THE LINCOLN POWER WAVE, ITS NOT REQUIRED FOR THIS JOB.

Its only fitting that my last weld consulting job in the year 2000, would be working with with a big three company on "pulsed" MIG equipment. The task was relativel simple. A new multi-million dollar production line had been set up to automatically weld torque converters. Each line would have three MIG guns which would weld the converters as they rotated. The welding problems generated,

[a] A 2% leak rate from the multi MIG welds, (this is a very low reject rate for an auto plant howeve the production volume was extensive, the parts costly and weld repairs were not allowed).

[b] Excess weld heat from the multi-torch operation was causing production "assembly" issues.

Four days into my visit, we switched the pulsed off, went to traditional spray and optimized the parameters and technique. The 2% reject figure was reduced to "0%" and the weld heat problem was eliminated. As a a bonus. (for which I recieved no additional payment) I also gave the plant 15% more production.

What I found interesting about this costly, high volume installation, was the two production lines used six Lincoln Power Wave, pulsed MIG power sources. The lines were not yet in the production mode, yet the plant engineers informed me that four of the six pulsed power sources had already been replaced.

As a matter of weld interest, the pulsed mode was found suitable for this high speed aplication. (Note; numerous, costly pulsed power sources are purchased in North America and the pulsed modes are never used). The bottom line the weld application was welded with traditional spray transfer which was found to be more stable than the pulsed mode.

If the lower cost, traditional, more durable Lincoln CV 400 power sources had been purchased for this line, I know several GM engineers that today would have more respect for the red welding equipment.