Alpha Laser’s ALFlak 300 and ALM 300 are 2 of our most popular laser welders, used in businesses worldwide.

The AlFlak 300 Laser Welder – Flexible and Fast

In the automotive industry, when a mistake is made in machining a part, it’s a lengthy process to repair it with traditional welding. The part has to be removed from the milling machine, moved to the welder, pre-heated, welded, installed back in the mill, retouch the tooling, and finally weld it. This repair process can take hours to days.

But with laser welding, the repair can happen in minutes. As seen in the image below, Alpha Laser’s AlFlak 300 laser welder is lifted directly into the mill, where the part is repaired within an hour, without any further disruption to the manufacturing process. After the part is fixed, the AlFlak 300 is lifted out.

This is a true breakthrough in technology – The AlFlak 300 laser welder is fast, flexible, and easy to learn.

The ALM 300 Laser Welder – When Accuracy and Maneuverability Matter

The ALM 300 Laser Welder, known for its extreme flexibility and power, is used in almost every industry, spanning Tool & Die, Automotive, Aerospace, Defense, Fabrication/Manufacturing, and others.

Below is an ALM 300 repairing an injection mold. Instead of removing the entire mold from the press, and then removing the damaged component, the ALM 300 laser welder can repair the damaged part accurately while still in the press, and the weld can be hand worked off so that the injection molding press can be back up and running in a matter of minutes instead of days or hours.

The ALM’s main advantage is flexibility. It has a relatively small body and can be placed in locations with very little space. When the arm is extended all the way out, it can reach over 4.5 feet. It has a brake based locking system, so you can unlock the brakes, manipulate the arm into location in seconds, then lock the brakes and start welding. This flexibility is extremely important when large or cumbersome parts have to be accessed, or when welding needs to be done in an area with very little space to maneuver.

The ALM and ALFlak laser welders provide extreme flexibility and power. This allows for quick repairs in previously impossible positions!

See more on the ALM laser welder.

See more on the AlFlak 300 laser welder.

The Alpha Laser AL-ARM fiber laser welding system is the first laser of its kind in the manufacturing and repair fields. While some of today’s standard procedures like TIG and MIG welding produce quality issues like weld spatter and cracking, the AL-ARM system ups the ante with its increased precision, accuracy, control, and positional flexibility. This flexibility and precision results in a superior and faster weld.

Laser welding systems are often compared to TIG and MIG welding systems since they share similar applications. But laser welders have some extreme advantages over both of these such as:

• much lower heat input
• lower dilution
• very little or no sinc
• no pre or post heat treatment required
• much less pre and post weld processing/machining.

The AL-ARM system takes all of these benefits and blends them with its fiber laser system to produce precision, automation, and real-time monitoring. In the end, you get a clean project aesthetic, a safer work environment, very minimal distortion, and superior weld quality.

How the AL-ARM Fiber Laser Welder Works

The AL-ARM system comprises a high-quality fiber laser coupled to a pistol head which is held by the operator perpendicular to the workpiece. As it feeds welding wire, the AL-ARM uses drive wheels to move across the work surface. The operator controls the welding process while he or she views the weld in real time under magnification from cameras that project the process directly to their welding goggles or to a monitor. This enables real-time monitoring that allows the operator to control the weld in-process. The AL-ARM’s design also allows the operator to jump from part to part while they weld without sacrificing flexibility, reliability, efficiency, or accuracy.

The capability to drive the AL-ARM’s pistol head and wire at the same time essentially means the operator just has to hold the laser steady while using the vision system to keep the beam in focus. This is obviously a big advantage over TIG and MIG welding procedures because the operator has a clear and bright field of view and isn’t restricted to viewing the process through a tinted shield. This ease of use, coupled with the flexibility of the pistol, makes the AL-ARM perfect for a wide variety of uses in fabrication and manufacturing.

