MWL Weekly

Manufacturing With Light Weekly Edition 13

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FABTECH 2026: Making Laser Manufacturing More Practical October 22, 2026 | Manufacturing With Light Welcome to Edition 13 of Manufacturing With Light Weekly. FABTECH 2026 is underway in Las Vegas, and there’s plenty of new technology to talk about. This week’s stories look at robotic laser welding, collaborative automation, laser safety enclosures, and welding cameras. … Read more

MWL Laser Manufacturing Weekly Edition 12

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FABTECH 2026 opens next week in Las Vegas, and this week’s edition has a bit of a FABTECH-preview flavor—but I didn’t want the entire newsletter to become a list of machines sitting in booths. Instead, we’re looking at some of the engineering surrounding laser manufacturing. We start with nLIGHT’s work combining beam control and process … Read more

Manufacturing With Light Weekly Edition 11

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Four very different ways lasers are moving deeper into manufacturing This week’s stories remind us that laser manufacturing goes far beyond cutting sheet metal and welding parts. We start with an application that isn’t new, but I think it deserves another look: using laser energy instead of a conventional oven to cure powder coatings. From there … Read more

MWL Laser Manufacturing Weekly — Edition 10

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Active index 1. Handheld Laser Welding: The Question Is Becoming How to Implement It Handheld laser welding has spent the last several years getting attention for its speed, relatively low heat input, and ability to simplify certain welding applications. But an upcoming FABTECH 2026 technical session suggests the conversation is beginning to mature. The October … Read more

MWL Laser Manufacturing Weekly Edition 9

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From Handheld Welding to Advanced Packaging: Building Better Laser Manufacturing Platforms September 24, 2026 This week’s stories have a common theme: laser technology is becoming easier to turn into a production platform. IPG is showing handheld-laser users a path toward cobotic welding. Novanta is packaging the laser, scanner, controls, software, and calibration into one OEM … Read more

From Handheld Welding to Advanced Packaging: Building Better Laser-Manufacturing Platforms

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MWL Laser Manufacturing Weekly — Edition 9 September 24, 2026 This week’s stories have a common theme: laser technology is becoming easier to turn into a production platform. IPG is showing handheld-laser users a path toward cobotic welding. Novanta is packaging the laser, scanner, controls, software, and calibration into one OEM subsystem. ASMPT is combining … Read more

MWL Laser Manufacturing Weekly — Edition 8

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From Handheld Laser Safety to Smarter AM Quality September 17, 2026 Handheld laser welding continues to move into mainstream manufacturing, while metal additive manufacturing is becoming more focused on prediction, inspection, and repeatability. This week, a newly revised ISO standard addresses hand-held and hand-operated laser-processing machines. FANUC combines a manual laser-welding system with a collaborative … Read more

MWL Laser Manufacturing Weekly — Edition 7

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Blue Lasers, Beam Profiles, Microholes & Recovery This week we have four stories that touch very different parts of manufacturing with light. A blue diode laser is being used to deposit copper directly onto ceramic substrates. Tamron is moving into laser welding with a real-time beam profiler. New research shows just how much control is … Read more

MWL Laser Manufacturing Weekly — Sixth Edition September 3, 2026

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September 3, 2026 Process Intelligence, 60 kW Cutting, AI Quality, and Manufacturing at Sea This week’s stories cover a wide range of laser manufacturing, but they share a common theme. The laser itself is only one part of a production system. Scanner control is becoming more closely connected with process monitoring. Cutting systems continue pushing … Read more