Varisigns Channel Letter Bender and Welder

[nastewart0521]

Does anyone have any experience with this company? We are looking into a channel letter bender/welder and I came across this company on YouTube. I'm impressed with the videos I've seen but just a little worried about buying a machine from a company I've never heard of and based out of china. With that being said I have talked to their distributor in Florida and the owner had nothing but great things to say about the laser welder.

-Letter Bender

-Laser Welder

 

[Johnny Best]

If I was spending big bucks on something like that, I would have to see it and look at all the workings, especially if it was made in China.
Who do you call when something does not work right?

 

[JBurton]

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.

Robotic Laser Welding Automation- PerformArc™ Laser Cell | MillerWelds

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.

 

[Hoze]

Getting machinary that needs specific maintenance with no local support; who in USA would give you support if something goes wrong?
I prefer to pay extra for something with a brand.

 

[Ryze Signs]

We have a Lightweld laser welder and it sucks. The safety always triggers and it shuts off. So far it's a $40k paperweight. I need to spend more time with it and figure it out, but it's hard to find the time.

We have an SDS bender and it's awesome. Fast, accurate, good customer support based in Colorado.

 

[JBurton]

Lightweld laser welder

Oh boy, someone finally picked one up. I've been really interested in laser welding, but really troubled by the lack of big name options. We talked to our local welsco about them, and welsco was wanting to bring them in to sell, but they were concerned with lacking safety features.
At any rate, I take it as a negative experience this far, but I'd love to hear any updates once you have the time to figure it out.

 

[Ryze Signs]

The Lightweld is intended to be in its own room with an interlock on the door. We currently have it bypassed. I might see if I can find a better wire feeder for it. Aluminum wire really needs a spool gun or a push pull setup to not birdnest. I might be able to do some autogenous (no filler) welds on reverse channel letters. The machine is expensive to run as it uses a good amount of nitrogen shielding gas.