This is thread drift, for OP didn't ask about laser welding.
I know I shall get banter for this (and deservedly so), but I only read Ch 3 of the attached book, which is on laser welding (which looks terribly easy to me, as a lay person, when I watch internet videos about it).
Anyway, I think the book is an interesting resource, and very well written, and might be worth the purchase for folks seeking answers in a thread like this. It's Welding And Joining Of Aerospace Materials edited by Mahesh Chaturvedi, and published by some folks at Duxford in the UK. If anyone needs a steer, send me a Direct Message.
Also, I have not read the American Welding Society's guidance, but if anyone has and if it says anything about laser welding do let me know; I'd be curious to read it.
https://pubs.aws.org/p/1754/d171d17...for-fusion-welding-for-aerospace-applications
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- I feel I should add that I like mass-produceable light aircraft designs, hence my desire to understand what (if any) potential exists within a welding technique that might have advantages over others when used on the end of a robot arm, or might have advantages over other techniques if production had to occur in a location where skilled welders were hard or impossible to find.
- I'm aware that the starting price for the kit is $6k (Chinese) to $12k (European), and that will exclude it from outright purchase by homebuilders.
- I'm aware that the robot would have to be scratch-developed, and that tubular space-frames are not the 'best' way to mass produce light aircraft.
- my interest is so speculative as to be bordering on the academic. I'm not at risk of welding anything myself, any time soon.
- I haven't bothered to make a thread for laser welding in homebuilt aircraft because, for the reasons described above, it would probably be. a bit silly.