Alpha Laser developed the AL-ARM Fiber Laser Welding System for industries with specialized repair applications, such as:

• spot welding repairs where the production process produces defects or no-fill areas, as in the automobile industry.
• repairs that require long travel distance, like scribe line welds.
• large tooling and part repairs, such as nickel shell molds.
• large, single-cavity tooling that’s hard to position on a traditional laser welder system.

An additional benefit of laser welding in general and particularly with the AL-ARM system is low heat input. The quality and precision of the AL-ARM’s fiber laser system combined with its lack of heat mean that the operator can work with the welded material with his or her bare hands almost immediately after the welding is done. This increases job efficiency and attention to detail.

The Alpha Laser AL-ARM is by far the safest, most flexible, precise, and diverse laser welder on the market. Contact us today for more information.

Laser welding is the process of joining two materials together, usually metals, using a laser that provides concentrated heat, high speeds, and accuracy. It is based on pulsed, surface welding and can be done either manually or automatically through CNC (computer numerical control) capable lasers which are often used in the automobile industry. Both penetrative and non-penetrative forms of welding have excellent applications in a wide variety of fields, from Aerospace, Medical, Defense, Energy, Tool & Die, Automotive, Plastic Injection, Die Casting, etc.

The Laser Welding Process

Laser welding replaces the torch used in TIG welding with a joystick that controls laser movement. The welding tech views the weld through a microscope and feeds the welding wire to the site of the weld with their free hand. Fusion welding is also possible, so filler wire isn’t always needed. Depending on the application, welding techs can choose to weld manually, but most laser welders can be programmed to operate automatically if need be.

Laser Welding Advantages

A major advantage of laser welding is its low-heat input. A pulsed laser generates only enough energy to melt the filler wire and base metal. The heat exists for a few milliseconds and then the welded material re-hardens immediately – no molten pool is visible to the naked eye. This lower heat input does very little damage to the base metal and creates an extremely small Heat Affected Zone (HAZ). This means you can also laser weld the same spot more than once without having to worry about creating more problems. It also allows for a longer weld lifecycle.

A secondary advantage of laser welding is its precision and accuracy. For instance, with a laser welder, you can weld spots smaller than .005”. TIG welding certainly can’t offer that level of precision or repeatability.

Laser Welding Applications

Laser welding has many diverse uses within many different industries, including those that revolve around manufacturing – specifically the repair/readdition of metals and fabrication. For example, laser welding is superior for shaft and gear welding, tooling revision and repair, low-heat input welds on smaller weldments, hermetical sealing of containers and valves, to increase wear and life through hard-facing and dissimilar metal welding application, and much more.

Becoming a Skilled Laser Welder

Laser welding itself usually takes many years to master, but only takes a day or two to get the hang of. The key to excellence in laser welding is consistency and practice. As you think through each new problem, you’ll learn new things and hone your muscle memory and these are the skills that will eventually make you proficient.

The real-world applications of welding with lasers are many, and laser welding is rapidly becoming one of the best ways to weld and repair without causing damage or wasting parts.

You don’t have to trash cast metal parts with small defects. Laser welding can repair them.

Imagine a nice, leisurely day of fishing in your bass boat. As you glide over the glass-like water on the lake, searching for the next school of bass, your boat engine starts to make sounds that spell trouble: cutting out, gurgling, a little smoke. Not good. It stops. You love the silence of the lake, but not when you’re floating without power miles from the dock.

Sometimes, a marine engine breakdown like this is not an actual defect in the mechanical parts of the engine. The heart of the problem is a sealed surface whose cast metal wasn’t perfectly smooth. Water finds its way under the seal, finds the gap in the metal, and water leaks into the engine, causing havoc.

So what does bass fishing have to do with laser welding?

The casing of a boat engine obviously must be watertight – and that requires a perfectly smooth surface on the cast metal parts whose faces meet before being sealed.

