Weld Tip Rotation Benefits for Aluminum Welding
Aluminum spot-welding has always been a challenge. Since oxidation starts after it’s made, every time spot welding tips clamp down and heat up, an oxidation layer sticks to them. This process compounds with each weld, accumulating layers that act as an insulator that causes the tips to stick and affects weld quality. This means tips need to be regularly dressed and replaced, adding up to substantial material and labor costs. What if the spot-welding process could be modified to extend the time between dressings and the lifespan of the tips? This presentation will examine a testing case study of an aluminum spot-welding method that turns the gun to naturally abrade the tips as it applies current, prolonging time between dressings and replacements while improving weld quality. The speaker will walk through the process, materials, thickness and variants to provide actionable advice on how this can be applied to daily applications.
Andre Young - KUKA Robotics
Weld Fumes: Reducing Exposure with Extraction System IIot
Exposure to metal oxides and gas byproducts is one of the leading hazards welders face. Most welding operations use a fume extraction system as their primary engineered control, and best practices recommend point-of-use fume extraction at each workstation, if space allows. Until recently, monitoring fume control required manual instrument readings at just the right time to detect and intervene in a problem. Now, internet connectivity is able to automate this job. This presentation will discuss how to use IIoT to detect particulates in the air, avoid unplanned downtime, optimize machine performance, and report regulatory compliance data--all with lower demand on machine supervision. A case study will focus on one metalworking operation that reduced its filter replacement costs by $19,703 annually, while helping to address welder safety.
Brent Nelson and Karen Wear - Donaldson Company, Inc.