PUK Welding Niobium

Jewelry Discussion
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I have searched the archives for recent discussions about welding Niobium with a PUK 5.1. I can find old discussions using older welders, but nothing new. Can anyone suggest settings for welding thin (22 - 26 gauge) Niobium sheet and wire both to itself and sterling silver? I realize that welding will impact my ability to color the welded areas. Thanks…Rob

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I’m at MJSA right now. I’ll ask Robert, the Sales Manager of Lambert USA/PUK this question and will post it later today.

I’ve got a PUK 5.1 myself and really like it a lot.

At the MJSA Gesswein booth, where Robert is, he’s demonstrating the new PUK 6. It has a different interface with more low and high power capabilities.

Talk to you later!

Jeff

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Thanks! I have been meaning to go to the MJSA show for years, but time got away from me again this year…Rob

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Here’s what Robert said.

Niobium and sterling silver are dissimilar metals. To join them you need bridge metal. Robert suggested that the palladium silver fill wire that PUK/Lambert sells would be a good bridge metal to join niobium and sterling silver. (pretty sure that any company that sells PUK’s sells their palladium silver wire too.) Robert suggested filing a divot (sp?) on each metal where they join and to fill the divots with palladium silver. Then when you weld the parts together to weld them on the palladium silver area. You can add in more palladium silver for added strength. I hope that makes sense!

For welder settings Robert said to use this:
Choose silver setting on your PUK 5.1 at 3 milliseconds, power 35, argon 2 liters. (my notes were pretty cryptic, so I hope that’s right!)

Robert said that if you have any questions or issues to feel free to email him directly and that he’d be happy to talk to you. robert@lampertusa.com

Again Robert is the head of the USA division of Lampert/PUK. He’s a great person to know if you have a PUK and live in the US. He generously said that anyone from Orchid could email him directly with PUK questions, which was amazing!!

I hope all of that is helpful!

Jeff

2 Likes
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Thanks for the help…Rob