At times, due to problems with the casting – the molten metal being too cool, or not under enough pressure for example – a cast engine part may have a slight defect such as a “no fill” area. When the part needs to be perfect, as in the case of marine engines, they can’t be used, which can have a very expensive impact on the production line, which must run like a clock. And when a production line goes down, everyone is out a boatload of money.

A simple solution for the cast metal parts manufacturer is to laser weld defects out of the cast part. This can be done in minutes if a laser welder is on site or sent out to a shop to get it done in as little as 24 hours.

Laser welding is cool.

When casting plastic parts, those with imperfections can easily be re-ground and re-cast. But in the case of cast aluminum, it’s more problematic. Because when you re-heat aluminum to re-melt it, impurities are introduced, which in many cases renders the part unusable for the intended purpose. It takes a lot of work to make the aluminum part usable again.

Instead, laser welding can be used on the imperfection in the cast metal to bring it up to spec. Only the area of the part with the imperfection is welded, and with the low temperature of laser welding compared to TIG welding, the integrity of the metal is maintained.

Unlike traditional welding, laser welding is cool – literally. It won’t change the structure of the metal nearly as much, nor introduce impurities as TIG welding might when it heats the surrounding metal. Laser welding is so cool in fact that the welding technician can handle it with bare hands as soon as it’s done.

Once welded, the part can be quickly machined and made usable. So instead of having to trash the cast aluminum part or shutting down the production line to wait on repairs, it can be laser welded and benched in minutes.

“A major auto brand went into a panic when they discovered small defects in 150 engine blocks that were contracted out for their high-performance brand. They assumed laser welding created a similar heat signature to TIG welding and were concerned that the heat would change the integrity of the engine block to the degree that they would be destroyed.  To show them this would not be the case, we recorded a video of a thermocouple attached to the part being welded. The video showed that during the welding process, the temperature of the entire engine block only increased by 3 degrees, posing no problems. Greatly relieved, they gave us the go ahead.”

Laser welding of cast metal parts extends to products you touch every day in your life: mechanical parts of washing machines and kitchen mixers, half of the parts in your car (especially electric cars), gearboxes, hand tools, as well as parts used extensively throughout industry like pump housings, certain kinds of bolts, rotor shafts, engine blocks for trains, and many more.

Our favorite laser welder to weld defects in cast metal parts is the Alflak. Its open, sturdy, flexible design has enough power to get welds done quickly and with precision without having to reposition the welder. You can even put the parts on a conveyor belt underneath it and run the parts as you weld.

See more about Alpha Laser’s Alflak Laser Welder.

We made the video below to show you that a technician can touch the weld point with his bare hands as soon as the weld is finished. How cool is that?

Laser Welding is a superior technology for welding defects in any type of tooling, plastic injection molds, stamping dies, blow molds, turbine blades, and nearly any tooling component made of stainless steel, aluminum, copper alloy, cast iron, and all tool steels. Now, pulsed laser welding is being utilized to repair 3D printed parts as well.

3D printed parts, also known as Additive Manufacturing, have made fast inroads in the tooling industry. In the plastic injection mold industry, the speed of cooling is a critical factor in how fast the mold will cycle. With the introduction of 3D printed parts, engineers are now able to move water lines closer to the molding surfaces to cool the plastic faster so the molded part can be ejected faster. This innovation has reduced cycle times significantly and has increased the output of each mold.

This new tooling made with Additive Manufacturing is printed layer by layer and designed with conformal cooling. Unfortunately, the thin sections and hollow areas of these 3D parts are more prone to warping, cracking, and other damage when traditional welders are used for repair. Laser welding has become the go-to repair method for these tooling parts because of its low heat input.

Laser welders offer precise control and little heat input

A pulsed laser beam can precisely control how much heat is introduced into the workpiece. A laser welded Heat Affected Zone is only .004 -.010 deep and the workpiece is softened in that shallow HAZ by 2-4 points on the Rockwell scale. With a conventional welder, the HAZ would be .100 deep or more and the workpiece would be softened by 15-22 Rockwell.

