As is known to all, laser features good monochromaticity, good brightness and high degree of coherence. And as one of the most popular laser applications, laser welding also uses light produced by laser source and then focused by optical treatment. This kind of light has a great amount of energy. When it projects on the welding parts that need to be welded, the welded parts will melt and become a permanent connection.
About 10 other years ago, the laser source used in laser welding machine in the domestic market was solid state light pumping laser which has huge energy consumption and large size. In order to solve the drawback of “difficult to change the light path”, fiber optic transmission based laser welding machine was introduced. And then inspired by foreign handheld fiber optic transmission device, the domestic manufacturers developed their own handheld laser welding system.
This was the 1.0 version of the handheld laser welding machine. Since it uses fiber optic flexible transmission, the welding operation became more flexible and more convenient.
So people may ask, “Which one is better? The TIG welding machine or the 1.0 version of handheld laser welding machine?” Well, these are two different types of device with different working principles. We can only say that they have their own applications.
TIG welding machine:
1.Applicable for welding materials of more than 1mm thick;
2.Low price with small size;
3.High weld strength and suitable for a wide variety of materials;
4.The welding spot is big but with beautiful appearance;
However, it also has its own drawbacks:
1.The heat affecting zone is quite big and deformation is likely to occur;
2.For materials with 1mm below thickness, it is easy to have bad welding performance;
3.The arc light and the waste smoke are bad for human body
Therefore, TIG welding is more suitable for welding medium thickness materials that require certain degree of strength welding.
1.0 version of handheld laser welding machine
1.The focal spot was quite small and precise, available to be adjusted between 0.6 and 2mm;
2.The heat-affecting zone was quite small and unable to cause deformation;
3.No requirement of post processing like polishing or something like that;
4.No waste smoke generates
However, since the 1.0 version of handheld laser welding system was after all a new invention, its price was relatively high with high energy consumption and large size. What’s more, the weld penetration was pretty shallow and the welding strength was not so high.
Therefore, the 1.0 version of handheld laser welding machine happened to conquer the drawbacks of TIG welding machine. It is suitable for welding thin plate materials which requires lower welding strength. The weld appearance is beautiful and requires no post-polishing. This makes handheld laser welding machine began to be used in advertising and grinding tool repair business. However, the high price and high energy and big size prevented it to be widely promoted and applied.
But later in 2017, domestic laser manufacturers were booming and domestic high performance fiber laser source was widely promoted. 500W, 1000W, 2000W and 3000W medium-high power fiber laser sources were promoted by leading laser manufacturers like Raycus. Fiber laser soon took up big market share in the laser market and gradually replaced the solid state light pumping laser. Then some laser device manufacturers developed handheld laser welding machine with 500W fiber laser as the laser source. And this was the 2.0 version of the handheld laser welding system.
Comparing with the 1.0 version, 2.0 version of handheld laser welding machine greatly improved the welding efficiency and processing performance and was able to weld materials with below 1.5mm thickness which require certain degree of strength. However, the 2.0 version was not perfect enough. The ultra-high precision focal spot requires the welded products to be also precise. For example when welding 1mm materials, if the weld line is bigger than 0.2mm, the welding performance would be less satisfactory.
To meet the demanding weld line requirement, laser device manufacturers later developed the wobble style handheld laser welding machine. And this is the 3.0 version.
The main feature of wobble style handheld laser welding machine is that the welding focal spot is wobbling with high frequency, which makes the welding focal spot be adjusted to 6mm. That means it can weld the products with big weld line. Besides, the 3.0 version is smaller than the 2.0 version in size with lower price, which drew great attention once it was launched the market. And this is the version that we see in the market now.
If you are careful enough, you might notice there is often a cooling device under the fiber laser source inside the handheld laser welding system. And that cooling device is used to keep the fiber laser source from overheating, since overheating will lead to decreased welding performance and shorter lifespan. In order to fit in the handheld laser welding system, the cooling device needs to be rack mount type. S&A RMFL series rack mount chillers are especially designed for handheld laser welding machine from 1KW to 2KW. The rack mount design allows the chillers to be integrated into the machine layout, saving considerable space for the users. Besides, the RMFL series rack mount chillers have dual temperature control which offers independent cooling for the laser head and the laser effectively. Find out more about the RMFL series rack mount chillers at
https://www.teyuchiller.com/fiber-laser-chillers_c2
