Making a Micro welder for Jewellery

[lamina]

Hi everyone,
I have been making jewellery in gold, silver and palladium for many years and am now contemplating making a micro-plasma welder as shown on this site:
http://www.orionjewelrywelders.com/orion-welders-master-jeweler-plus.php
which would enable me to do work which would otherwise be impossible or very tricky.

I cannot justify the cost of this welder and also like making my own equipment.
I have extensively Googled and haven't really come up with anything 'buildeable' and the only TIG welder I have found is built for heavier duty projects. The thickest silver I would be using is 1mm or less.

I am just interested in the thoughts of those who have a deal of experience in TIG welding as to whether this project is a 'goer' or not. I have umpteen years experience in electronics and am originally a metallurgist.

Any suggestions would be very gratefully received.

Regards
Richard

 

[voipio]

Hi, I've given this kind of thing some thought in the past and came to the conclusion that it was do-able, given a reasonable knowledge of electronics, and certainly nowhere near as expensive as the unit in your link. The main issues to contend with would be maintaining the stability of the welder under fairly demanding conditions and not blowing up the output stage. Duty cycle wouldn't be an issue.

Voi

 

[davincidental]

use one of these at work, give me a shout if you need anything doing


http://www.rofin.com/index.php?id=476&L=1

 

[TheJoker]

I'm no expert at all, but this sounds quite interesting!

Is this welder in the video MIG or TIG "like"? I can't see from the grainy YouTube video. Is the material added like a MIG welder, ie the electrode is also the filler. Or is it like a TIG and it uses a non-consumable (tungsten?) tip?

My initial thoughts would be to use a standard welder of good quality that's got a lot of adjustability and then modify that? Would that be possible? For example, if it's a MIG-like welder, you could disable the feed and make collets to hold your material. If it's TIG-like then you could make a collet to hold that tiny-tiny "tungsten".
You might even be able to do MIG-like welding with an adapted TIG. Because the power is fed in such short bursts and in such low amperage. There are TIG welders that have spot welding settings...

... Just typing out loud...

 

[bjorn]

micro welder for jewellery

Hi everyone,
I have been making jewellery in gold, silver and palladium for many years and am now contemplating making a micro-plasma welder as shown on this site:
http://www.orionjewelrywelders.com/orion-welders-master-jeweler-plus.php
which would enable me to do work which would otherwise be impossible or very tricky.

I cannot justify the cost of this welder and also like making my own equipment.
I have extensively Googled and haven't really come up with anything 'buildeable' and the only TIG welder I have found is built for heavier duty projects. The thickest silver I would be using is 1mm or less.

I am just interested in the thoughts of those who have a deal of experience in TIG welding as to whether this project is a 'goer' or not. I have umpteen years experience in electronics and am originally a metallurgist.

Any suggestions would be very gratefully received.

Regards
Richard

Hi Richard

it your project is very interesting.
(i am from norway and my english is not perfect,but i hope you will understand me)
I have a shop and sell watches,gold and silver,and in my work shop i fix the same things.
To weld gold and silver i have used gas(propane+oxygen and a hydrogen welder),but now i have bought a plasmafix welder and try to learn to weld small parts.
I have only used it for a week. It is not wery easy to learn,but plasma and spot mode let me weld 0,6 mm silver wire(have not tried thinner wire)
The plasmafix is a very big welder, with cooler ca 115 kg.
So if i can buid one like the orion welder it wil be both fun and useful(save space on my work shop).
I have tried a puk 3 welder.It is maybe the same as the orion,it is wery easy to use,maybe it is possible to build one.I think it is a kind of spot welder.
I have worked with gold for 10 years,and before thath i worked with electronics for 10 years.
Have you got some ideas for your project?
Maybe it is possible to modify a tig hf unit with spot function.

regards
Bjorn

 

[Andy from Workshopshed]

Watching the video, apart from lower current the main difference with larger welders is that it pulses on for a very short time.

If you need to get some fine tungsten wire for the electrode you might be able to salvage something from an old light bulb.