BLR
07-13-2012, 06:36 AM
The other day with a project Delta Elite. Specifically, a carbon steel Delta Elite from "Colt's Dark Days." One of the things this had wrong with it was horribly roughly cut frame rails. It looked like they were cut with a wood rasp. Not to mention, the slide to frame fit was just abysmal.
So I fired up our firms laser welder (purchased for a project with AFRL) to see if things could be fixed. Here is the result:
http://i390.photobucket.com/albums/oo345/blriehl/Weldedrail.jpg
http://i390.photobucket.com/albums/oo345/blriehl/Weldedrail2.jpg
Now a few things are worth mentioning -
1. Notice the lack of excessive heating? That's the main advantage of laser welding over, say TIG welding. A jewelers laser welder would likely not have the "butt" needed to get sufficient penetration.
2. A unique filler rod material was chosen (mostly for fun) that has a very low coef. of friction, and much better wear resistance than a simple 4xxx series filler rod. The rod was developed for mold work.
Next is the grinding of the rails.
Cheers!
So I fired up our firms laser welder (purchased for a project with AFRL) to see if things could be fixed. Here is the result:
http://i390.photobucket.com/albums/oo345/blriehl/Weldedrail.jpg
http://i390.photobucket.com/albums/oo345/blriehl/Weldedrail2.jpg
Now a few things are worth mentioning -
1. Notice the lack of excessive heating? That's the main advantage of laser welding over, say TIG welding. A jewelers laser welder would likely not have the "butt" needed to get sufficient penetration.
2. A unique filler rod material was chosen (mostly for fun) that has a very low coef. of friction, and much better wear resistance than a simple 4xxx series filler rod. The rod was developed for mold work.
Next is the grinding of the rails.
Cheers!