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For information on how to attain the Advanced TIP TIG Process,
contact Ed Craig in the USA at 828 658 3574. E-Mail ecraig@weldreality.com


June 11 2009. Welcome to ADVANCED TIP TIG:


 THE 2009. PATENT PENDING, ADVANCED TIP TIG, IS THE WORLD'S
MOST EFFECTIVE WELD PROCESS FOR DELIVERING DEFECT FREE WELDS


THE ADVANCED TIP TIG PROCESS IS A SEMI-AUTOMATIC
AND AUTOMATIC ADVANCED TIG / PLASMA WELD PROCESS.

Take a MIG wire and automatically feed that wire in a controlled manner at typical wire feed rates of 1 to 12 meters per-minute into a high amp TIG or plasma arc. Then apply a unique, patented, dynamic wire feed action that alters the weld's surface tension, influencing the weld profile and weld solidification. Combine those features with some unique customized equipment, and you have the patent pending Advanced TIP TIG (ATT) process.

DEFECT FREE WELDS. The ATT process will produce many remarkable weld benefits for any weld shop and the most important benefit for any weld organization will be, this easy to use, moderate priced process can deliver manual or mechanized weld quality never before attained in the global welding industry. The goal of attaining cost effective welds at defect free, weld quality levels that will consistently pass any NDT or weld test requirements, should be the goal of any organization that deals with code quality welds.

PROCESSES AND CONSUMABLES CAUSE WELD REWORK. As most weld shops are aware, the common weld processes and consumables used in their shop will when used for all position welds be part of the root cause of the weld defects that will require in costly weld rework. In contrast to Stick - Traditional TIG - Plasma - MIG - Pulsed MIG - STT - RMT - CMT or the Flux Cored process, the easy to use ATT process will always produce superior weld quality, all position welds with cost effective MIG and flux cored wire feed rates.

WELD PROCEDURES, SIMPLICITY WITH THE HIGHEST QUALITY: Think about the complexity involved in a weld shop when developing traditional pipe weld procedures using MIG Short Circuit - MIG Spray - MIG Globular - MIG STT - MIG RMD - MIG CMT - Gas Shielded Flux Cored combined with traditional TIG and SMAW. The weld reality with the ATT process is this. With ATT, two simple wire feed and amp weld settings will be all the weld shop will need to attain defect free welds on any all position application or on any weldable material.



This manual ATT Inconel 625 weld was deposited at 8 - 10 lb/hr.
It's impossible with either pulsed MIG, flux cored or traditional TIG or plasma to duplicate the weld quality or the weld cleanliness that was attained from this ATT weld. As the ATT wire feed is constant and always fed into an exact optimum position in the arc zone, the welder can use one hand for the welds, or use their free hand to guide a torch. The ATT torch is much lighter than the typical MIG or flux cored gun. One weld pass or a 100 weld passes, the ATT process was developed to consistently produce cost effective, defect free welds.

With the ATT process, it does not matter what the application the weld position or the alloy to be welded is. Carbon steels, stainless, aluminum, Inconel, titanium, hastelloy, stellite, duplex, low and high alloys, tool and cast steels welds and cladding. No other global manual or automated weld process delivers such a unique combination of real world weld benefits.

ATT provides all position weld deposition rates equal to pulsed MIG and weld quality and mechanical properties always superior to what was the traditional manual TIG and Plasma processes. When defect free welds are important to your organization or you need an easy to use process for all position pipe welds, this process will provide your weld shop with good weld deposition rates, defect free welds, no weld smoke issues, no spatter issues, narrow heat affected weld zones and minimal weld distortion.



ADVANCED TIP TIG is a unique TIG or Plasma weld process that will consistently produce higher weld quality and productivity than conventional manual TIG / Plasm, or the automated Hot Wire TIG and the Plasma processes.

IT'S WELD QUALITY WITH WELD PRODUCTIVITY: Not only does the ATT process produce superior manual / automated weld quality than any other process, it can provide the weld, clad or braze quality at pulsed MIG and flux cored weld deposition rates.




ATT PROVIDES ULTIMATE CONTROL OF SMALL MANUAL WELDS.
With any alloys in which small welds or welds on thin gage are required, the ATT process will produce far superior weld quality to traditional TIG - Plasma - MIG - RMD - CMT - STT or Pulsed MIG. If manual welding the stainless cooling tubes on the left, you would typically get the best manual weld quality from the conventional TIG process. The pulsed MIG process would produce welds in which the weld tie-ins and fusion would occasionally be suspect and the manual weld appearance would be irregular.

The manual TIG welder on this application, would be feeding slow, inconsistent wire feed rates with weld current compatible with the wire feed. The inconsistency of the slow, manual wire feed rate and the individual techniques and differnt wire feed rates from each welder, would typically be indicated in irregular external weld appearance and in the internal weld quality attained.


For these manual welds, the easy to use ATT manual process enables if the welder wishes, to use two hands to provide ultimate manual control of the torch on the small round parts. This welder will also use a controlled, fixed wire feed rate that will enable these welds to be done four to six times faster than regular TIG. The high wire feed rate enables higher current. The high weld current with the controlled wire feed and consistent wire to tungsten / arc placement, provides superior welds than traditional TIG and pulsed MIG.



