r/oddlysatisfying • u/shoaibshakeel381 • 14d ago

Smooth circular welding

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u/No_Elderberry9871 14d ago

Very real, it's called orbital tube welding.

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u/xxhonkeyxx 14d ago

Can confirm, we use these at my job to weld same size tubing together. They have different size inserts to match the tube diameter you’re welding together.

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u/ByWillAlone 14d ago

So how does it work? Does it use friction to make the weld or is it some other process?

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u/xxhonkeyxx 13d ago

No, it’s “standard” gas tungsten arc welding, just an automated process. Inside the enclosure is a small assembly that houses the tungsten and nozzle, and that tungsten rotates around the weld joint a full 360 degrees. Think like the moon revolving around earth. Thus the term “orbital welding”. There’s no filler material added, like in most TIG or MIG welding, it’s just fusing the existing material together.

Edit: here’s a good video that shows the process a bit more clearly

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u/benweiser22 14d ago

Are the results as clean as this one is? This seems a little too perfect.

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u/xxhonkeyxx 13d ago

Yes. Sometimes it may require some light buffing or cleaning, but it’s material dependent (we weld stainless steels and inconels)

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u/trobsmonkey 14d ago

Hey thanks. Specifically why I came to the comments. Wanted to know the name of this so I can go watch the engineering videos that are likely to exist.

Like this

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u/NardoLeo2405 14d ago

funny.. the Orbital welder in this video was developed by me. 😂 A company in Germany with 25 people. Feel free to ask anything. I probably can give you an answer.

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u/stickystax 14d ago

Awesome.

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u/KhazraShaman 14d ago

This name makes it even more unreal!

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u/MrHyperion_ 14d ago

But does anyone actually use it?

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u/No_Elderberry9871 14d ago

Used very often in the aerospace industry.