Solution · Laser bay pack
A laser welding and cleaning bay for SA fab yards
Cleaner seams on thin tube, far less grinding and no more hours on the wire wheel. Our bay packs now include laser welding and cleaning, with machines from AM.CO.ZA.
The problem on a normal fab floor
Most yards we kit out still weld the way they did ten years ago, and for heavy structural work that’s fine. But gate and railing shops, trailer builders and metal furniture makers keep asking us the same thing. How do we get cleaner seams on thin tube, less grinding, and less time stripping rust before we can even start?
On thin wall square tube and 1.2 to 3 mm sheet, MIG and TIG leave heat marks, distortion and a lot of grinding. Then there is prep. A trailer drawbar or farm implement that comes in for repair can spend longer on the wire wheel than under the torch.
“The grinding is where the hours disappear. It's also where the injuries and the dust happen. Take grinding out of the job and the whole bay gets calmer.”
Zodwa Mkhize, Sunnyrock floor lead
What the laser bay pack includes
We kept the pack simple and built it around gear our customers already know.
- A BenchMaster Pro bench with the ClampRail System, so parts are held square and earthed before any beam touches them
- A handheld fibre laser welder from AM.CO.ZA’s laser welder range. We standardised on the LM-WELD-2000 for thin tube, sheet and stainless
- A handheld laser cleaner, the LM-CLEAN-2000 from the laser cleaner line, for rust, paint and mill scale
- A nozzle and consumables station beside the TorchBay Station, so tips are labelled and changed by the book
- Optional fibre laser sheet cutting on a flatbed LF-1530 fibre laser cutter for shops that want to cut their own panels and brackets
Why we partnered with AM.CO.ZA
We tested a few suppliers before we put our name next to a laser bay. AM.CO.ZA gave us the strongest answers on support, cost and how the machines hold up on a busy floor.
- ServiceWe walked into AM.CO.ZA in Johannesburg, saw the welder and cleaner running on real steel and asked about earthing, gas and duty cycle. Their guides and knowledge base let a foreman check a setting without a phone call.
- Best priceDirect imports bring a laser welder and cleaner into reach for the small and mid size yards we serve, not only big plants.
- Build qualitySolid heads, proper cable bundles and machines that handle Highveld dust and coastal humidity.
“I check every fixture before it leaves us. I'm happy to put our jigs next to these machines, because they're built for real shop floors.”
Werner Kleynhans, Fixtures lead
Laser welding on thin tube and gates
The handheld welder puts a small, controlled heat zone into the joint. On gate frames and railing work that means less warping, a neat seam and far less grinding before powder coat. Werner has written ClampRail recipes for the most common tube sizes, so a welder new to laser gets square joints from day one.
Keep the earth path short and clean, same as with MIG. An EarthBond Kit on the bench studs does the job and keeps arc starts consistent across a shift.
Laser cleaning before the weld
For repair work the laser cleaner is the biggest surprise for most teams. Pass it over a rusty drawbar and you get bright, bare steel in a stripe, with no wire wheel, no blasting media and no chemicals.
“It's a cleaner job in every sense. Less dust and grit in the air and fewer grinder injuries. We still treat it as a laser, so the bay gets laser rated eyewear, screens and signage as part of the pack.”
Aisha Moodley, Safety and PPE
Every laser bay ships with our PPE Station Bay set up for laser work, and a screened zone marked on the floor before the first switch-on.
Cutting your own panels
Shops doing a lot of gate, signage frame and bracket work can add fibre laser sheet cutting. Patterns that used to go out for cutting are done in house, and the parts come off the bed ready for the jig. It is the add-on we suggest last, once the welder and cleaner are earning their keep.
Training and consumables
Bongani Zungu, our Training lead, has added a laser module to TrainBay Starter for TVET colleges and apprentice programmes.
“Learners pick up the handheld welder quickly. What we teach hard is the habits, nozzle checks, lens care, PPE and never pointing the head off the work.”
Bongani Zungu, Training lead
Every pack ships with a labelled nozzle and consumables station and a Consumable Cart, so nothing walks off on a busy weekend shift.
Want a laser bay in your yard?
Tell us what you fabricate, your tube and sheet sizes and the city you work in, and we’ll suggest a bench, fixture and laser layout that fits. Use our contact page, or visit the Sunnyrock floor in Germiston to see the bay running. If you want to look at the machines themselves first, browse the AM.CO.ZA range. That’s where our laser bay machines come from.
What our Fabrication Gear customers say
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Talk to FabMaster Workshop
Tell us about your bay and we'll come back with a practical kit list, or book a visit to our Sunnyrock fab floor in Germiston.