Laser Welding with Steve Satow

Landslide

Be sure to cut a groove in the weld zone of a thicker piece.  Then “landslide” the side walls of the host metal into the bottom of the trough you created.  Fill to the top with similar filler metal.

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Laser Welding: Laser Fabrication Druzy Earrings

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White Gold

White gold seems to weld better and with less micro-porosity if you use a palladium alloy with white gold.  E.g. 14k palladium white 30-gauge wire.

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30 gauge Wire

You can do most welding with 30-gauge fill material.  If you need a larger piece of weld material, shoot the end of the 30 gauge wire to make it ball up to a larger diameter piece, then weld.

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Laser Welding: Laser Fabrication Diamond Earrings

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Half Maybe Good Enough

You don’t have to hit a weld zone with the whole beam.  Sometimes hitting it with ½ a beam will produce good results.

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Laser Settings

Think of laser welding settings like water coming from a garden hose.  Turning on the water (whether all the way or partially) is the voltage.  The nozzle is the beam diameter.  How long you hold the water in one place is the equivalent of the millisecond setting.

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Laser Welding: Laser Setting a Blue Star Sapphire in a Bezel

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Changing Laser Settings

A good rule of thumb for changing laser settings to enhance performance is to increase/decrease the milliseconds (duration of the beam) first, and then the beam size, and the voltage last.

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Background

Try to keep objects away from the “background” of what you are welding.  Remember: the laser pulse is a “light bullet,” it can ricochet. 

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