Jagmandave
Well-known member
Can you use the laser cleaning on aluminum, like engine blocks or transmission cases?
Anyone own a laser welder?
- Thread starter ching0n
- Start date
I have a Lightweld fiber laser welder. 1500 watts, it's legit. took some time to develop the skills and figure out what works, but a year in the shop uses it nearly constantly. as a welding / metallurgy guy, it's really interesting how the rules and limitations of welding with a fiber laser contrast with the long understood and accepted advantages / limitations of the arc welding processes. the laser won't replace flux core for heavy steel fab, nor will it obsolete TIG for so many things TIG is good at. Laser is changing the game though in ~.100" sheet welding, especially stainless and aluminum - it's principal advantage is in thin sections where small welds are desired. not crazy thin, it's still a ***** to weld soda cans. although I'm the engineer, the welder with a year of practice might be joining pop cans all day.
I scored a spool of titanium welding wire; didn't know that was a thing until a month ago - the welds the laser makes in titanium are something to behold. The coolest blue light is emitted, and you can just visually sense that titanium has good 'absorption' of the laser energy. Laser makes welds you simply can't make any other way.
from the early days:
I scored a spool of titanium welding wire; didn't know that was a thing until a month ago - the welds the laser makes in titanium are something to behold. The coolest blue light is emitted, and you can just visually sense that titanium has good 'absorption' of the laser energy. Laser makes welds you simply can't make any other way.
from the early days:
Old Man Roger
Well-known member
Every time this thread pops up I have to resist getting one of these..lol
Jswain
Well-known member
Buy one then maybe we'll finally get 1 damn person on the whole internet that isn't a YouTuber/chinese aliexpresser/promoter/first time poster to actually use it and show more then a 10 second video or a photo from 20ft away of it being used.
Do the weld, put the piece on the vice, bend test, cut and etch etc. All in the same video, with the same unit.
The fact that there isn't any of these makes me resist even considering one
Old Man Roger
Well-known member
Ya, well I don’t know anyone with a space ship that shoots laser beams, but I want one of them too..Buy one then maybe we'll finally get 1 damn person on the whole internet that isn't a YouTuber/chinese aliexpresser/promoter/first time poster to actually use it and show more then a 10 second video or a photo from 20ft away of it being used.
Do the weld, put the piece on the vice, bend test, cut and etch etc. All in the same video, with the same unit.
The fact that there isn't any of these makes me resist even considering one
logixjock
Well-known member
Crew Dragon has a laser rangefinder built into it, I don't think SpaceX is selling them just yet but you might talk Elon into a lease!!Ya, well I don’t know anyone with a space ship that shoots laser beams, but I want one of them too..
Old Man Roger
Well-known member
Elons got great toys.
RoadTripMachine
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- Apr 2, 2025
- Messages
- 7
Just finalized the order for my machine today. It'll be here in a couple weeks and I'll give it a full unbiased shakedown. I'll want to know it's limits and if I've wasted my money.Buy one then maybe we'll finally get 1 damn person on the whole internet that isn't a YouTuber/chinese aliexpresser/promoter/first time poster to actually use it and show more then a 10 second video or a photo from 20ft away of it being used.
Do the weld, put the piece on the vice, bend test, cut and etch etc. All in the same video, with the same unit.
The fact that there isn't any of these makes me resist even considering one
As much as I love tig welding - having a machine that's 4x faster and just as clean as tig won't hurt my feelings.
I like the idea of spending less time with solvents, grinders, wire wheels, sand blasting media... etc. Aside from improving or replacing the tedious tasks, time saved means I can get to projects and jobs I don't otherwise have time for.
I'd love to have time to finally clean up some of the tools, trailers and machines around the shop and get everything looking respectable. Second hand machines are great for getting started on a budget - but there's something to be said for having a professional looking workspace when clients visit. (Especially the ones who don't really know what they're looking at.)
"People who know what this machine is capable of won't care what it looks like," goes out the window when you want to make a good impression on civilians with clean hands. If this laser cleaner is as good as I think it's going to be - I'll even resto-mod the ugly old forklift. I'm the third person to adopt it in the friends group - and it's as much a pet as it is a tool at this point.
Can't wait for the update! Can you share how much it cost, where you got it and what power level/style machine you bought?Just finalized the order for my machine today. It'll be here in a couple weeks and I'll give it a full unbiased shakedown. I'll want to know it's limits and if I've wasted my money.
As much as I love tig welding - having a machine that's 4x faster and just as clean as tig won't hurt my feelings.
I like the idea of spending less time with solvents, grinders, wire wheels, sand blasting media... etc. Aside from improving or replacing the tedious tasks, time saved means I can get to projects and jobs I don't otherwise have time for.
I'd love to have time to finally clean up some of the tools, trailers and machines around the shop and get everything looking respectable. Second hand machines are great for getting started on a budget - but there's something to be said for having a professional looking workspace when clients visit. (Especially the ones who don't really know what they're looking at.)
If this laser cleaner is as good as I think it's going to be - I'll even resto-mod the ugly old forklift. I'm the third person to adopt it in the friends group - and it's as much a pet as it is a tool at this point.
If these get to the sub-$5000 mark... I may well be forced to buy one (even though it would only be for my home-shop use). That's not as far-fetched as it once seemed. I know people have found them for as low as $8000.
A 200 watt pulsed laser looks about right to me, but I would happy make do with a 1000-watt continuous beam unit if that's what it took to bring lasers into my life.