Physics 101 tells us that heat drives grain growth and when grain size grows it becomes weaker. Therefore, heat is not your friend when welding tool steels. The pulsed laser welder introduces so little heat into the workpiece that a bare hand can be laid on the workpiece when finished welding and the color of the workpiece never changes. And that welded part can be finished machined immediately.

Additionally, the TIG welder may have difficulty reaching certain areas on the part, especially at the delicate edges. Unlike the torch of a TIG welder, the beam of a laser welder shoots straight out from the machine and doesn’t obstruct the tech’s view – as long as the tech can see the area to be welded, it will be welded. A TIG welder simply doesn’t have that flexibility or precision.

Laser welding speed is catching up with TIG welding

The newest generation of laser welders are significantly faster than just a few years ago and are approaching the speeds of TIG welding. Yet with the laser, heat input into the part is managed much more efficiently – controlling for thermal growth, distortion, warping, and annealing. Laser welding more accurately applies metal to the defect area, but stays off adjacent surfaces, greatly reducing rework times.

The cost of 3D printed parts is considerably higher than parts manufactured by traditional methods. That makes laser welding a cost effective choice for repairing a damaged part. Instead of scrapping a damaged or misprinted part, the pulsed laser welder can repair it effectively with little damage, regardless of the materials the part is made from. Pulsed laser welding creates extremely low dilution, so that the base metal and the welded materials are bonded, but not forced to dilute, eliminating porosity or cracking.

Laser welding is an outstanding solution to many of the manufacturing problems confronting the Additive Manufacturing industry. It can be used to join many uncommon alloys, can be deployed in areas of parts with delicate details and features and causes very little damage or change in the base substrate.

Most of the lasers sold by Alpha Laser are capable of welding 3D Printed Parts. See our laser welders here.

Visit Alpha Laser U.S. at these 2019 trade shows in the U.S. and Canada. Check out one of our live demos and see for yourself the precision, accuracy and speed of our latest line of Alpha Laser Welders. You’ll even have the opportunity to try them out yourself.

The Alpha Laser AlFlak Laser Fiber is an extremely flexible and fast laser welder – a true breakthrough in welding technology. The main benefits are that it’s easy and fast to learn and can perform laser welding without the need to constantly reposition the laser or the piece being welded.

The arm on the AlFlak laser welder can effortlessly reach great distances to the welding position, even in deep molds. Welding seams up to 320mm are possible without relocation.

In the video below, we show how in sheet metal welding, fusion welding/gap bridging can be done without filler wire and the level of penetration can be as high as .080 inches.  A hermetic seal can be welded with just the fusion welding process or by hand feeding welding wire.

The AlFlak Laser welder is easy to use and highly maneuverable

One of the things our customers love most about the AlFlak laser is it’s easy to learn, proprietary software WinLaser, which lets you automate small batches of welds, even when welding complex contours and shapes.

Need to switch between large pieces and small pieces? The switching process is remarkably easy.

If you’ve worked with laser welders before, you might have noticed that adjusting the optics for the laser can be difficult. Not so with the AlFlak – in fact, its a breeze. Guide your weld from virtually any angle while remaining comfortable.

Weld distortion is (almost) a thing of the past with laser welding, compared to TIG welding. And the AlFlak laser welder offers better flexibility for horizontal and vertical welding, even at 5mm penetration depth.

Tee joints, lap joints, and other fillet welds are accomplished easily with no weld wire and semi-auto feeding of the rotary. Even a vacuum-tight circular weld on a cooling flange can be accomplished simply, even with a manual path correction thrown in.

The ALFlak laser welder is available in two versions: with a self-propelled caterpillar track or a model that can be moved manually.

Learn more about Alpha Laser’s AlFlkak laser welder

In nuclear power generation, a turbine shaft is a key piece of equipment. Without it, there would be no way to drive the turbines that create electricity. It’s the essential link between the steam produced by the fission reaction and the electricity that lights a city.

