LINEAR FRICTION WELDING MACHINE AND ASSOCIATED METHOD
A linear-friction-welding machine and a method of linear friction welding are provided which permit continuous clocking or angular positioning between a pair of workpieces without the complexity and cost associated with making either the weld head or the table of the friction-stir-welding machine rotatable. The linear-friction-welding machine may include a stationary or a movable table, a weld head, and a tapered cylindrical collet, adapted to engage a tapered cylindrical opening of a socket. The socket is either supported by the table or retained by the weld head, to permit controlled, continuous clocking of one of the workpieces, retained by the collet, relative to the other workpiece, which is either supported by the table or retained by the weld head such that the workpieces may be mutually biased and linearly oscillated relative each other.