New to Orchid but have been reading the forum for a while and would
like to say hello. Also, wondering how many jewelers have had the
opportunity to see and use the newest technology for welding with
the pulse arc or fusion welders. I have tried both the Orion and the
other welder and by far prefer the Orion. Our store does not use a
torch at all and can repair jewerly in a fraction of the time it
takes the old method while using no flux, pickling solution, or fire
scale material. We do not use solder at all so there are no solder
joints which makes the weld 10 times stronger. We also use the Sand
Hills Gold Gem Guard which allows us to weld on top of anystone or
soft material without harming the stone or substance and this cleans
up with water. The older versions of these type welders initially
got bad reviews for creating porosity but that is not the case with
the new versions of this equipment. We usually save 30 minutes to 2
hours per job withthis Modern Jewelry Repair methodolgy and can weld
and fix things that were not repairable before. Check out this new
technology for yourself because this will be the future of jewelry
repair and manufacturing.
As a user of two PUCK welders now (puck3) cannot but agree that
these are now part of the jewellery industry.
In America there is a factory in Pensilvania, making motor bikes and
guess what they have welders every where, well not totally.
As a jeweller from Australia, to see those two welders silver
soldering/ brazing “oh joy” those front forks perfectly every time
with their great bushy flame torches, time after time.
They are doing it for a great reason…
John S.
I love my Orion 150s! I haven’t had it long, but i have already
found out it makes easy work of “heat sensitive” jobs. It is much
quicker for simple jump ring closures and makes possible some base
metal repairs that are a torch no-no. Most impressive is the patient
and knowledgeable customer service/help desk.
Donna W
Huntsville, AL
Hello Terry and welcome to the group.
I have been using Lampert’s pulse arc welders for a few years and
only have positive things to say about their technology. In fact, I
was so impressed with the PUK 3, I decided to post a review here:
Well, that review quickly turned into a technical blog which I
periodically post projects I’ve worked on. There are only three
settings you need to adjust and away you go!
Jeff Herman
Donna, the Orion 150s is a great machine and since you just recently
recieved it you are just touching the surface of what it can do.
Like I said in my original post we don’t use a torch and don’t use
half of our old school tools anymore. This new system is definitely
"Modern Jewely Repair" and will change the industry in a positive
manner for now and into the future.
You may want to look up youtube and see SHG Gem Guard -Modern
Jewelry Repair and just to give you an idea of more things you can
us it for. One thingabout the Orion any one can do the basic repairs
like jump rings immediately but with a little training you can size
rings, retip anything, weld things that were or are impossible
before, including guns, car parts, native american jewelry, opal
rings- thats retipping on top of the stonewithout taking it out. The
list goes on and on and as far as heat sensitive this is great
because it is like orthoscopic surgery in the jewelry business. We
also repair stainless steel sugical instruments with this. Have a
great day! Terry R. Reichert
Hi Jeff,
I’ve never properly thanked you for your website.
I give my customers a link to it when they are starting out. Also
potential customers also get a look in as well.
Lampert is coming out with a minor update for their machine, more
later when I get some more details.
Kindest regards
Charles A.
Hi Terry,
I have the Orion 150S. I use it daily and it is truly an amazing
device and technology. I use it on sterling, gold, stainless and
bronze. Often welding these together.
Many of my friends have the PUK4 which they like a bunch, some even
rabidly.
There are differences in the machines, some good, some not so good.
I still am not certain that I made the right decision in the Orion,
my main concerns being user interface (touchscreen and settings),
available and, especially, argon use.
I find the touchscreen non-intuitive (for an Apple user). And I have
been blowing thru argon. I should add that the folks at Sunstone, who
make the Orion, have been exceedingly helpful and cooperative.
As far as replacing my torch: in my experience, torch and pulse arc
technologies are very different, although there are some overlaps. I
used to torch weld gold, bronze and even sterling when I could but
the Orion/ pulse arc is way more accurate.
That being said, I am always reluctant to trust a pulse arc weld.
Brittleness has been a problem (among my PUK 4 colleagues as well).
The nature of the welded joint is simply not the same as a
braze/soldered one which, in my experience, is much more durable a
join/joint.
Additionally, the way that solder runs–in soldering a head or bezel
on, for instance–simply cannot be duplicated with a pulse arc welder
(in my experience). And welding takes much longer.
But the welder (or welding in general) cannot be beat for color
match.
Or when you want to attach something without or with minimal
annealing/softening. I would not trust it for attaching a post,
unless there was no alternative, but for many things it really rocks.
