If I Owned a Jewelry Store I Would Own a Laser Welder
A laser welder is often one of the top item’s on a jeweler’s wish list. So if I owned a store, I’d make sure I had one, because it laser welders offer benefits every jeweler can take advantage of.
A laser welder lets you create a new jewelry profit center, by way of custom manufacturing and providing fast jewelry repairs. As a tool, it has revolutionized the bench. My sense is that today, many retailers aren’t getting the volume they used to selling goods straight out of the showcase. A laser welder offers a chance to reinvent their business model to accommodate custom jewelry designs. You can pick out findings and select different stones, source all those components and then rapidly assemble a finished, high-quality jewelry piece without soldering.
The laser welder has never been intended as a replacement for a torch, but it does eliminate a lot of pre-and post-work necessary to complete a job. A torch is a contact device – it comes into contact with the piece you’re working on as a whole – so it leaves fire scales, scorching oxidation, and you have to clean those up. You also have to remove heat-sensitive items from a piece before using a torch on it. A laser welder is non-contact, so it eliminates many of those steps. It’s also easier to learn. You can learn to use a laser welder in eight to 12 hours. After another 20 hours of practice, you’ll be proficient at laser welding. Conversely, teaching somebody to use a torch is a fairly intensive process without much room for error.
Because of that it has become key to have a laser welder if you want to hire fresh talent on the bench. All the jewelry training schools now have laser welders, so students are graduating and saying to jewelers, “Where’s your LaserStar?”
If I wanted to get creative with my laser welder, I could market my laser-welding services to eye doctors. I’d tell them to send people with broken eyeglass frames my way. It’s a tremendous tool in other industries, too: tool and die manufactures, medical device makers, prototyping work. If I were looking for extra revenue, I could contact people in those fields and offer to rent them my time on the laser welder for $50 an hour during my off-hours.
This article was published in the February 2012 Issue of Instore Magazine.
