Question: Orion pulse Welders

[RDP]

Knowing that there are a few jewelers here, do any of you have any experience with the Orion pulse welders, I am interested in knowing how the 100C model performs with copper, nickel silver, silver, brass??

thanks for looking,

Richard.

 

[Scottyd]

I have an Orion 100c. I use it for silver jewelry and it works great. I haven't tried it on nickel silver. It works very well on titanium. Only used on brass a couple of times and it is ok. Works very good with steel. You have to practice with the various settings to find out what works. I went through three regulators before I found one that didn't have a leak that wasted gas - it was a harbor freight model. It doesn't use much gas now that I fixed the leak. I like the thinner electrodes for silver use. I use it on nickels to fill in the deeper depressions and to extend the usable area to give me more "canvas" to work with. You will need some 30 ga filler wire for the metal you are working with. The newer 100C models have a tack weld feature that looks to be useful. Check eBay if you want a used one. I'm happy to answer any questions you might have.
Scott

 

[RDP]

Thank you very much Scott, glad you sorted the regulator out, so does it pretty much work the way they advertise it? it is hard to tell from the videos what gauge metal they are using but I am interested in knowing if you can overlap weld say 18 ga sheet with it, brass,copper, to Sterling,
there is one on ebay at the moment second hand for as new price???, if I do get one,(birthday coming up!!)I may get a new one. there will be more questions for sure as I think of them!!, thanks for your help,
now back to watching more YouTube demos,

Richard.

 

[Scottyd]

Yes you could weld 18ga copper or brass to silver -welding most dissimilar metals is fairly easy with some exceptions. Keep in mind this is a pulse welder capable of very small welds. It goes zap, you reposition the electrode, you trigger it for another zap. You don't get a nice even bead like a tig welder but you could go over it several times to smooth it out. You get good penetration depending on the settings. If you can afford it I would hold out for a model with a swing arm as the hand piece holder with the 100c is a little clunky. I may add the swing arm to my 100c

 

[RDP]

Thanks Scott, that's good news, I will do a bit more home work and see how I go, I am thinking the 150s would be nicer but that's another grand. now, if I can find a use for it for card making or scrapbooking, I may have a chance with the finance manager :biggrin:
Thanks again,

Richard.

 

[Chujybear]

Yes you could weld 18ga copper or brass to silver -welding most dissimilar metals is fairly easy with some exceptions. Keep in mind this is a pulse welder capable of very small welds. It goes zap, you reposition the electrode, you trigger it for another zap. You don't get a nice even bead like a tig welder but you could go over it several times to smooth it out. You get good penetration depending on the settings. If you can afford it I would hold out for a model with a swing arm as the hand piece holder with the 100c is a little clunky. I may add the swing arm to my 100c

does it have functionality that would make it better than a tig?

 

[Scottyd]

It's a poor mans alternative to a laser welder.

 

[RDP]

does it have functionality that would make it better than a tig?

I don't know, can you do these precise delicate welds with a tig, https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Xd30uUljZac
specially the rettipping a prong of a ring without removing the stone? as at 6.17min on video, I have use a tig a few times and I certainly would not be able to do it, an experience user may be able?

Richard.

 

[rayf24]

Richard there are units which are a micro tig I have used them in the past welding s/s wire mesh 0.5 down to o.1 wire but would say you need a steady hand and good eyes I dont think I would go there these days with the eyes Ha! Ha!

 

[BLW]

Richard the only way you can really get a feel for whether the welder will do what you want it to do is to have a try of one AJS in Brisbane should be able to demo one for you or your more than welcome to venture down the coast and have a go of mine


Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk

 

[RDP]

Richard the only way you can really get a feel for whether the welder will do what you want it to do is to have a try of one AJS in Brisbane should be able to demo one for you or your more than welcome to venture down the coast and have a go of mine


Thanks for the offer, I am sure it will do fine for what I want to do with it from what I have seen now, thanks mate.

Richard.

 

[Chujybear]

It's a poor mans alternative to a laser welder.

Maybe. It does have a few bits of function different than a laser. (All here say, mind you, I've only ever worked with a laser).
One is the Orion lets you choose the shape of your weld. Square, triangular, and something else (I forget).
The other is that with a Tig or a pulse arc, you can't miss. It simy won't fire, whereas with the laser, if you are working close to a stone, you could potentially damage your stone.

I think one of the big limiting factors of a pulse arc is that you are limited by how far you can stretch your diode and still have the argon envelope it. Laser is all line of sight.
Pulse arc welds look cleaner tho, from what I've seen online.

 

[Scottyd]

I like being able to weld a jump ring or a bail to a pendent without having to pickle. Just brush off the soot with a fiberglass brush and smooth out out the weld.
Scott

 

[Chujybear]

Is that saying that you have to pickle a piece that has been welded with a pulse arc welder? That would definately defeat, what I would have taken as a high benefit of the machine. :/