The new PUK U5 – mobile and versatile

I made first experience with a PUK back in 2003 in State Drawing Academy Hanau. It was the PUK111 and I instantly fell in love with it.

With PUK’s help I can realize any of my ideas. It makes welding of different metals and combining them with different materials a lot easier. Especially since I often use very thin metal sheets and wires, the PUK is the perfect tool for me.

I had different PUK models in my workshop already – the PUK 3s, PUK 04 and now the PUK5 – and every new model has offered an increased accuracy and improved welding results.

That is why the PUK has become one of the most important pieces of equipment in my workshop.

I must say that nowadays working without PUK is unthinkable for me!

You may take anything but my PUK from me!!!

I use it for everything made of gold, silver, steel, titanium and platinum.
I work easily on claws without having to remove the stones before.

The PUK is perfect for fixing the parts prior to soldering, for different micro repairs and also allows me to work on watches (crowns, shafts, gears and bracelets).

My PUK is a PUK3s professional plus and since I bought it, it paid for itself within the first six months already.

I think every goldsmith workshop needs a PUK to speed up the jewellery repairs and production.

Doing jewellery repairs, the ability to add small areas of metal is vital and was missing for the first 25 years of my time as a jeweller.
Then I heard about the welders that were becoming available so I bought a Lampert PUK3S and several years later I am still using it for most of the repairs that I do.
It paid for itself in the first year because it saves me so much time.
It opens up new possibilities such as repairing bracelets without having to refinish them all over, retipping stones like emeralds without removing them, tacking things together before soldering, repairing porosity etc. In most cases it's faster and cleaner than soldering.

I regard it as an essential tool for manufacturing and repairing jewellery and can't imagine working without it.

I have been a goldsmith for 10 years now.
I was taught the old fashion way by a master craftsman from the Birmingham jewellery quarter
Now with this fantastic new PUK I have moved away from using a naked flame and I mainly use my PUK for most of my repairs, its faster, cleaner and when working on some delicate stones such as opal or emerald, the repair is always safe.
It has also saved me so much more time allowing me to do more work in a day improving productivity.
No goldsmith should be without one.

Orthodontic soldering is now a thing of the past. TIG welding is far superior in every way. The possibilities are endless with the PUK D2 TIG welder. Preparation is minimal and joins are stronger and smoother than soldering.

Since I have been using the PUK D2 I have not had any appliance breakages. Many jobs were not possible when I was limited to soldering. Now I can add small attachments to my appliances with little distortion from overheating. Intricate designs are easily and quickly added to any job with minimal preparation. Almost no finishing and polishing is needed saving much time and money. Working under the microscope makes welding much more precise.

Not only is this PUK D2 excellent, the Lampert ambassadors are also very helpful. I had many conversations with them and they were more than happy to help. They always urged me to keep in touch as they want everyone to appreciate this machine as much as they do.

"You know how some of your best ideas border on the actual doable technology? As a multidisciplinary artist, my various visions often look beyond that technical border. In many cases I must invent the tools necessary, and pursue with considerable improvisation and limitations over years. In 2013, I wanted to make artworks of pre-polished stainless steel that would be very difficult to polish after normal TIG welding due to narrow access angles.

The amazingly different PUK solution: I was very surprised and delighted to find out about the PUK, and was treated to an unusually terrific demo of it in my studio. This is a machine I could never have ‘invented’, or even imagined! And it not only solved many of the problems for the specific artworks in mind, it opened the door to many new ideas that are now possible!

And not to be overlooked: the PUK is made in Germany to highest standards, and the support can’t be beat! Lampert has proven to me to be an innovative company that cares about quality, but also knows that what they are producing, solves problems and opens your creativity."

I have been working with precious metal for almost 50 years and some of my tools were passed on to me by a goldsmith who began work in about 1920. The PUK settled into a workshop where the anvil, planishing hammer and draw plates are used daily.

When the PUK arrived I had a problem to solve. I had just finished a custom ring with a 2.25 carat diamond set in two very wide prongs. I hadn’t gotten quite enough platinum over the diamond to feel secure. After about 5 hours of practice with the PUK I was able to add 0.75mm of clean platinum to the top of the prongs and hammer it down over the diamond. No seam and no porosity. Just like the extra platinum had always been there.

The PUK was already paying its own way.

Experience with Puk 3 welder at Jewellex 2009:

"I was on a hunt for a tool machine that is going to help me to make life easy doing fine soldering to chains, retipping claws on pieces without wasting too much time or money.

I guess in the last 5 hours of a Jewellex show being the last day, this was going to be a challenge that I never knew was going to make my dream come true. Walking down one of the aisles passing jeweller after show room, I saw a guy doing something weird but it was flashing spark lighting, this drew my attention.

