If you are using an older wire feeder A. Pull off the weld prior to releasing the triggers. This will separate the wire and the laser beam will stop when pulled off B. At end of weld release upper or trigger two - wait a second - then pull trigger two and release which fires laser for moment and separates the wire - this can be good practice too as keeping trigger 1 - lower trigger on - keeps gas flow going over the weld to supply end of weld shielding of the weld puddle. On the new wire feeders or the double wire feeder the retract is faster and this is not normally a problem.

35 to 50 scfh per the IPG chart on pressure vs. flow rate on the LightWELD systems

@@Serra-LightBOT thanks for the reply. I’m trying to figure out how much nitrogen gas a laser welder uses and I can’t find anything on the internet. From the limited information I could find and using some math I determined that 50 liters of nitrogen would last 3.05 minutes at 35 cubic feet per hour which seems excessive..and wrong. Maybe you could let me know how much gas?

A couple of answers. With the 1st wire feeder IPG introduced it was easy to get stuck when new to LightWELDing, and with some experience this could be eliminated. Its easy to unstick if you do get stuck by a quick fire of the laser beam. On the new wire feeders there is a retract feature where you can put in a retract speed and time of retraction. This feature was not on the original wire feeders and its the key to not sticking the wire - even for novice LightWELDERS. The new IPG wire feeder also uses a stepper motor and has very consistent wire feed whereas the original the speed was not always consistent.

We have a product called the LightMOTE that allows you control all the LightWELD settings. serralaserstore.com/collections/accessories-for-lightweld/products/lightmote-remote-control-for-lightweld

Nitrogen

Can be used for either

On this weld two things - one is you need to have the gun perpendicular to the weld so the wobble will cover the weld - so that means a big arc of the robot arms - the other is the robot needed to unwind the cabling inbetween the welds

@@Serra-LightBOT Programming robots for 14 yrs, what's the wobble? I understand the wind up and unwind between the 2 welds. I am talking about all the unnecessary movements during the weld. Weld gun 45 to the joint with slight push, all can be done with only moving J6

This is not a mig welder. The laser beam has a left to right to left wobble which takes the beam - which is .002 to .006 in diameter - and wobbles it to make the laser energy wide enough to cover the weld. This means the gun tube needs to be perpendicular in direction to the weld - you cannot weld off any direction from the gun torch - so you need to swing a bigger arc than you would if MIG welding

I don't think you understand how the laser gun works - its not a mig welder which of course you are correct in stating - but I don't think you have been programming a hand held laser welder that has a built in wobble so hard to explain but for sure if you understood the wobble it would make sense to you.

We posted another video of the welding. Turned out very well. Wire could be done also on this part.

Speed of the weld can be increased by increasing the power output of the LightWELD - up to the maximum output of the LightWELD. Speed of the movement inbetween the welds can be increased by using the non co bot speed parameters - which are intended for operation when not in proximity to people

The wireless adapter has two ports. One goes to the LightWELD and the other one could go to a laptop. The way we normally have this configured is the 2nd port would go to an internet connection.

contact me at [email protected] . We are the Fanuc integrators and can quote and retrofit this for you.

This is a cleaning nozzle tip. If you have a XC or XR model it will do laser cleaning and comes with 3 different nozzles for laser cleaning. There are IPG presets for cleaning - look up the material type and the intensity required and a two digit alpha code is found - put this in the LightWELD and its ready to clean. You can set the width of the cleaning path with the wobble length knob on the bottom of the LightWELD control panel. The cleaning mode can also be used for stenciling part numbers or logos onto parts using a thin metal stencil.

Welding a round tube is not a problem - but you do need access to the weld joint. This gun is bigger than a TIG weld torch. There is some leeway angle to the weld that works and you are coming at the weld from an angle - not straight up and down - so its really a part by part basis on weld accessibility.

@@Serra-LightBOT Thanks!

There is no electrical arc so a ground is not needed - however this is a contact clamp that is used in a way similar to a ground, but no current carried. This contact clamp is designed as a safety feature - in order for the laser to fire the nozzle or wire must be touching the material. So the welder cannot fire the laser by accident or across the room. Contacting the material with the nozzle or wire does two things. 1 . Is a safety feature as explained 2. Maintains correct focal distance from the focusing lense in order for the laser to weld.

