Back to Previous Page

Pipe Welding at its Best

The robot holding the gun in this picture is one I used to weld a pipe, "vertical up" with an 0.052 (1.4mm) E71T-1 flux cored wire. This provided a weld deposition rate of 9 lb/hr. The robot weld welds were made on 48 inch pipe.

The robot programming time was less than 30 minutes and the large diameter pipe was welded in a fixed position. All the vee-groove welds were made from 6 to 12 o'clock. Shop pipe welding one day will be a great application for a robot, all the logical weld quality and weld deposition benefits are there.

Back to weld reality. In an industry that has taken more than twenty years to recognize the benefits of gas shielded flux cored wires, you know "change" is a forbidden word.

The pipe welding industry has been so entrenched in its traditional SMAW - GTAW weld processes and practices that it will likely take another two decades before someone has the balls to state, a robot is a logical tool for all position pipe welds in their pipe shop. Take a trip to the MIG and flux cored section for extensive pipe weld data. My Management Engineers book has extensive practical MIG and flux cored pipe weld data.

 

Pipe Welding at its worst

One major pipe welding shop in Houston Texas supplied pipe spools and other pipe related items to large, local chemical plants. This shop used both MIG and FCAW. The problems for this shop was a combination of unsuitable radiographs films, and the poor weld practices and procedures.

The x-ray film selected did not show the extensive lack of fusion that was being attained in the "first MIG pass" after the root in every pipe joint. Both the MIG and FCAW procedures and pipe edge preps used were not appropriate, and had little to do with weld reality. The chemical company asked that I establish effective MIG and FCAW procedures. The practical data attained is available in my book "A Management Engineers Guide to MIG"

Weld salesmanship typically has little to do with weld reality.

"The Weld Equipment Challenge"

When weld shops ask my advice, I believe integrity is everything.
With weld questions I always prefer to deal with welding reality. My weld expertise and reality is derived from 40 years MIG experience. For those weld equipment or consumable manufacturers who do not agree with my statements, (most), I will provide this simple honest challenge. We could have a competition the winner to pay $5000 to their charity of choice. I will use a traditional, low cost 400 amp CV power source, a standard MIG wire and a common two part gas mix. The competition will require that we either manually or robot weld in the flat or horizontal positions carbon steel or stainless parts in the common thickness range of 1mm - 2 mm - 3mm - 6mm and 9mm.

My bet challenge is simple. The equipment manufacturer can use their most sophisticated electronic pulsed welding equipment, their choice of any 3 part gas mixes or special MIG or metal cored wires. Once the welds are complete they will have to show "weld quality and weld productivity benefits which are measurable.

This challenge has been on this site for more than a year. I believe the equipment manufacturers will not rise to the challenge as the bottom line is they are unable to provide justification for the increased costs and complexity of their products

YOUR COST SAVING POTENTIAL.
ONCE YOU CONTROL THE WELD PROCESS AND GET THE WELD BULL AND SALESMANSHIP OUT OF YOUR BUSINESS, THE TYPICAL, "ANNUAL", POTENTIAL WELD SAVINGS FOR A MANUFACTURING SHOP WITH MORE THAN 20 WELDERS IS $2000 TO $5000 PER EMPLOYEE.
WITH THE ADDITION OF ROBOTS THE POTENTIAL TO INCREASE WELD PRODUCTIVITY BY 30 TO 100% WILL ALSO OCCUR. I HAVE ACHIEVED THESE RESULTS AND COST SAVINGS AT EVERY PLANT I HAVE WORKED.

If you are intent on increasing weld production and investing in weld automation for your facility, give me a call and let me show you in a few hours what can be done with low cost equipment and weld process expertise.