How to Make Money with a Laser Welding Machine?

Have you ever thought of using a laser welder to earn extra income or start your own business? I believe you may have also felt that laser welders are appearing more and more frequently and worried whether this market is saturated. How do I choose a good niche? Could using it to generate income be a viable side hustle option?
You are not alone! In this article, we'll provide you with a detailed analysis of the laser welding business, so you'll understand what you need for your business and how to choose a good niche to start making money.

Can You Still Make Money With a Laser Welder?

The answer is yes, you can still make money with laser welders. According to the laser welding market data, in addition to some automotive and medical needs, such as the need for professionals in the market, there are many biased towards the individual, such as jewelry and electronics.

The electronics industry is also a fast-growing segment. The breakdown also has a lot of markets, such as the electronics shell packaging, 3D printing that needs to be assembled to fix the parts, the jewelry industry to carry out restoration, and so on.

Currently on the market, laser welders generally come with cutting, rust removal, and other functions. These functions are able to bring you a different niche market, so laser welding still has a huge demand and profit space. For individuals, this is an excellent business idea program that can be started with a low investment.

Laser Welding Niche Markets

Various industries have a need for laser welding, and here are some good ways to make money.

1. Sales: You can solve the user's pain points.

Find the market has a large user base; the more user groups a market has, the larger the industry derived from the demand is. In these cases, there is a need to find, for there is a need to weld. The following are some suggestions:

Stainless steel door and window fabrication/repair:

This industry has a large user base; doors and windows and other metal parts over time will inevitably produce metal fatigue, loosening, and other problems, resulting in instability or breakage. You can increase your extra income by helping people fix their doors and windows.

Furniture restoration:

providing localized services to help people restore items in their homes, such as metal frame restoration, decorative piece restoration, rust removal, etc. These are all great localized productions. When people have damage to their furniture, if you can provide restoration services, and if you have a handheld laser welder, then that's even better, or even provide a house call service, then they don't need to go out and spend a lot of money to buy it all over again.

DIY player assembly or repair:

Some, such as 3D printing, robotics, and other DIY player groups, are relatively large; some need to have the parts of the assembly fixed or repaired, and then you can use the laser welding machine to provide this service.

2. Showcase your Technology With a Laser Welding Machine.

Earn commissions through affiliate marketing. For this process, you need to accumulate the number of fans; you can make some show welding or repair projects and then post the content to TikTok, YouTube, and other video platforms; join some welding-related Facebook groups; and share your experience and technology.

When your fan base increases, you can join some merchants who sell laser welding machine equipment, recommend related equipment, and join their marketing affiliate to earn a commission. When the fans use your recommended links to buy the equipment, you can get a certain amount of commission, and you can also make money through the video platforms or even take orders. These are some good ways!

3. Rent out Your Equipment.

Renting out your equipment is also a great way to join some local groups, welding groups through Facebook, Reddit platforms, etc., and then advertise your rental equipment service in the group. It's also a good market to not only have your own machine but also earn extra income by renting it out.

4. Sell Yourself

If you have professional welding technology, you can sell your own technology directly packaged. For example, organize the experience you have accumulated over the years of exposure to this industry into a systematic welding guide, create relevant courses on welding methods, precautions, and practical tips for different materials, and then create instructional videos or courses.

You can set up your own website to sell this content or upload courses with the help of third-party platforms, such as Udemy and Skillshare, which are knowledge-paying platforms, and generate revenue through one-time purchases or subscriptions.

Not only does this approach help more people master these skills of welding, but it also allows you to promote yourself in such a way as to increase your fan base, as well as continue to generate value for your expertise, create a personal brand, and realize a steady passive income.

Laser welding has a variety of ways to make money; each industry has a pain point for each industry user. Find it! Analyze where the pain points are.

Can I solve them? Do people really need this? With these questions in mind, go find your niche and turn your hobby in the welding industry into a source of income.

How to Sell Your Services

There are many ways to sell your services, and here are some of them you can choose from.

1. Facebook and Instagram

These two platforms have a very large user base and are one of the most ideal choices; you can share your welding techniques and knowledge in posts and groups to sell your experience, and as more and more people follow you, you will get more and more business.