Fiber lasers are not all the same. What the IPG presets do is make it easy for someone who does not know anything about laser welding to be able to easily set it up with no prior laser welding experience. And fast. Adjustments can be made. Power adjustment alters the depth of penetration, adjustment of the wobble width spreads the energy over a wider area - adjusted by % of factory preset - and frequency % of factory preset. And the user can make his own user presets where he has control of all the parameters - in absolute terms and memorize these with a two digit recall. This section of LightWELD is accessed thru the IPG user interface. Each builder has a different set of parameters - beam quality and mode type affect the depth of penetration with a given power - focal length, fiber diameter, collimation all can change the weld parameters between one builder and another. IPG also considered the environment welding takes place in - so wanted a system where the set up consisted of adjusting knobs and simple input vs. trying to adjust many parameters with a welding glove on a membrane screen - which over a short time will show wear and be unreadable. Use the IPG Welding Mode chart to look up the material - type of weld - fusion - wire - spot/tack - and depth of penetration and a two digit alpha code sets the weld up. Simple but powerful. Make fine adjustments where needed - memorize the adjustments if desired - and weld. All IPG preset conditions have been tested and x ray analyzed - and work right out of the box.

@@Serra-LightBOT thanks for the complete explanation. But I think Fiber laser are all the same. Maybe different quality of the material and maybe not exactly the same power output ase described. I would prefer ipg only give the power settings and wooble seetings for different application. If you use this so you can laser welding with any machine world wide. Anyways, thank you for the explanation.

No problem. But in reality they are not all the same. Even IPG lasers are not all the same. The multi mode fiber lasers IPG uses on the 1500 and 1500 XC will penetrate .160 into the material. The 1500 XR - with the same power - will penetrate .250 into the material. The energy density is the key here as the XR has a smaller beam spot and has 6 X the energy in the same space - which is more efficient in coupling with the material. IPG lasers are known for their beam quality or brightness This has a beneficial effect especially on welding reflective materials such as aluminum and copper. Especially thin aluminum. With a multi mode laser it takes about 700 watts to weld aluminum or the beam just bounces off the aluminum. With the single mode laser you can start welding aluminum with 350 watts which makes welding thin aluminum much easier to do. In general a single mode laser uses about 30 % less power to get the same depth of penetration as the multi model. Which has the effect of minimizing heat input into the part. IPG makes alot of different fiber laser sources and has many years of welding experience - in batteries - automotive and other applications - and this experience was brought to the LightWELD product.

@@Serra-LightBOT Is an A1 setting equal to an E1 if both are manually changed to 1000 watts & 30 wobble frequency?

John- what model of LightWELD are you asking about ?

Basic setting is pulse. 3 - 4 hz or wobbles per second, 2.5 mm wobble width, wire speed at 40 cm/min (about 40% slower than a CW wire weld). Power same as power per the penetration for wire welding. More power can be used sometimes as pulsing in general puts less heat into the power. Adjustment is power for depth of penetraton and wobble frequency for look of the weld. Wobble width can also be adjusted but normally in the 2.5 mm range. kzbin.info/www/bejne/d6rRmGyhib1geq8 if you go to the 10 minute mark on this video Evan goes into an explanation on set up and shows some different welds and what changes make to the weld.

Yes we can add the Fanuc CRX co robot to any existing LightWELD system. This allows full control of the LightWELD from the Fanuc controller including calling IPG presets, user presets, setting the power, wobble length, wobble frequency, and also controlling the wire feed speed. We have a modification kit for the IPG supplied wire feeders to allow co robot control. We have 3 models of the CRX line available, the CRX 10iA, 10iAL, and CRX 25iA. The user can switch between hand held and co robot mode in under 5 minutes - no physical changes are needed to the LightWELD system. We add a co robot switch control box between the LightWELD and cable running to the gun and run an ethernet cable between the Fanuc controller and the ethernet input port on the LightWELD.

The idea of the LightMOTE is you have freedom from the welder and can bring the control to the weldment. The weldment could be 30 feet away (length of the cable) and the welder could change welding conditions, or make up new welding conditions. Connection to the LightWELD is automatic - you don't need to configure anything. The user always has the option of hooking a tablet or laptop thru the ethernet connection on the LightWELD and doing this as a tethered set up.

@@Serra-LightBOT makes sense. It would be nice if you could integrate the screen on the machine for a better user interface as well as having a remote screen for adjustments if wanted.