Apparatus and method for laser welding the outer joints of metal bellows

摘要: A laser welding machine includes an arbor for rotating a plurality of bellows diaphragms positioned together in side-by-side relation adjacent the laser. An optical tracker is provided optically tracking position outer joint as rotates. In addition, low inertia beam steering mechanism used directing to form weld responsive tracker. The may be Nd:YAG, diode laser, or carbon dioxide example. preferably solid state camera and illumination source on opposite sides capture shadow image joint. further include processor associated display operatively connected means. displaying aligned horizontally, indexing joints distance positioning focusing by X-Y table.