Not being a welder, I always forget the different between MIG and TIG welding. I think I saw a demo on a Motor Trend channel show once (don’t laugh, I think it was Jessi Combs on All Girls Garage). So I just went and found a pretty good Youtube video some guy did. Seems like MIG welding means less warpage and lots more sanding.
But my takeaway is for someone like me who lacks the skill and steady hands for TIG welding, don’t even consider Chuck’s laser welder. From: AF <af-boun...@af.afmug.com> On Behalf Of Chuck McCown via AF Sent: Monday, March 25, 2024 10:15 AM To: Cameron Crum <cc...@murcevilo.com> Cc: Chuck McCown <ch...@go-mtc.com>; AnimalFarm Microwave Users Group <af@af.afmug.com> Subject: Re: [AFMUG] OT Laser Welder Way more. Like $30k Sent from my iPhone On Mar 25, 2024, at 7:36 AM, Cameron Crum <cc...@murcevilo.com <mailto:cc...@murcevilo.com> > wrote: Cost vs a mig welder? On Sat, Mar 23, 2024 at 9:35 PM Chuck McCown via AF <af@af.afmug.com <mailto:af@af.afmug.com> > wrote: Hand held. Sent from my iPhone On Mar 23, 2024, at 6:16 PM, Ken Hohhof <khoh...@kwom.com <mailto:khoh...@kwom.com> > wrote: Hand held? Or like a CNC machine? ---- Original Message ---- From: "Chuck McCown via AF" Sent: 3/23/2024 6:27:37 PM To: "AnimalFarm Microwave Users Group" Cc: "Chuck McCown" Subject: Re: [AFMUG] OT Laser Welder A lot like using a glue gun. Sent from my iPhone On Mar 23, 2024, at 3:59 PM, Chuck McCown via AF <af@af.afmug.com <mailto:af@af.afmug.com> > wrote: ? I bought a laser welder with the hope it would improve my fuel and hydraulic tank welding. I was very skeptical that such a small bead would be strong enough. But it is as strong as the base metal and is a perfect weld. Even over dirty and rusty metal. Super fast. You only need glasses or goggles. Not even that bright. Brazing is brighter. And with minimal heat to the workpiece too. Today, we were putting a PID temperature controller on an old glass bead oven/kiln so I can do some temperature research on my diamond cutter bits. The guys had mounted the controller in a place where its terminals could come in contact with some 120 VAC going to the heating elements if the controller was wiggled a bit. And they didn’t have the bezel hold down on properly so it was wiggley. I noticed the problems immediately. While they did a good job centering the controller in the middle of the control panel, it had to be offset a bit to the right and down to make sure there was no chance of things ever touching. So I cut a rectangular piece of 16 gauge steel with a rectangular offset hole in it for the temperature controller. Then cut some notches in the panel to accommodate the offset. Then put some tiny weld beads on the back side so there are no welds visible from the outside. Super nice repair job. Those tiny weld beads are if a 6” man with a tiny MIG welder got in there and did them. I welded this in with the temperature controller installed in the patch. It was a half inch away from the weld. Nothing got hot enough to smoke or melt or deform. So easy to do perfect work on super thin metal. And it will do aluminum too. It does take nitrogen shielding gas and probably uses more than a mig welder but that is no big deal. Nitrogen is cheap and you can buy nitrogen filters to make it yourself. If you even need to do some rework or or repair to a metal instrument panel, this is the tool you want. >From the thinnest sheet metal up to .250” it can make anyone a pro. -- AF mailing list AF@af.afmug.com <mailto:AF@af.afmug.com> http://af.afmug.com/mailman/listinfo/af_af.afmug.com -- AF mailing list AF@af.afmug.com <mailto:AF@af.afmug.com> http://af.afmug.com/mailman/listinfo/af_af.afmug.com -- AF mailing list AF@af.afmug.com <mailto:AF@af.afmug.com> http://af.afmug.com/mailman/listinfo/af_af.afmug.com
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