I can weld right next to a ping pong ball for instance, which is very
flammable. (I use altered ping pong balls for earrings.) And for jump
rings it is awesome.
Just my 2 cnts.
Take care,
Andy
We usually save 30 minutes to 2 hours per job withthis Modern Jewelry Repair methodolgy and can weld and fix things that were not repairable before. Check out this new technology for yourself because this will be the future of jewelry repair and manufacturing.
Terry - the pulse arc welders are also fabulous for fabrication. I
can (and do) create things that require that the last assembly be
done long after setting stones or applying a patina.
I bought my first one in 2006, a PUK2. It did some things well, but
didn’t work well at all for silver. Two years ago I sold that one to
someone who works gold, and bought an Orion 150i. Being an engineer,
I figured that a pulse welder from an engineering company would be a
good fit. I was so wrong! The folks at Orion did take it back and
refunded my money, but the amount of fiddle to get it to work and
the constant cleaning the electrode just bummed me out.
On the advice of Jeffrey Herman, hermansilver.com, I bought a PUK4
and find it perfect for repairs and fabrication. It is so easy - and
intuitive. Jeffrey wrote a long dissertation on the machine that’s
worth a read. The link is on his home page.
Yes it is an amazing addition to our traditional tool kit, but it is
an addition, not a replacement, in my opinion.
Judy Hoch
Hello Charles,
It’s a pleasure helping others with this technology.
I know about the PUK 4.1. Lampert has added a resistance welding
feature to the new unit.
Jeff Herman
Judy,
Thank you for your thoughts but you just have not mastered the
fusion welder at our level. After comparison and contrast of the PUK
4 and the Orion 150 i we find the Orion far more superior. We use do
not use a torch or half the traditional tools any longer and do
amazing things day in and day out including any silver item, with or
without stones. This level requires a lot of training and is not
easy but is achievable. We can challenge you on every aspect of your
thesis and prove what we say. We know this is a replacement for the
old school of thought but we are both intitled to our opinions but
we both agree this is amazing and someday I hope we get a chance to
meet so we can show you a whole new demention of Modern Jewelry
Repair.
Sincerely,
Terry R. Reichert
The capacity at which the Orion is able to acheive is great but does
require training and some time, but inorder to be an educated
jeweler it takes years, so why not be the best you can be and apply
a little effort. Thistechnology is cutting edge and shows no limits
on what can be done now andinto the future. One of these days you
need to see us do our majic with this technology.
We did showcase this at the Tucson Show last year and we had several
masterjewelers with jobs they were unable to do for up to 30 years
so they challenged us to fix this jewelry. Each job took about 5
minutes and they were totally impresssed. They wanted us to be guest
speakers and trainers at several events in their areas. You will
learn more about this as time goes by and what is taking place
behind the scenes in the jewelry industry. Thanks again for your
enthusiasm.
Your Friend,
Terry R. Reichert
Ok, if I am understanding what I’m reading, Terry, you are not just
a happy customer sharing your joy at a tool, but you are using this
forum as a way to advertise the Orion machine, correct? If so, it its
my opinion that you should be more straightforward about it, not be
acting like just another metalsmith.
Noel
Dear Orchid,
Initially I posted a nice note about Pulse Arc and Fusion Welding
for all the Jewelers to see so that My Company, Pro Ice Jewelers
could share new and exciting news about this revolutionary area of
the jewelry industry only to run into interference by a hater and
skeptic. This came out of nowhereand my post was not intended to
create drama only to help jewelers. Now I am getting false criticism
by a self prescribed expert with no knowledge what she is talking
about. At this time we are the best in the world with this
technology and have done extensive research and development with
this technology and can prove everything that we said. The
attachment describes what we are facing by trying to help modernize
the jewelry industry, but I suppose this comes with the territory of
something new. And we are not being paid by Orion to say anything,
we are independent and say what we want. We did invent the Sand
Hills Gold Gem Guard for fusion, pulse tac, and laser welders. Check
this out on youtube at SHG Gem Guard Modern Jewelry Repair and go to
Orions Facebook page and you will see all kinds of things we do with
this technology. We do work with Orion by sharing our research and
development and we will provide national and international training
in the future. Also, a lot of jewelry schools are getting on board
and will be offering this as part of their studies. So welcome to the
new world of Jewelry.
Terry R. Reichert
Pro Ice Jewelers
[Edit]
Private email removed. You should also not repost private email to
the list unless you have obtained prior consent from the author.
More: Is there anything I should not post to Orchid?
http://www.ganoksin.com/gnkurl/ep816x
[/Edit]
And I have been blowing thru argon.
