In this video, we’ll cover essential safety practices for laser welding, highlighting the importance of proper personal protective equipment (PPE) for welders. From specialized laser safety glasses to flame-resistant clothing, gloves, and ventilation equipment, we’ll guide you through everything you need to stay safe while performing laser welding tasks. The video also explains the safety features and protocols for operating LightWELD, such as interlocks, and warning lights, ensuring a safer welding environment for everyone.
Video Transcript
Hi. This is Joe. And Jonah from IPG Photonics.
In today’s video, we’re going to be doing an overview of laser safety and how it differs from arc welding.
Okay. Let’s talk about laser welding and the PPE the operator is going to be using. Now, you’re already wearing PPE for your arc welding. You’re protecting yourself from white light and UV emission. You’re probably wearing a heavy weld jacket, some gloves, and you’re making sure you’re behind some sort of enclosure that will protect the people around you from those wavelengths of light. It’s no different when you’re working with a laser, but the wavelength that you’re protecting yourself from are not white light, but the near infrared. So you have to make sure that your PPE is the right kind to protect yourself from that wavelength.
Let’s go over the indication lights on the front panel of your light weld. Now, this is going to give you an at a glance status of what your machine is doing while you’re welding or before you’re welding. So it’s going to be all the way over to the left. On the top, you have your emission signal.
That’s only going to be going on when you have active photonic emission, when the laser is on. Next, you have your interlock signal. That is the orange clamp that hooks to your table or the part. Now, the importance of that is if you lift the laser off your table or your part, your laser will automatically shut off.
You have your gas indicator light that will make sure that you have positive pressure running through the system. You have your warning sign and your error code, and that tells you system status and it will flash an error code right here on the front panel. And then finally, we have the E stop and your key switch. Okay.
So we just went over the indicator lights on the front panel, but let’s see where those indicator lights are generated. Usually, it’s here at the torch.
Now, there’s a lot of technology that’s in this piece of equipment right here, but let’s go over the safety systems that are here for your protection. First, dual trigger safety design. This laser will not fire unless both triggers are depressed at the same time. There is a safety circuit, which means if you are not touching the table or a part, the laser will not work. If you lift off while you’re actively welding, the laser will shut off. That’s there for your protection or anyone around you. And then finally, there are optical interlocks.
So if you’re doing something that is out of the parameters or out of the scope of what the machine feels comfortable with, it’ll shut itself off. We have something called back reflection alarms which if the torch notices any kind of laser light coming back of the operator, it will shut itself off.
Also, if it doesn’t sense any weld plasma, it will also shut itself off immediately.
Those are there for your protection and everyone around you. Okay.
So now we’re going cover the proper PPE needed for LightWELD. Despite what you have seen on social media, you need to wear the proper protection when welding with a laser.
So a lot of it is similar to what you traditionally use with arc welding, being a jacket, sleeves, or gloves. But on top of that, you’re going to need your laser safety glasses, which are going to protect you from any scattered light from the laser. These are rated to ten seventy nanometers.
And you’re going to need your laser safe welding helmet, which has laser safety glass built into it, and it’s built to withstand a direct hit from the laser.
On top of that, you’re going to need to wear a respirator and have a fume exhaust or a fume extractor locally to keep smoking contaminants from getting into your lungs.
One of the biggest differences between laser and arc welding is a need for a safety enclosure.
Forget what you see on YouTube with welders quote unquote welding on an open shop floor. Laser light is reflective and that can harm others and yourself when not properly contained.
You will need to work in an environment that protects your fellow workers that is called a laser controlled area or LCA.
Inside the LCA, you’ll be wearing your laser welding PPE and if your supervisor or anybody else is in the LCA with you, they too should be wearing the appropriate laser safety equipment.
Outside the LCA, the enclosure shields bystanders from the laser.
LCAs can also have observational windows so people outside can see what’s going on. They must be rated for laser safety.
Interlock controllers are also a must.
The interlock feature of an enclosure will protect anyone who might barge in while you’re welding. This immediately shuts down the laser.
Another piece of safety equipment is signage and it indicates when the laser is in use. You should have signage that warns about the risks of laser exposure. Both are required to be posted.
If you have others in the LCA with you, they also need PPE, but you also need to be aware of reflections.
What happens with reflections?
You will want your visitors to stay behind you outside of the area of possible reflections.
While there are some differences in safety and the PPE used, it is also not too dissimilar from what you’re using already. If you are unsure about any safety aspects of your laser welding environment, our team is ready to help.
Thanks for joining me and be sure to check out our other videos in the resources section on lightweld.com.
