Hi All,
Does anyone here have one of Rio Grande’s Neutec laser welders? I am
specifically interested in the PulsePoint Plus 60 or 100. It would
see light use, primarily on titanium. How has it worked for you?
Dependability? Another brand in that price point or below I should
consider? Thanks for any input.
Jeff McWhinney
Jeff, I have had my Neutec 60 for 3 years now. I love my machine. It
has performed perfectly. For the money I paid, I keep up the
matenance religously.,which is just water levels and filter changes
just like you would with your car. I would just warn you that there
is zip 0 on help for the settings and actual use of any laser! Your
welcome to email off line for??
I think you should try to look around at other lasers before buying
one. The technology seems to be the same for all of them but the
power, design, options and controls vary. It is a big purchase and
they last for many years, so better to be sure it’s the one you
want. I have bought both the larger floor model and smaller counter
top version from B&D Sales in Rhode Island. What I like about them
besides the units is the excellent support. It might be a good idea
to call the various distributors and ask your questions and for
references. You will likely find one nearby and you can go check it
out if you can’t make it to a show. At least you’ll be able to talk
to users of the unit. I think two important things is to make sure
you are happy with the maximum power level and working compartment
size.
Regarding Audrey’s comment about a lack of help on the settings and
laser use. It’s true and I think that’s not that unusual. One reason
is that the people who make them and sell them don’t make jewelry,
so they know how it operates but not exactly how best to use it. A
second reason is that because you are using mainly three variables
to adjust your weld (power, duration and beam diameter) you have
multiple setting options to achieve the same result. Add the
variability of metal reflectivity and composition and it just gets
too hard to make standard setting recommendations. If they did tell
you. you would likely find they were often wrong.
Mark
Look at the LaserStar units, The main support and training person
their Todd, really does understand the industry. They came from the
jewelry industry originally making jewelry manufacturing automation.
Cheers,
James
We do have some standard working parameters for welding with the
laser welder. I can send these to anyone who would like them.
You can contact me directly for this and I would be
happy to send them out. These may need to be adjusted according to
your machine.
Rio also offers free training at our facilities here in Albuquerque.
You can come here for laser welder boot camp. This will get you
started welding. This training gets you moving in the right
direction. It does take some practice but the learning curve is very
low. We obviously can not cover every possible scenario that you
would run into when welding jewelry.
There are so many variables. Is the surface oxidized, is there
solder present. What material are you welding. Does the surface have
a high polish or asatin finish.
Some general rules apply when welding:
Welding - use a spot size of .3 -.4mm
Adding material - use a spot size of .6 -.7
For smoothing and polishing - use a spot size of 1.0 and up.
I always recommend starting out a little lower than you think your
going toneed for power and time.
You can always increase these setting easily but welding so deep
that you blow a hole in something or requires you to fix the damage.
Setting are easy to change and adjust.
The PulsePoint laser welder is the most user friendly machine on the
market.
Phillip Scott
Technical Support
Rio Grande
1.800.545.6566
The Neutec laser welders work great on most of the pure Titanium
alloys that are used for jewelery. Titanium is one of the easiest
materials to weld with a laser.
You do have to use Argon when welding Titanium. Both the PulsePoint
plus 60 and the PulsePoint Plus 100 will perform very well with this
material. The 100 will also give you the power you need for other
welding applications.
I have made numerous pieces of jewelry in titanium and this makes it
a pleasure to weld.
Phillip Scott
Technical Support
Rio Grande
1.800.545.6566