field notes — the shop / machine shop
The welding area is home to the xTool MetalFab, a 1,200-watt laser welder. Instead of the electric arc of traditional welding, it uses a focused beam of light to fuse metal parts into one solid piece.
welding with lightThe handheld torch melts the edges of two metal parts together with a tightly focused laser, feeding filler wire automatically as it goes. It joins steel, stainless, aluminum, and brass with cleaner, faster seams and far less heat distortion than a traditional welder — a technique that's just now making its way into modern fabrication shops.
It can also run in reverse: the same beam strips rust, paint, and coatings off metal to prep it for a perfect weld. And it pairs naturally with the fiber laser across the shop — cut your parts on the BesCutter Cube 1313, then weld them together here.
you'll find it in the machine shop
Machines like this come alive during our camps, clubs, and field trips — or book a tour and see the whole shop.