PUk3 or a Orion Arc welder?

I am considering purchasing either a PUk3 or a Orion Arc welder for
my jewelry business. If anyone out there has any comments or
on on either welder, I would like to hear from you. The
only difference that I can see between the 2 is the PUK3 is mad in
Germany and the Orion is made in the US.

Thanks.
Jim.

Jim,

I haven’t used the Orion, but you can see my PUK 3s review heRe:
http://www.ganoksin.com/gnkurl/1ed

Let me know if you have any questions.

Jeff Herman

It is my understanding that the new Orion welder can sustain a
longer weld dwell. This is accomplished with different technology
that the PUK uses. It is my experience that some welds need to have a
sustained arc connection for longer than a fraction of a second.
Tenth of a second welds on palladium often create microscopic cracks
that radiant from the center of the weld. Given further stress the
cracks cause weld failure. You need to consider what type of welds
you want the machine make the majority of the time. You should
contact Orion for more

Jeff, that’s an excellent review, thank you for posting the link.
Like you, I haven’t used the Orion, but have owned a PUK 2, and
upgraded to a PUK 3 Pro Plus unit about 15 months ago. I also found
the compartments on the lasers too small for my needs. I use the PUK 3
mostly on silver and gold. Have also worked in stainless, titanium,
palladium, bronze, nickel, and pewter. It’s a workhorse in my studio,
and Lampert’s tech support has been great.

I think any arc welder has a high learning curve to it. It helped to
have some TIG welding knowledge, but it was still a few weeks and
half of a tank of argon before I felt confident to tackle a large
project. There’s an art to obtaining that perfect tiny puddle of
molten metal, much more than just knowing the settings on the
machine.

Lyn Punkari

Hello Lyn,

The learning curve is also partially dictated by one’s knowledge of
metallurgy. I have found the setting I use most is the gap filling
mode, both in the manual and pre-programmed functions. The next
setting I use most frequently is the micro mode for very thin
material.

You may have noticed that I just purchased a Speedwire, and must say
it works much better than feeding filler wire “off the spool.” You
can purchase an empty Speedwire (they normally come filled with
welding wire in different alloys) directly from
Speedjeweler for only $23.

Continued good luck.

Jeff Herman

I have an answer from tech support at Lampert:

“The only way to prevent high tension in a weld and to minimize the
heat affected zone (HAZ) around the weld is to minimize the heat for
the length of the seam you are welding. Also, you may need to slow
the cooling time. A longer impulse would help with the second aim,
but at the same time be counterproductive with the first task.”

Jeff Herman