RoadTripMachine
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- Apr 2, 2025
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- 7
Everlast RedSabre 2000 - ended up just over 14k out the door. (tax, shipping, extra consumables, etc)
I've run Miller welders for years - and to be fair all the machines I've run have been reliable workhorses... but their prices have made them harder to justify. A few friends have had phenomenal luck with their Everlast tig and multi-process machines - and as one friend put it, with what he saves he could buy a whole spare machine if one of his goes down and has to get sent back for service - but he hasn't had a problem yet.
I looked at some of the no-name machines and even explored buying the individual components separately Yes, you can buy the components to build one (most companies are buying the industrial components and putting it in their own case - or a case they also ordered from China) - but there wouldn't have been a cost savings over what Everlast sells them for. Definitely not enough savings to justify the extra work and time spent getting it set up. Their customer service seems to be pretty decent so far, the forum users are enthusiastic and helpful - and, if nothing else, it makes ordering consumables straightforward.
Having done quite a bit of reading before taking this plunge:
- pulsed laser is ideal for delicate materials where you want to be gentle with the base materials or need to be ultra portable like for the backpack units. They have more options for shaping the cleaning pattern that offers more overlap and a softer 'edge' - but they are quite a bit slower and aren't capable of welding. They'd be great for refinishing furniture or stripping paint off houses. They work by causing micro-explosions of steam as they contact moisture or anything that can be vaporized by the brief laser pulses - so that the burst of evaporating material does most of the work.
- Continuous Wave is less delicate but much faster for big work. It benefits from ablation like the pulsed machine but can also rely on brute force - with enough heat to burn through heavier contamination. It'll have a much better time with crusty truck frames, oily engine blocks and stripping paint off of whole body panels. I'll have to be more careful to not overheat the panel - and won't have the complex overlapping patterns to make sure you're getting good coverage - but should be able to get the work done in less time.
- The welding and cutting capability are a nice bonus. I have other machines for those already - but again, the time savings should help the machine pay for itself in short order. I love tig welding... but it takes time. If I can run thin materials 4x faster with results as clean as tig, it'll be a game changer.
Edit: This is the air cooled version of the machine. It weighs half as much as the water cooled (170 lbs instead of 350) and still has a duty cycle of 6 hrs continuous operation, rather than 12 hrs of the water cooled. You would need to be running it on a robotic arm continuously to get anywhere near the duty cycle on either of these machines.
I've run Miller welders for years - and to be fair all the machines I've run have been reliable workhorses... but their prices have made them harder to justify. A few friends have had phenomenal luck with their Everlast tig and multi-process machines - and as one friend put it, with what he saves he could buy a whole spare machine if one of his goes down and has to get sent back for service - but he hasn't had a problem yet.
I looked at some of the no-name machines and even explored buying the individual components separately Yes, you can buy the components to build one (most companies are buying the industrial components and putting it in their own case - or a case they also ordered from China) - but there wouldn't have been a cost savings over what Everlast sells them for. Definitely not enough savings to justify the extra work and time spent getting it set up. Their customer service seems to be pretty decent so far, the forum users are enthusiastic and helpful - and, if nothing else, it makes ordering consumables straightforward.
Having done quite a bit of reading before taking this plunge:
- pulsed laser is ideal for delicate materials where you want to be gentle with the base materials or need to be ultra portable like for the backpack units. They have more options for shaping the cleaning pattern that offers more overlap and a softer 'edge' - but they are quite a bit slower and aren't capable of welding. They'd be great for refinishing furniture or stripping paint off houses. They work by causing micro-explosions of steam as they contact moisture or anything that can be vaporized by the brief laser pulses - so that the burst of evaporating material does most of the work.
- Continuous Wave is less delicate but much faster for big work. It benefits from ablation like the pulsed machine but can also rely on brute force - with enough heat to burn through heavier contamination. It'll have a much better time with crusty truck frames, oily engine blocks and stripping paint off of whole body panels. I'll have to be more careful to not overheat the panel - and won't have the complex overlapping patterns to make sure you're getting good coverage - but should be able to get the work done in less time.
- The welding and cutting capability are a nice bonus. I have other machines for those already - but again, the time savings should help the machine pay for itself in short order. I love tig welding... but it takes time. If I can run thin materials 4x faster with results as clean as tig, it'll be a game changer.
Edit: This is the air cooled version of the machine. It weighs half as much as the water cooled (170 lbs instead of 350) and still has a duty cycle of 6 hrs continuous operation, rather than 12 hrs of the water cooled. You would need to be running it on a robotic arm continuously to get anywhere near the duty cycle on either of these machines.
Sweet. I remember when everlast first came into the picture selling nothing more than rebadges but providing excellent customer service. I've seen their lineup grow over the years w/products truly their own and lead w/features the imports haven't shied away from. I'm happy to see they're still being risk takers and their comp. remains in good standing.
This kickstarter looks interesting:
Last edited:
Beerhippie
Well-known member
Resistance is futile....
RoadTripMachine
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MileHighRover
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- Mar 13, 2018
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Buy one then maybe we'll finally get 1 damn person on the whole internet that isn't a YouTuber/chinese aliexpresser/promoter/first time poster to actually use it and show more then a 10 second video or a photo from 20ft away of it being used.
Do the weld, put the piece on the vice, bend test, cut and etch etc. All in the same video, with the same unit.
The fact that there isn't any of these makes me resist even considering one
Here's a good video with bend test.