Weld retip on an opal

Please DO NOT weld near an opal unless you are completely confident that you will not harm it.
I am showing you how I retipped an opal so that you can see the capabilities of using the welder when you have the experience to know exactly how close you can get the weld to a sensitive stone without harming it. This comes from experience and careful thought before you start welding.
On this job I had to do a full retip (20 tips) but one of the opals was already cracked, which meant I could not take it out. I therefore decided to retip it with the opals in.
To avoid harming the opals, I did the following :
Snipped the claw at an angle below the edge of the opal to keep the weld easy to access with the electrode but far enough away from the opal for safety
Made the end of the tipping wire square to shield the opal from the blast of the weld.
Used 30% power to weld the tip on, far enough away from the opal, so that it welded cleanly first attempt to avoid risky re-welding
Used 25% power to then build up the base/side of the claw for strength, all the time holding the feeder wire between the weld and the opal (this acts as a shield)
Generally stayed in control of my actions and showed extreme caution, opals will harm very easily
This was done on the Lampert PUK 3S on the GAP setting (I usually use STANDARD for retipping). The strength of each weld on the PUK is dependably consistent with little variation so I can predict and plan the welding near sensitive stones. If you want to weld near stones like this please practice first on old stones !

[@kathybradbury]

That is a sweet little welding set up.

[@kevsdesigns]

Really nice work and great Welding skills. I've laser welded for many years but bought a Orion 150s for my home studio. Been working at developing my skills with it. Another jeweler suggested I look up your videos. Really nice work!

[@WilleyGHD3]

Impressive!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! I have an ORION but I've never seen a PUK used before........THANKS!

[@arelgr9407]

with this comment is ending my doubt for lampert puk or orion, thanks to you WilleyGHD3 ! ( ^-^)_旦”” 旦_(^-^ )

[@sammccrone2971]

Hi, what gas setting do you use, you do not seem to get much black suit, i am getting a lot. You make it look so easy, can you offer any advise. Cheers Sam

[@tribletman]

Hi Sam. There are 2 situations where I get a lot of soot. One is when the argon is about to run out and the cylinder needs to be refilled, but that only happens for the last few welds before running out completely. The other is when the gold I am welding has properties that cause it (I really don't know what causes that, maybe some alloy that is only in some castings). I have had that mainly in 9Y and some foreign 18W. The only other thing I can think might be causing it is that your argon is not the correct grade. The PUK requires pure argon (99 point something percent anyway). I would guess that lower than that would cause soot.

[@myunghong9004]

Very skillful welding. Is the electrode tip gold or just standard alloy.

[@tribletman]

Thank you. The electrode is made of tungsten. They come with the welding machine.

[@myunghong9004]

@@tribletman thanks for the information. I have Lambert puk welder. Trying to weld beyond cocr or stainless steel. I just need to develope skill to weld Ti and other type of metals. Do you have a link to welding Ti. Thank you.

[@tribletman]

@@myunghong9004 I don't weld metals other than gold, platinum and palladium so unfortunately I can't help with those. It's best just to feel your way and treat it as a new adventure !

[@javieruriel]

are you adding mettal or solder?

[@tribletman]

It's welding so only metal, no solder.

[@arelgr9407]

one more excellent, detailed work. (ಠ‿↼) adept, which is camcorder here ?

[@tribletman]

arel gr Thank you. I use a Gitup Git 2 camera, like a GoPro. I fitted a macro lens in front of the lens to get close. The macro lens is a cheap one for a mobile phone from eBay but it works well. I film in 2K and zoom in, in the editing software to 1080p.