Plasma Transferred Arc Welding (PTAW) is a great process for robotic joining and overlay. The tightly columnated arc focuses the arc energy in a small area, making torch height less critical. The tungsten electrode is protected. So you change the tungsten less and weld more. PTAW allows the use of powdered filler materials, so you can weld all sorts of composite and exotic metals.
Not many people are aware of the buried arc welding process so it is rarely seen in the industry. This is a shame because no other welding process can make 1-inch fillet welds in a single pass and penetrate 5/8″ into the part. The process is limited to 1G and 1F welds on aluminum.
On this week’s episode of The Roboticist Chronicles, Dan Allford is joined by Cameron Serles, President of XIRIS Automation, Inc... As they talk about the history of arc video monitoring, the various technical applications involved, and how XIRIS does it differently, and why it is better.
Cameron Serles founded Xiris Automation, a developer of machine vision systems, was founded in 1989 but got into arc video monitoring 12 years ago. Dan and Cameron discuss the history of arc video monitoring dating back to the 1980s with Charles Stenning’s Stenning Vision to high dynamic range imaging.
“These welding vision systems are something we use on a lot of ARC Specialties machines. They are a critical part of the technology we sell…”
-Dan Allford
Subscribe to ARC Specialties’ Roboticist Chronicles podcast to learn more about the nuts and bolts of robots, automation, and the implications of an evolving machine workforce.
Sometimes less is more! Most butt welds are made using a 75 degree included angle V butt joint and the welder must fill the entire groove. By going to a narrow groove you drastically reduce weld volume, weld metal usage, and production time. Plus weld defect rates are typically measured as a percentage of feet of the weld. If you reduce weld length you reduce defects.
At ARC Specialties, most of our robotic cutting systems are based on plasma. But plasma is limited on part thickness. My rule of thumb is you need 100 amps of power per inch of thickness. There are a few systems that can cut up to 4″, but in my opinion, 2″ is the practical limit for economical plasma cutting.
ARC Specialties designs and builds turnkey robotic systems. Part of the process is the fabrication of welded steel frames. See our video below to learn how and why we use flux-cored arc welding (FCAW) to build all of our robotic manufacturing cells.
Spot welding is one of the most common uses for robots in industry. Most cars have thousands of spot welds joining the chassis and bodywork. People think spot welding is just for high-volume jobs with limited quality requirements. This episode shows how resistance welding can be used for high-quality, precision parts.
MIAB is an extremely fast way to butt weld small pipe and tube. The process was developed at the E.O. Paton Electric Welding Institute in Kiev, Ukraine. MIAB has some unique advantages for high production joining. The process is not as widely known or utilized in the United States as it should be.
ESW is a variation of submerged arc welding. Both use granular flux for shielding. Both are older processes with unique advantages. Deoxidizers in the flux reduce oxides and produce superb welds. There is no visible arc, almost no smoke and extremely high deposition rates. ESW deposits up to 60 pounds of metal per hour, 10 times faster than MIG or TIG.
What if there was an arc welding process that could weld thick sections and fine mesh metal screens? And did not require grounding of the part. And could automatically weld over scale and rust by reducing oxides?