2. YouTube and TikTok

With these two video-based platforms, you can make your welding work, services, etc. into a video to show in front of the people; through the spread of the video, you can establish your influence. When your account has a certain amount of fans, you can start to accept some advertising and, through advertising, start making money.

3. Make your own website.

Through the website to show your services, you can also make some technology, skills, and other videos for the site to sell; you can also write articles to share your experience and skills through the subscription model. But in this regard, the creation and future maintenance have certain difficulties.

It is recommended that the first step be to use social media and video platforms to establish a certain number of fans, after which a certain amount of income can be invested in the site above, andthe construction and maintenance can be handed over to a third party.

4. Local sales services

You can publicize their services through the local area. There are many ways to publicize; the first is the use of social media groups, such as Facebook groups. Join some local user groups to publicize their services.

You can also go outside to look for opportunities; for example, if you see the site and there is a need for welding services, you can go up to communicate to carry out cooperation opportunities.

5. Utilize the resources around you.

You can ask your friends, customers, etc., and ask them whether there is a need for welding. You can also let them help you refer. These are resources that can be sold. The first received a single, which may be relatively small, but when you accumulate for a long time, your visibility in the industry will be greater and greater, and you will receive more and more singles.

4 Tips for Newbies in Social Media Marketing

1. Know your audience.

No matter what type of business you run, you need to know exactly who your audience is. If you don't even know your target audience, how will your business have the precise customers to bring you a steady income? So you need to identify your target audience in as much detail as possible. The more you know, the more your income will improve.

2. Choose the right platform.

Each platform has a suitable crowd, each platform has a different audience, and they are not necessarily suitable for your business. If you are carrying out a business to sell experience or technical courses, then you should choose the video or website platform rather than social media as the center of publicity.

Social media is only for the course business to play an auxiliary role in publicity; the dissemination of the video tends to be faster than the dissemination of the post.

3. Research user pain points.

When you determine your business, you need to start doing research in this industry. You need to understand what the user's pain points are and what you can solve. When you do this research, you can start to develop your promotional copy and marketing. When people first see that you can solve their pain points, then your chances of closing another step increase.

4. Pre-marketing

When you have put in front of all that have been ready, you can officially start your publicity; in the pre-publicity, do not come with too strong marketing.If you have not yet established popularity before, nobody will pay attention to you and your services, so in the early stage, what you need to do is to build up your popularity. Industry is under some tips:

1. Produce and share your processes, such as welding, cutting, and other processes.
2. Share the difficulties you encounter in the process and the way to solve them.
3. Produce videos of techniques and experience sharing to post on the platform to publicize your expertise.
4. Build your own community to help users to solve some problems.

Through these ways, you can quickly build up your popularity. When your popularity and fans come up, you can slowly start your business.

How Much Does It Cost to Start a Laser Welding Business?

Before carrying out laser welding, you need to have the following preparations:

1. Laser welding machine cost

The following two types of laser welding are generally available on the market today:

• Semiconductor lasers
• Fiber laser

The most affordable model is the semiconductor laser welder; the price of the machine to meet the needs of the business is in the range of $2,000 to $20,000, which is mostly used for portable, hand-held, easy novice schooling and is the most suitable choice for entry.

Fiber lasers, on the other hand, are targeted at professions that require more efficiency, precision, and welding depth, which can bring faster welding, deeper melting depth, and finer welds, and are generally priced at $3,000~$40,000. You can choose your laser welder equipment according to your budget and needs.

2. Accessories

After purchasing the machine, there are some extras, and there are some accessories that must be purchased, such as laser protective glasses/helmets, which are a must. There will be infrared rays during the laser welding process, which are invisible to human eyes but harmful to the eyes, so this is a must-purchase; the price is 50-200 USD.

Laser nozzles and different types of laser heads have different effects on welding; the price is usually $50-300.

Wire feeder (optional): If you need filler material for welding, you need to have a wire feeder system; the price is $200-500. Some vendors will send it to you when you buy a laser welder, like XLaserlab. If you buy their X1 Pro laser welder, it will come with a wire feeder, a laser welding helmet, and eyes.

Welding wire (optional) will need to be purchased if the job requires filler and is typically priced at $10-$200.

