthweld 1500 personally I totally regret my decision of purchase. We don't even use it on the daily bases. I don't know if its my unit or it is general but we experiencing power loss, laser power cut off, trigger problems, ER04 at no reason after 15-20 sec of welding, The fiber optic cable connection at the gun is so weak it tend to break. If I would open my software and check for past error codes this comment would be 3 pages long, and 90% of the error codes happens at no reason. The wire feeder weep line connection is horrible at the nozzle after the 1st use the plastic melted from heat reflection, I had to fabricate cooper tube connections to solve that. One of my friend purchased one unit recently, she has small hands barely can hold the gun and press the triggers. Her unit wire connection at the gun is already coming apart after a few months of use imo only a few ghosts are holding the fiber-laser source cable in place. The unit is closer to garbage than a good machine.They guided me over the phone to fix adjust software, thought me how to fix/replace the trigger, adjust the focus etc, basically made it a self serve repair, smart from them. I had to ship it in, to repair 2 times, obviously at the middle of laser welding jobs.every single sizable job got ghosted because of the IPG LightWeld 1500 stopped functioning hello if you not use it wont break right? I had an engineer came to my shop lots of times to fix it, but IPG don't do that anymore. If you weld small parts it maybe a good solution but I doubt it after my 3 years of experience with unit. Currently it is out of commission again in the middle of a larger job. larger I mean what the unit can handle supposed to lay 1680 inch of weld I got stock at less then 140". could not finish the 1st part. now we have to grab the tig welder again it never failed us. This is what I learned if I don't use it longer than 10-15 min at any given time it fine. If I exceed 30 min power on it does fail each an ever time. Now what do I do? No warranty anymore it become a 21000 dollar pile of trash. Talking to some engineers at IPG according to them the owner of IPG told them to create design a hand held laser welder it was not ready for the market and the owner made them push anyway. In the trigger assembly you will find in-house 3D printed plastics parts they wear out. I don't know if they fixed that but all my replacement trigger switches has the same 3D printed parts. 1 more spare trigger switch remains in my inventory but right now the issue is larger than the trigger switch. For the same problem we had to ship in to repairs.

If anyone is looking to purchase one of these machines I have 3 available brand new in the box with receipts!!

what kind of wires the machine use is it the same as MIG welder

As a former welder, this thing looks like a ton of fun to use.

Doesn't look great if I must be honest..maybe someday.

Welding Steel Maximum 6mm
For 33,000 Plus Taxes And
Shipping 40,000 Dollars
Some Chinese Good Brands Are
Less Than Half Price And Welding
Better Than Lightweld And Welding
Up to 1 Inch.
Not Body Buy Lightweld 1,500 Now
Because Raycus Chinese Brand Is
100 Times Better Than Lightweld Brand.
Amén.

A Docol R8 rollcage welded with this method would likely be WAY stronger than a conventional rollcage. And less distorted to boot. Damn.

I want to see a strength test. Claims to go up to 10mm? OK. Butt weld 10mm coupons, traditionally and lightweld. Then test the joint to strength.

I don't trust the penetration or capabilities to justify a $50k welding system

Finally a usefully lazar that isn't a cat toy it scanning grocery's 😊

I like the idea, but I wasn't very impressed by the examples. I'm not a good welder, but the welds in the video seemed about as impressive as the welds I make.... not very. Granted it could be better in person. Some things I'd like to see.
1. Cut and etch to show the weld profile.
2. More specifications shown such as max gap and max thickness.
3. Seems to have the same problem as plasma cutting. Tool to piece friction causes jerky welds. They need a roller tip, or maybe just a tig finger. (kind of a joke, but they really are handy). A low friction drag tip though should be essential. As you were welding, the gas cup / drag tip was leaving a trail on the work piece.
4. Will anyone be doing structural welding with these anytime soon?

I'm a fan of the idea of the laser rust removal tools and laser welders, but I don't know yet if they will do the welding I do as a hobbyist. Making work tables and doing car modifications. Thanks for showcasing the welder, I'll keep researching these things.

Ipg photonics makes the world's best sources of continuous laser radiation. It's funny that this Russian company came up with the technology and introduced it globally into the world.

how much are they? cant find it for sale

Someone sell it to China so they can mass produce for cheap

I'm tempted to say the price of these will continue to drop as the technology becomes more widely available, and more buyers are purchasing these (much like the microwave). But for now I could buy at least 2 REALLY nice Miller or Lincoln machines for the price of one of these things. Perhaps in the future.

This is very interesting. I had the opportunity to test the laser cleaning products before and that alone was just mind blowing! Please make a video of weld quality through NDT inspections and weld strength testing.

