Additive manufacturing - GIF

**Altair** · Aug 5, 2023, 01:56 PM

Additive manufacturing.

Previously:

Laser deposition welder - GIF
Laser deposition welding and milling machine - video
Laser metal deposition - GIF

**hemmjo** · Aug 5, 2023, 05:43 PM

Ha, the machine operator standing in the back ground on his phone.

That is a fascinating process, the AM not the phone guy.

**piper184** · Aug 5, 2023, 06:47 PM

The Caterpillar dealer I used to work for had a machine that ran a weld bead around dozer wheels to build them back up to specs. Then they turned them down to make the proper profile. They used so much oxygen for the pre-heat process it was delivered in liquid form.

It was nice to see a repair station in use instead of "buy new ones" attitude. Kept one full time employee busy most of the time. Two others in the track rebuild bay. They not only repaired tracks link by link, they were set up to weld on tungsten carbide grousers to add life to the tracks, new or used.

Fascinating processes to watch.

**hemmjo** · Aug 5, 2023, 06:55 PM

I tried to get videos of things like this when I was teaching, to give kids an idea what the kind of really cool things they might could choose to do. But they were just not available. Still got lots of them excited about about actually making things and choosing paths in those direction. I know if I had been aware of all the cool things that people do, I may have chosen a different path. But, looking back, no real regrets. Things work out like there are supposed to.

Well maybe except for "that one time"......

**Dry Creek Smithing** · Aug 5, 2023, 09:52 PM

What shop were you at? I hauled tracks to and from the West Coast track shop for Perterson Catapilar years ago. The only track shop I knew of was on the West Coast was in Eureka Ca. They did a huge business of repairing tracks out of there. All shipping to and from happened at night. Interesting.

**piper184** · Aug 5, 2023, 10:11 PM

Butler in Bismarck, ND. Lots of equipment at the coal mines in the area.
Watched the shop guys rebuild a D10 that had been submerged. They did such a good job that Cat zero timed the machine and gave it a brand new serial number as if it had come off the assembly line.

**schuylergrace** · Aug 5, 2023, 11:39 PM

So, is this a neater, cleaner version of "spray welding," or are they just laying down a weld bead with a wire feed I don't see.

**hemmjo** · Aug 6, 2023, 04:46 AM

Looks to me like it is a spray head, I do not see any wire making that arc.

Pic is a little larger if you click it.

Additive manufacturing - GIF-spray-head.png

**piper184** · Aug 6, 2023, 10:06 PM

Pretty hard to tell from the video. It is depositing a lot of material quickly, but the arc seems kind of dim. Not a camera thing as the background is clearly visible.

That machine is certainly tech I have never seen before. Would like to know more about it.

**schuylergrace** · Aug 6, 2023, 10:18 PM

I don't think it's an arc welder, but a laser. The closer I look, it appears there are at least two streams of powder aimed at what would be the laser's focal point, and the sparks (at least some of them) would come from individual, stray particles crossing the laser path above the weld.