Electricity

The cost of electricity for a laser welder is generally higher, depending on the power and consumption of the machine. A 2800 W laser welder consumes 2.8 kWh of electricity per hour, which will cost you about 0.4 USD / 0.8 EUR (depending on the local price of electricity). You can calculate these costs according to the formula listed below:

Equipment power consumption: 2800 W = 2.8 kW

Power per day: 8 hours

Daily power consumption = 2.8 × 8 = 22.4 kWh

Electricity cost ($0.14/kWh)

22.4 × 0.14 = $3.14/day.

The Best Laser Welder for Starting a Business

XLaserlab X1 and X1 Pro—Versatile Entrepreneur's Toolkit

Redefining Entry Level: The New Threshold for Professional Level Devices

Faced with the dilemma of entrepreneurs, the introduction of the XLaserlab X1 and X1 Pro has revolutionized the market with their solutions. With their disruptive price positioning, these two machines succeed in bridging the giant gap between traditional electric welding machines and high-end industrial laser welding machines.

The XLaserlab X1 is priced at approximately $3,499, while the X1 Pro starts at approximately $3,731. This price range makes professional-grade laser welding technology accessible to small studios and solo entrepreneurs for the first time, at a cost even lower than some high-end conventional welders.

The core value of the XLaserlab device is that it is not just a tool but a comprehensive and versatile platform for business startups. The X1 Pro laser welder is a “3-in-1” welding, cutting, and descaling machine. This versatility means that your single capital investment can generate revenue from three different services, accelerating your return on investment and increasing the risk tolerance of your business.

Below is a comparison of the technical specifications of the XLaserlab X1 and X1 Pro:

Product Model	X1	X1 Pro
Laser Light Source	Semiconductor laser	Fiber Laser
Average laser power	460W	700W
Supply Voltage	100-240V AC, 50/60HZ	100-240V AC, 50/60HZ
Cooling System	Air-cooled	Air-cooled
Cable Length	2 meters	5 meters
Optical Conversion Rate	50%	35% of the total
Power consumption	2,500W	2,800W
Laser wavelength	900-1000nm	1080±10nm
Welding thickness	0.2-2 mm	0.5-3 mm
Welding speed	0-100 mm/sec	0-120 mm/s
Output Mode	Pulse	Continuous Wave/Pulse
Weight	12 kg (26.45 lbs)	19 kg (41.89 lbs)
Size	395x189x265 mm	470x205x335mm
Unique Features	Underwater welding, modular design	Underwater welding, cutting, cleaning, descaling, modular design

Technology Analysis and Core Advantages

The XLaserlab X1 and X1 Pro are more than just two models with different power levels; they are each geared towards two different entrepreneurial mindsets. The X1, with its semiconductor laser and uniform spot energy, is the perfect device for beginners.

It is designed to lower the barriers to learning laser welding, making it easy for even novices to get started and achieve professional-grade results, thus directly addressing entrepreneurs' concerns about the complexity of the technology.

In contrast, the X1 Pro's fiber laser produces a smaller, more energy-dense spot, allowing it to make deeper, stronger welds. What's more, the X1 Pro's 3-in-1 functionality (welding, cutting, and descaling) maximizes the value of a single machine.

It allows entrepreneurs to expand from a single welding service to a complete metal repair and fabrication service for a wider range of market needs.

In addition, the portability of both machines is a breakthrough. xLaserlab's machines are the lightest laser welders on the market. This is not just a marketing slogan; it directly addresses the physical challenges faced by welders.

Compared to traditional water-cooled systems (such as some models of the KR-1500A, whose air-cooled system has been able to significantly reduce size), XLaserlab's machines go even further, weighing even less.

XLaserlab's air-cooled design and extreme lightness allow the machines to be easily taken into the field for mobile service, opening up a whole new market of mobile service, an area that traditional welders have struggled to address. This opens up a whole new market for mobile service, one that is difficult to reach with traditional welding machines.

Conclusion

Whether you are planning to start a business utilizing a laser welder or use it for your side hustle, it's a great choice. Nowadays, the laser welding machine not only has the cutting function but also has the rust removal function.

All of these can help you better expand more markets and bring you more income. It is a worthwhile investment, but also it is very suitable for the newcomers, who can quickly get started.

They do not need complex and long-time training and can also weld very well. It does not take long to be able to start a business or a side business. Now start your way to make money!