Which is why a nuclear plant operator was alarmed to find nicks in a brand new turbine shaft scheduled for installation.

Nicks may sound like a small deal to the average man on the street, but to the operator of a nuclear power plant, it’s the difference between a shaft which rotates the turbine reliably year after year or a county-wide blackout when it cracks or fails. That’s because a shaft in a nuclear power plant must be perfectly within spec so that when it rotates, force is distributed evenly across the shaft. But nicks cause inconsistencies in the rotation which places stress on the metal, which may eventually cause it to crack. And even minuscule cracks introduce more weakness into the metal and more inconsistencies in rotation, causing more cracks. And so on.

This particular nuclear power plant shaft was made of an incredibly dense austenitic nickel-chromium superalloy called Inconel, specifically developed for service in extreme environments with high pressure and kinetic energy. It’s more durable under heat than steel or aluminum, yet inconsistencies appear in the manufacturing process which are difficult to machine off.

It was during an inspection of the shaft in the machining process that nicks were discovered, and an inquiry call was placed to Alpha Laser.

Laser welding vs TIG welding when precision matters.

Nicks in any metal, even the hardest alloy, can be removed by welding. The problem with traditional or TIG welding is that it does a lot of damage to the metal and reduces the hardness (Rockwell scale) in the heat affected zone (the area in and around where the weld took place). So while the metal at the welds doesn’t appear to be damaged, it’s actually softer than the areas that weren’t welded, making the shaft weaker at those points.

Because of the precise nature of laser welding, no weakening occurs at the welded areas, as the heat affected zone is smaller and cools instantly. TIG welding is also very imprecise and creates a much larger buildup of material on the metal surface than with laser welding. This buildup has to be machined off to the thousandths of an inch. So laser welding also creates less work for the machine shop.

Laser welding the turbine shaft.

Confident that laser welding was the way to go, the nuclear plant operator shipped the 20,000-pound shaft to Alpha Laser, where the laser welding took place.

Because they needed mobility and power to weld a 20,000-pound shaft of an extremely dense nickel alloy that was 15 feet long and ranged between 11 inches and 6 feet in diameter, Alpha Laser rigged up a powerful 500 Watt Nd:YAG laser to the Alflak mobile laser. This not only was very effective in welding the damaged areas but also was flexible enough to easily reach any spot on the shaft.

Alpha Laser spent 5 days repairing the nicks. As time was a major consideration for the plant operator, when Alpha Laser’s work was done in Pennsylvania, they accompanied the shaft to a machine shop where the finishing took place. Alpha was on hand so that any new inconsistencies could be quickly repaired and machined.

Total turnaround time for the shaft repair was 20 days, including shipping, repair, and machining. If the shaft would have been returned to the manufacturer and a new one made, downtime at the plant may have been up to 20 weeks, not days.

Laser welding was clearly the superior choice.

One of the most common problems tool and die manufacturers and molders encounter is when the core or cavity of their mold tooling begins to crack. Tools are run for months, which means thousands of hours under intense heat and pressure for every single shot of plastic. So, it’s not surprising when small fissures form in the metal after over a million or so shots have been run. And that’s on a brand new tool. Once a crack appears, the mold core repair must be performed, promptly and precisely, in order to maintain flash-free, defect-free parts.

A manufacturer has several options for repairing their mold tooling: send away the cracked cores to be repaired, repair them in-house, or make brand new ones. Most large-scale manufacturers choose to repair cores themselves as it is faster, less wasteful, and allows the producer to stick to its production schedule. As for the repair itself, manufacturers have two options: laser welding and TIG welding.

TIG welding involves a lot of extra steps, with no way to guarantee that the entire crack has been repaired. In a pinch it will suffice, but there’s still a significant chance the repair won’t last very long due to a lack of controllable heat output and poor visibility during the repair process. And because TIG welds can produce too much heat during the welding process, they can actually move the metal and distort the entire part.