Check your regulator and see if the safeties have blown. I had a
customer who was complaining about argon usage, turned out his
safeties had blown on the regulator.
Changed the regulator and he was good to go.
Regards Charles A.
Ok, if I am understanding what I'm reading, Terry, you are not just a happy customer sharing your joy at a tool, but you are using this forum as a way to advertise the Orion machine, correct? If so, it its my opinion that you should be more straightforward about it, not be acting like just another metalsmith.
Terry and Noel, Google brings up this article
http://www.ganoksin.com/gnkurl/ep816y
I will echo Noel. Mr, Reichert, If you are affiliated with the Orion
company in anyway you should come forward and clean about it. This
is only fair and will help Orchid to better understand your position
on rivals welding solutions out there…
After comparison and contrast of the PUK 4 and the Orion 150 i we find the Orion far more superior.
Sandy
Creations with Metal
I know about the PUK 4.1. Lampert has added a resistance welding feature to the new unit.
There are a few other settings as well which promise to be nice. CIA
Well as it happens Terry, the company I work for has merged with
another company, and they sell the Orion, so I’ll get some time to
play with that too.
The PUK is very different to the Orion, although the outcome is the
same. There are some features that I cannot discuss that make the
PUK a better machine, confidential documents from Lampert and such. I
get to sell both machines, so there’s no bias to push one over the
other.
The PUK has an extremely shallow learning curve, I picked up the
basic operations in a morning, and was demonstrating the product as
an advanced user, at trade shows soon after. It’s extremely easy to
use and master.
Surely the Orion is the same. I guess I’ll find out in due course.
Kindest regards Charles A.
Dear Terry,
We have an enthusiastic Orion 150i user here. I am in the process of
getting familiar with the 150s. We previously owned a PUK2 but
switched over to the Orion when we realized that you had to buy a
completely new welder for each tech update to the PUK. The Orion
could get updates via the internet downloaded to a smart card. That
appeals to my inner geekiness. The 150i has more settings available
and I like the touchscreen interface more. The 150s is doing all the
fabrication tasks I have for it so far. However, I see myself
upgrading in the future if my skills improve.
That brings me to a very important point, educating the user. When a
jeweler purchases a laser, they go to laser school for a period of
time to learn how to operate. My bone of contention with ALL the
distributors of PUK or Orion was that there was no educational
resource available for the jeweler to learn how to operate the
equipment other than some YouTube videos. Whoopee (said
sarcastically…) I am lucky, my hubby has a 30 year career of
welding MIG, TIG, Heliarc and oxygen/acetylene soldering. So for
him, learning how to use first the PUK and now the Orion150i is like
breathing. For the average jeweler who is not an engineer, the
individual needs to become comfortable with new technology and even
new vocabulary words. In the 3 years that we have owned the Orion
150i, we are still amazed at what we can accomplish; even repairing
a sinkhole on a 28ga bezel in fine silver already set with a pearl.
Last year we addressed the education issue by holding the first
national Orion Pulse Arc Welder workshop in Asheville, NC. 17
jewelers showed up from all over the country to get acquainted with
different models and to work on them without the hustle of a trade
show. A number of them already owned the machines but needed the
training time. Some had never welded with the Orion before and had
an opportunity to play. This past January, our school hosted a
mini-workshop where 5 different jewelers again from cross country
dragged their units in and worked nonstop for 2 days, doing nothing
but problem solving.
We are again hosting a mini-workshop in May. Two PUK owners are
bringing their machines for problem solving and also getting the
chance to play on the Orion 150s and the Orion150i. We have a
Michigan jeweler coming down to explore the Orion welders. BTW,
there is one space left. AND NOW, as I had posted earlier on this
forum, we will be hosting the SECOND National Orion Pulse Arc Welder
Workshop on Sept 6-7 with a social gathering on the 5th for dinner.
ALL THE PROFITS from this workshop are being donated to SNAG and the
Southern Highland Craft Guild for their educational programming. We
are putting on these workshops because we see the potential of this
welding technology and want to show jewelers how they can benefit. I
wish either PUK , Orion, or the resellers that supply them had taken
the effort to set up workshops. Learning how to use them properly is
as much a priority as how many units can be sold. This was a vacuum
that we felt was desperately needed to be filled.
Ruthie Cohen
If you need setting chart or any on the Orion give us a
call atthe stuller tech group. or a email
Andy “The Tool Guy” Kroungold
Just wanted to comment on how much I enjoyed looking at Jeff
Herman’s workshop pictures and descriptions.
Talk about tools. wow
The PUK welder looks like it solves a lot of problems.
James