the owner had nothing but great things to say about the laser welder.
I talked with our welding distributor about these, and they want to carry them, but they are incredibly dangerous machines. To have a set up that osha would approve, you need a guy decked out in welding leather, inside an enclosure. The laser can travel great distances and still cause significant damage. The only ones I can find from reputable manufacturers are computer controlled inside enclosures. If you look at the 'laser cleaning mode' part of the video, you can see the operator is at a fair distance to the workpiece, and he's burning the part under the one he's cleaning. I doubt the gloves he's wearing will do anything for him if he shoots himself in the hand.
Here's what miller offers and it's safety description:
Safety and Performance
Class 1 laser safe enclosure. ANSI Z136.1-2014 American National standard for safe use of lasers
Designed in accordance with ANSI/RIA R15.06-2012, UL1740, NFPA 79 and CSA Z434.
L-shaped light curtains, interlocked safety gates, dual channel safety circuit, rotating arc flash barrier and solid sheet metal wall panels.
PerformArc Robotic Laser Welding Systems includes multiple laser source options. Find the PerformArc Laser cell specifications, feautures, and spec sheet.
www.millerwelds.com
All that being said, I'd love one of these handheld units, if anybody gets one I'd love to hear about their first hand experience.
