Re: [CAD_CAM_EDM_DRO] CNC Welding, Any Real Experience Out There?

In August of '01, the company I was working for sent two of us to the
Lincoln Electric School in Cleveland to learn to operate their FANUC
i120 (or was it iL120?) based robotic welding system. We learned
programming via the pendant, and using various techniques. The most
impressive was TAST (Through-the-Arc Seam Tracking). This process would
track the current at either side of the weave, and 'know' that the side
that had higher-than-average current meant that the center of the fillet
weld was straying to close to that side, and would adjust itself closer
to the other side. You could program to weld a fillet 4 ft long in the
horizontal position, then lift the finish-end 4 or 5 inches, and after
starting at the prescribed point, the 'bot' would track the now-inclined
path exactly! At the time, we had ordered their biggest (except for the
gantry unit) i120 with a special 4th axis that allowed us to weld a 45"
dia x 6 ft long 1300 lb water-tight water-heating furnace. My advice, if
you have enough jobs to do, just skip trying to CNC it, and GO ROBOTIC!
List Mom; is talk about robotics legitimate on your CNC list? Do you
know if EMC has robotic capabilities?

RayHex

P.S. Lincoln's programmable Weld-Power supplies are outa this world!

pondindustrial wrote:

>
> Hi all,
>
> This is my first post on this group and I'll have to admit the recent
> post regarding CNC welding caught my eye. Has anyone in this group
> had any hands on experience with CNC welding? I have a Miller 251 mig
> welder and once have rigged the gun to my CNC plasma table to weld
> pipe and the results were impressive! I'm getting ready to fab a full
> scale "Straight Welder" (as I call it) to weld anything requiring
> nearly straight welds. It will consist of a long axis about 7' in
> length and a cross, or weave axis that will be conveyed by the 7'
> axis. This axis will perform the weave motion and will compensate for
> any error in linearity of the metal to be welded.
>
> If anyone has any links, advice, or experience to share regarding
> this project it would be greatly appreciated!