Mold core repair welds are already somewhat of a delicate process given how close to the surface the core’s water lines can run. The metal that separates 450-degree injected plastic from cold water can be as thin as .250” thick. Too much heat and its structural integrity is soon compromised.

Where visibility is concerned, the very nature of the TIG welding process impairs your ability to see the crack clearly. The less than optimal lighting conditions mean you will only see what is visible to the naked eye, more than likely missing the full extent of the crack. The microscopic segments of the crack, which have not been repaired, will cut short the usable life of the core. Also, if the repair is incomplete, the core or cavity will continue to leak, making it unusable and requiring another repair attempt.

Laser welding repairs the cracked core or cavity, and also extend its lifecycle after the repair. This is because laser welding imparts less stress on a part and can weld dissimilar metals. TIG welding cannot guarantee that a core’s lifecycle will be extended due to its larger heat-affected zone. Also, laser welding is a low-heat process with a very small heat-affected zone that won’t damage or distort the base metal.

Laser welding is also much more accurate than TIG welding, providing a microscope with at least 10x magnification and a joystick for more precise movement and handling. This is why pulse laser welding allows you to find the crack in a core or cavity even if it’s invisible to the naked eye. Many cracks can propagate past their origin point without leaking or visible damage. If left alone, this invisible section of the crack will continue to grow until the damage is noticeable again. Laser welding gives you the ability to focus laser energy on the crack to find its root, offering a better assessment of the scope of the repair.

At Alpha Laser-US, we understand that certain things are unavoidable and out of a manufacturer’s control. Cores and cavities cracking is one of them, but the mold core repair process is not. With a laser welding system in-house, you can manage repairs the right way and better meet your production requirements.

Talk to us today to schedule a live demo and learn about our training process.

Alpha Laser-US is pleased to welcome Michael Barsanti to the Alpha Laser Sales team. Michael will be responsible for overseeing sales efforts in the Midwest and managing Alpha Laser’s overall expansion into the region. “We are excited to have Michael on board to help expand the Alpha Laser footprint,” said Wes Wheeler, Sales Manager for Alpha Laser-US. He continued, “Michael’s vast knowledge of laser welding systems and equipment, and more than 20 years’ experience in laser solution-selling will help Alpha Laser-US continue to meet the needs of U.S. manufacturing businesses as we expand our North American presence.”

Alpha Laser-US provides advanced laser welding systems and solutions to manufacturing businesses, and organizations in tooling and die industries. Its broad range of welding solutions and applications includes laser welding, laser hardening, laser cladding, enclosed laser systems, mobile laser systems and open laser systems. Manufacturing businesses depend on Alpha’s engineering and technical expertise, and industry-leading laser welding systems to better preserve and maintain their mold and die tooling.

“Manufacturers invest a great deal of money into mold and die tooling,” said Mr. Barsanti. He continued, “So, anything that helps extend mold life and improve the manufacturing process will understandably offer significant benefits to the bottom line. Nobody does this better than Alpha Laser, and I’m thrilled to have the opportunity to join such a dedicated, knowledgeable team of experts.”

Michael brings to Alpha Laser-US over two decades of experience helping manufacturers and businesses find solutions for their mold and die tooling needs. His area of expertise ranges from laser welding and cladding to metallurgical lab and 3D metal printing. In his free time, Michael enjoys watching both MMA and his favorite football team, the Chicago Bears. He also loves traveling and sightseeing, from the grand architecture of Chicago to the eclectic diversity of Los Angeles. Michael can be reached by phone at 814-336-9000 (ext: 237), and by email at michael.barsanti@alphalaser.com.

Alpha Laser pulse laser welders are the preferred solution for mold and die tooling needs because of their capacity for fast welds and careful repair work. Our team of laser welding engineers, operators and technicians help manufacturers extend the life of their molding and die tooling and improve manufacturing processes with laser welding systems that offer better control and greater precision.

Get in touch today to schedule a welding demo or meeting with a laser welding expert.