Jewelry Laser Welder Settings for Gold, Silver and Platinum
The fastest way to good welds on a new jewelry laser welder settings sheet is to stop treating settings like a secret recipe. There are only three dials that matter — voltage, pulse frequency and spot size — and once you understand what each one does physically, you can dial in any metal in a few test welds. Below are the starting points we use for the metals jewelry shops ask about most, and the tuning rules that get you from “close” to “right”.
The three dials, physically
- Voltage (pulse energy) — how deep each pulse penetrates. Raise it until the weld is deep enough; past that, you are boiling metal and making spatter.
- Pulse frequency — how fast pulses overlap. Low frequency gives distinct spot welds; higher frequency melts them into a continuous seam. Frequency does not make the weld deeper — that is the most common misconception on a bench.
- Spot size — small spot concentrates energy for deep, fine work; larger spot spreads it for smooth surface filling. Spot size is set by the focus lens position and nozzle, not by a button.
If you want the physics behind energy numbers, read Joules vs Watts: What Really Matters in a Laser Welder — two machines with the same wattage can differ hugely per pulse.
Starting jewelry laser welder settings by metal
Treat these as test-weld starting points on scrap of the same alloy and thickness, not as universal truths — alloys and fits vary.
- Yellow gold (14K–22K): moderate voltage, moderate frequency. Gold conducts heat fast, so it forgives; the risk is over-polishing seams with too much overlap.
- White gold: similar to yellow but watch discoloration — clean shielding gas matters more here (see our shielding gas guide).
- Silver (925/945): silver reflects and conducts more than gold, so it needs cleaner surface prep and usually a tighter, hotter spot. Reflector-friendly settings beat brute force.
- Platinum: high melting point, low heat conductivity — it wants higher energy per pulse than gold and tolerates it well.
- Repair work near stones: drop energy, raise frequency, keep the spot small — and read Welding Near Gemstones: What’s Safe and What Isn’t before you try heat-sensitive stones.
The tuning loop that never fails
1. Weld two identical test pieces at your starting settings 2. Change one dial — and only one 3. Compare depth, width and spatter against the previous pair 4. Repeat until the seam looks right, then write the numbers down — that is how a jewelry laser welder settings library gets built
One dial at a time is the whole trick. Changing voltage and frequency together tells you nothing about which one helped.
Symptoms and the dial that fixes them
- Weld blows through thin sections — lower voltage first, then increase travel speed
- Weld sits on top, no penetration — raise voltage or tighten spot; not frequency
- Spatter around the seam — energy too high for the fit-up, or dirty metal. Clean first, then lower
- Seam looks black or porous — that is shielding gas, not the weld settings; fix the gas
- Cracks after cooling — often cooling too fast on certain alloys; smaller, overlapping pulses help
Different machine, same logic
These starting points apply to any YAG jewelry spot welder, ours included — the PG-LN200W delivers 130 J per pulse at 200W, which is comfortably enough depth for bench repair and production work alike. What changes between machines is the voltage number that produces a given energy — not the logic behind jewelry laser welder settings.
Keep a small notebook — metal, thickness, final settings, date. Six months in, that notebook is worth more than any settings chart, because it is written in your workshop’s own alloys, fits and habits.
Send us your metal and joint and we’ll suggest a starting point
Tell us the metal and karat, the joint type and what you are repairing or producing, and we will suggest jewelry laser welder settings to start from. An engineer replies with what to watch on your first test welds — and if your machine, not your settings, is the problem, we will tell you that too.
CN Laser · Guangzhou Centro South Tech
WhatsApp: +86 185 2016 7321 · Get a quote · PG-LN200W spec
Worth reading next: Joules vs watts · Shielding gas guide