Looks bad

There's 450,000 vacant positions mostly because employers don't pay skilled welders much more than a fry cook at Burger King. At least here in west PA. 19.00 per hour average production welder salary vs 15.00 per hour working fast food. Seriously it's insulting

Last year, I made a purchase of a Light Weld XC machine. Unfortunately, upon unboxing, it was non-functional. After reaching out to their technical support, I did receive some level of responsiveness. Several phone calls later, a technician was dispatched to my facility approximately three weeks later, equipped with a new circuit board. It was disappointing to experience such a delay in repairs for a brand-new welder, especially considering the total investment of $30,000 for my startup. The explanation given was that there may have been a defective batch of circuit boards sent during the initial production phase, indicating a systemic issue.

Eventually, the technician replaced the circuit board on-site at my facility, requiring only about 20 minutes. I was relieved to have the machine back in working order. However, my satisfaction was short-lived. After only 25 hours of service, conveniently just one month after the warranty period expired, the same issue recurred. The manufacturer provided me with a repair quote ranging from $2,000 to $4,000, along with a complex set of instructions detailing how to properly package and ship the welder using various tilt and impact sensors (incurring additional costs and logistical challenges). Opting for this route would mean facing another few weeks of lead time. Alternatively, if I chose to have a technician come to my facility for repairs, the costs and turnaround time would be even greater.

Fortunately, being part of a massive global corporation, I have the financial means to absorb this setback. However, for a small business relying on this capital investment, the situation would be dire. Consequently, I strongly emphasize the importance of conducting thorough research before making such purchases. I recently discovered that these "welders" are not compatible with TIG welders, a critical piece of information that was not disclosed during the sales process. It would have been helpful if the seller had mentioned this limitation when selling a welder to someone with welding expertise. These circumstances have left me disheartened. As a 20-year welding veteran, I wanted to share my perspective and caution others in similar situations to exercise diligence and consider all relevant factors before making such investments.

Great how out of position up and down mild steel stainless steel alum

How much is this machine

How much to this machine coast

Very cool. So fast. Beautiful welds.

There has to be a very valid reason to use one of these to justify the ~$30,000 cost.

4x shorter weld time means a less argon used, and that is a big cost reduction.

When i look at this technology, it seems that, unlike electric arc welding, it does not produce ultraviolet light which is a big advantage.

Awesome video!! Thanks for posting this!!

That's horseshit they will doll ever easy with them things with no containment been doing it for years no problem this over-controlled country we live in that's why it cost so much you can buy it over there for one tenth of the price welding unions or fighting this unit to come here in the United States because anybody can do it so all them certification the big wages will go by the wayside so there will be no unions because a monkey can do it so don't believe all that horseshit you just telling you

My company just invested in this exact same machine, and I believe we have taken a quantum leap from the old MIG welding we used to do. This machine is mind blowing.

That is super cool!! But idk if I can hear we need more welders in the field and then go on over and look at a $30,000 price tag! 🫣😬 once this tech comes down in price this is gonna be awesome!!

For the price it better weld the earth together.

I think you need to be a lot more up front about the dangers of the process. Like telling us that the process will blind you for life after a few seconds of exposure. This thing is extremely dangerous.

I noticed all your welds were done by simply dragging the hand held unit. I rarely have the opportunity to do that while using my wire feed.

I’d like to see some ndt for quality.

My main concern is Maintenance ???
Working on the theory this Laser Welder machines cost almost the same price as a decent Fronius Welding machine.
I can only assume it will cost just as much to Repair ???
Next concern is ???
Will this Manufacturer still be around in 3, 5 or even 10 years to provide backup on Spare Parts or other wear & tear items ???
This is most of the reason I purchased a Miller Dynasty.
Because they have proven history and access to Spare Parts.
It's great that these Laser Welding machines are available.
Just concerned about what happens when they Stop Working ????

Expensive but fascinating!

Good for automotive body repair shop

Since this thing isn't cheap and I thought about learning how to weld. What are cheaper alternatives?

I wonder if you can weld non ferrous metals like titanium, gold or platinum with laser welding?

I'm sorry but are we just not going to talk about how he just swapped out plates when welding the t joints? like literally cut the bottom of the plate off with the welding machine, and then shows a completely different plate in the next shot. my dude...the plate you're showing has round corners and the one you welded has square corners and not to mention you basically cut the entire plate off when welding, AND THEN YOU GO ON TO SAY THAT WITH A TIG WELDER YOU WOULD BURN THE THIN PLATE WHEN YOU LITERALLY JUST DID THAT WITH THE LASER WELDER! did you think nobody would notice this?!?!

Whats up with those grooves along the entire right edge of the weld; are they preventable?