Fiber — welding

Handheld laser welding

Fibre laser welding with a hand torch.

Handheld laser welding puts the beam in a torch the operator holds, with a wobble head that oscillates it across the joint. The heat-affected zone stays narrow, so thin stainless steel does not distort the way it does under TIG, and the weld usually needs little or no dressing afterwards — which is most of the time saved. Power decides how much material a single pass will carry, and so does the joint: a butt joint has to be penetrated right through, while a corner or lap joint takes more. As a rule, 1500 W covers 2 – 3 mm butt and 3 – 4 mm corner joints, 2000 W covers 3 – 4 and 4 – 5 mm, and 3000 W covers 5 – 6 and 6 – 8 mm. Over that, for heavy structural work, MIG or a dedicated process is still the right tool. The range suits sheet metal fabrication and, in particular, signage production: channel letters, light box frames, totems and poles, perforated decorative panels, brackets and support structures — parts where the weld stays visible in the finished product and where every minute of grinding and polishing is a cost.