Much attention has been paid to FSW as a useful joining process that provides superior characteristics compared with conventional fusion welding. However, the FSW equipment must have a high stiffness due to the applied load and the tool torque, which increases the size of the equipment. Therefore, it is difficult to use the FSW technique on-site for repairs and/or hand-operated welding. In this study, the relationship between the FSW parameters and the process loads was investigated for the FSW with a counterbalanced tool and preheating to evaluate the possible miniaturization of the equipment. The results revealed that the counterbalanced tool concept with preheating was effective for the miniaturization of the equipment because it reduces the applied load and the tool torque during the FSW. Welding direction force Fx and transverse direction force Fy can be reduced below 70N and 50N, respectively.