A dream started to unfold at that very moment, I stood and watched this gent looking through a microscope and doing something that had blown me away, welding two pieces of metal together. I started asking questions - can you solder, weld a bracelet together without taking coloured stones out, his reply was 'yes', can you weld new claws on to a ring with stones and or coloured stones again 'yes'! – I asked please can I try, so he stood up and showed me to set up to suite my vision eye focus and I started welding ok at first it was messy, I sat for over an hour experimenting and I was glued to that chair. Honestly, at this time I just had a million mind flashes of what I was going to use my Puk 3 for and how it was going to work for me making life easy and more money with less stress.

Well its now two and a half years later and I have not only used my Puk welder for difficult jewellery repairs, it’s used in my workshop every day. I have also applied it in the Opticians world, helping to repair broken frames of glasses, all makes and metals types. It’s amazing, most repairs you cannot even see the repair, as being a micro weld. The real magic using the Puk there is so little heat you hold the piece in your hand and no burns.

I can just say to the team at Lampert never stop creating new technology you guys are amazing I don’t know what I would do without my Puk welder."

Regards

Victor Magnes
Goldsmith and CEO The Jewellery Connection

The DENTA PUK was an excellent machine. I was working with the DENTA PUK for about two years and I couldn't believe that there could be a better welding device, but I changed my mind when I tried the PUK D2. Easier handling through the touch screen. Just choose your settings and weld. Easy welding even on orthodontic bands of thickness down to 0.1 mm. We don’t have to think about soldering anymore.

I’m a perfectionist who continually develops and researches techniques that will enhance my abilities to perform tasks more quickly and with better results. Many times I receive objects that will be so time-consuming to repair, the customer opts out because of the cost. Because of this, I had decided a couple of years ago to try a friend’s laser welder which would hopefully cut down on the time it took to perform certain repairs. The running back and forth from my shop to his became very time-consuming. In addition, the containment area of this laser welder (as with all laser welders), didn’t allow me to repair larger objects.

This same individual had a PUK 2. He allowed me to borrow it as I knew a laser welder would be too costly to purchase. I immediately found customer jobs that would allow me to put the PUK through its paces. The very first piece I attempted with the welder was a piece of Judaica that had its glass finial broken off. This very thin, coin size piece of glass was surrounded by a saw tooth bezel. Normally, I would have had to unset the glass (very risky because of possible breakage), reattach the finial through brazing, and then reset the glass. This process would have been time-consuming.

Thankfully, the PUK came to the rescue. I was able to weld the finial and add sterling to one of the partially missing bezel teeth touching the glass.

This, of course, would have been unthinkable using a torch, regardless of its size. Using this new technique was very exciting.

A more substantial repair was attempted on a 19th century silver creamer.

The problem was that three of its four legs had been detached and reattached with lead solder. This was an inane act. I was able to remove the lead from the legs, but couldn’t visually inspect the leg support interiors for assurance that I could silver solder the legs back on. Normally, I would have been forced to use a low-temperature tin/silver solder to reattach the legs, for high-temperature silver soldering would have allowed any remaining lead to “eat” the silver. This is where the PUK’s pulse arc technology allowed me to successfully weld with solid sterling wire, giving an invisible and substantially stronger attachment.

Suffice to say, I was impressed with the PUK. Since I work primarily in silver, which is the most difficult metal to weld because of its lack of resistance, I was ready to purchase a more advanced piece of equipment: The PUK 3s Professional. This welder was developed specifically to deal with the idiosyncrasies of silver. But before making the purchase, I wanted to contact tech support, as I had numerous questions. This was going to be the most expensive pieces of equipment I had ever bought, so I wanted to make absolutely certain this was the right decision. I was so impressed with the friendly and helpful support team, both in the US and in Germany, that I was absolutely convinced that this was the machine and company I wanted to be associated with. The three-year warranty also caught my attention!

Naturally when the PUK arrived, I immediately tore into the box and set it up along with the optional pivoting arm that would allow me to work on those larger pieces. It’s a beautiful machine, more like a piece of stereo equipment than a tool for a silversmith. The PUK is easy to use and understand, and I quickly realized how significantly it would enhance my advanced technical arsenal. I know when the next snuff box arrives with a cracked hinge knuckle that I won’t have to disassemble it to perform the repair. Just a few zaps with the electrode will put it back in working order. Isn’t that amazing? Tacking long seams together to be hard silver soldered will save the enormous amount of time it used to take to "wire-up."

Today, it’s extremely rare to find a company that builds a product to last, that looks great, and provides technical support from individuals who actually use what they sell. And yes, that’s amazing, too!