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Will Handheld Laser Welding Machine Replace TIG?

Laser processing and manufacturing have developed rapidly in China in the past decade, and one of the important performances driving the market growth is the replacement of traditional processes by lasers. From the past silk screen printing and knife engraving to today's laser marking and engraving, from the past punching and blade cutting to today's laser cutting, from traditional chemical agents, pickling to today's laser cleaning, etc., are all major changes in technology. On the basis of environmental protection and green manufacturing, the process is more efficient, the output is larger, and the process effect is more beautiful. This is the technological progress brought by the laser, and it is also an inevitable trend of industrial technology development.

The rapid rise of handheld laser welding machine



In terms of welding, there has also been a change in technology, from ordinary electric welding and arc welding in the past to laser welding today. Laser welding based on metal materials is the most important application at present. Laser welding has been developed in my country for nearly 30 years, but the low-power YAG laser welding machine used in the past is often a stand-alone operation, the degree of automation is slightly lower, manual loading and unloading is required, and the power is also low, the worktable width is small, and it is difficult to operate Large component workpieces that cannot be rolled out for laser welding applications. In recent years, laser welding has made great progress, especially the application of fiber laser welding and semiconductor laser welding. It has also been well developed in workpiece fixtures, automatic control, and automatic loading and unloading. At present, some domestic automobile factories have equipped high-end equipment. The automated laser brazing body system is also used in aerospace parts, CRRC's locomotive body, etc. Another very important thing is the laser welding of power batteries of new energy vehicles. These are all manifestations of high-end applications of laser welding.


At the end of 2018, hand-held laser welding began to sell well, thanks to the sharp drop in the cost of fiber lasers and the maturity of fiber-optic transmission and hand-held welding heads. The popularity of hand-held laser welding is also unexpected for some manufacturers, but in 2019, many companies have followed up production. It is roughly estimated that hundreds of companies have made hand-held laser welding machines. A certain enterprise in Shenzhen can ship nearly 200 units a month during the peak period, and some small enterprises can also ship 20 units per month, which is a good growth point.


Handheld laser welding has been rapidly popularized because it is convenient and easy to use. Compared with high-end automated laser welding applications, the requirements and technical thresholds are very high. However, hand-held laser welding eliminates the consideration of fixtures and motion control, and returns to manual operation. The so-called workpiece alignment and alignment clamps It's all about manpower. It cannot be said that this is a regression from automation to manual operation, but it must be considered from the practical application cost and acceptance.


Taking stainless steel welding as an example, there are a large number of welding processes in reality, most of which are ordinary argon arc welding and spot welding. After so many years of development, manual operations are still widely used, and there are many such welders. There are a large number of applications of argon arc welding in kitchen utensils, kitchen supplies, bathroom hardware, stainless steel doors and windows, anti-theft nets, stainless steel furniture, hotel decoration, and other industries with a large amount of stainless steel. This kind of manual welding is actually a traditional low-end welding process in terms of welding nature, generally welding thin stainless steel sheets and stainless steel pipes. Nowadays, only arc welding is replaced by laser welding, which is very similar in operation. General welders can get started with hand-held laser welding in less than half a day of training, so it has a very high potential to replace traditional argon arc welding.


Laser welding replaces argon arc welding as a trend


TIG welding often requires the welding wire to be melted and connected, resulting in a protruding welding port, while laser welding does not require welding wire, and the interface is relatively smooth. TIG welding has been developed for many years and is the welding process with the largest stock, while laser welding is an emerging process with rapid development, but the total amount is only a small part of welding. It is an inevitable trend for laser welding to replace part of TIG welding. At present, argon arc welding is also very popular in terms of cost of use.


At present, a welding machine for argon arc welding can generally be purchased for several thousand yuan, and the cheap one may only cost more than 2,000 yuan. In addition, the small welding torch, welding wire, argon gas, and other supporting products are less than one thousand yuan. The cost of a complete set is About 3000 yuan. As for handheld laser welding equipment, it was more than 150,000 yuan in early 2019. Later, the competition gradually intensified, and the number of manufacturers of handheld welding equipment also increased a lot, and it is now 60,000 yuan (1 kW) cheaper. to take it.


Handheld laser welding is faster


In order to save labor and materials, argon arc welding often only does spot welding at the selected corners of the material, while laser welding is zipper welding along the seam. In comparison, the firmness of laser welding is much better. At present, the common hand-held laser welding is 500 watts, 1000 watts, 1500 watts, or even 2000 watts. These power segments are enough for the welding of thin steel sheets. Nowadays, hand-held laser welding equipment is becoming more and more compact, including the necessary chillers, which can be integrated into the whole chassis to achieve integration. The mobile performance is good, and the procurement cost is much lower than before, which can already meet a large number of metal processing stores. , The use requirements of the processing plant, and even dragging the equipment to the construction site for operation is completely no problem.

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