Take a close look at the stainless ATT manual welds on the left. These welds were made four times faster than conventional TIG and thanks to the higher weld energy, controlled wire feed, exact wire to tungsten / arc placement and less arc starts, the manual ATT weld will always provide much greater weld quality than any TIG or pulsed MIG weld.

Also note the minimal weld heat affected zones, this is a great benefit for those concerned with controlling weld distortion and weld appearence. Many experienced weld personnel would look at the ATT manual welds on the left and believe they were done with an automatic process. The semi automatic ATT manual process brings this type of weld quality to any manual weld or clad weld it produces. ATT is the only manual process that can provide the weld quality typically attained from automated welds.






SMALL WELDS OR BIG WELDS THE ATT BENEFITS ARE EXTENSIVE.

With traditional TIG, it would take 3 plus hours to do each of these
critical pipe joints. With the ATT process it took 55 minutes to fully
complete each weld joint shown and of course these were defect free welds.




CONVENTIONAL PIPE WELDS, OPTIONS AND CONSIDERATIONS:

Manual Pipe Welds: Every company that has to produce code quality pipe and pressure vessel welds, is aware that when manual welding, the conventional TIG process has in the past been the first choice for to attain code quality welds with minimum weld rework. These same companies will also often be frustrated that the manual TIG process is painfully slow and the process requires a high degree of skill and dexterity to work the torch and feed the weld wire. The manual TIG requirements will lead to irregularities in the welds and finding welders with TIG skills becomes more difficult each year.

When 10 welders use traditional TIG and all weld the same all position weld joints, each TIG welder will use a different weld technique in which the TIG weld wire is directed at different feed rates into different locations in the TIG arc plasma. Also the typical TIG pipe weld current used by the manual TIG welders is restricted by how fast the welder can manually feed the TIG wire from their fingers to the welds. The resulting TIG weld differences will be noted in the pipe weld appearance and weld quality attained. Yet even with these differences, the traditional TIG process has been the process of choice when quality welds are required.

Manual MIG Pipe Welds: MIG equipment requires two unique weld modes for the pipe root and the all position fill passes. For external "all position" manual pipe root MIG welds, the weld shop can use modified short circuit or low parameter pulsed. Both these processes are gap dimension sensitive and require costly unique MIG equipment. A separate weld transfer mode such as pulsed MIG or the flux cored process will typically be utilized for the all position pipe fill passes.

Manual Pulsed MIG Pipe Welds. All position pipe welds benefit from "constant focussed high weld energy" With pulsed MIG we have a process with a "fluctuating weld arc and energy" that results from a weld that spends 50% of its time at a peak current and 50% at low back ground current typically under 100 amps, Also with pulsed MIG, the balance between the weld deposition rate and weld energy generated will often produce welds which either drive the manual welder to make the welds too fast or create pipe welds without sufficient weld fluidity for constant side wall weld fusion. A frequent location for the pulsed MIG lack of weld fusion weld defects will be the first two passes over the root.

WHEN USING PULSED MIG ON PIPE WALL THICKNESS > 6 mm, GOOD WELD FUSION IS OFTEN MARGINAL WELD FUSION AND LACK OF WELD FUSION WILL BE A COMMON WELD DEFECT.


All Position Flux Cored Wires: Without question, gas shielded flux cored wires have been a logical choice for both manual and automated, all position pipe welds, however the cored wire flux propensity to sometimes absorb moisture or for the weld to be sensitive to gas flow rates, may result in weld porosity, worm tracks or even hydrogen cracking. A common defect occurs from the weld slag which is frequently trapped in multi-pass welds. This slag can be trapped in vee groove weld locations which can cause lack of weld fusion.
The welding bottom line. For manual pipe or pressure vessel welds or any applications requiring "defect free welds" we have the traditional TIG process that requires high weld skills and produces extremely low deposition rates. We have pulsed MIG process with potential for lack of weld fusion and porosity and we have gas shielded flux cored wires that will provide weld porosity and slag concerns.



WITH THE ONLY WELD PROCESS THAT COULD PRODUCE QUALITY WELDS WE HAD NO PROCESS EVOLUTION: For five decades, the manual TIG process used for welding steels has barely changed. This is a process that demands high weld skills and provides very low weld deposition rates.


WITH THE WELD PROCESSES THAT DID EVOLVE, THE WELD INDUSTRY WAS STILL LEFT WITH PROCESSES THAT GENERATE WELD DEFECTS. With three plus decades of evolution, gas shielded Flux Cored wires and the Pulsed MIG process provided pipe weld shops with choices beyond the frustrating
stop /start SMAW process and the slow TIG process. The bottom line. with pulsed MIG multi-purpose equipment selling for more than $12000, both the flux cored and pulsed MIG process have proven that with manual pipe welds, in which NDT evaluation is required, you will end up with weld defects and you will pay a high price to repair those weld defects


The manual process that provides the least weld defects has always been the TIG process and the weld engineer that developed the ATT process has managed to resolve all the negative weld quality and productivity aspects of both the manual and automated TIG processes.

Note the ATT difficult to weld P91 pipe on the right. Examine how the welder is not required to feed aweld wire and how the weler can use two hands to guide the light weight torch which will automatically feed the weld wire typically 4 to 12 times faster than the wire delivered from a conventional manual TIG welder. Look at the weld energy that is enabled with the higher wire feed rates and from the unique changes in the arc dynamics.

When you combine the automatic ATT wire feed control, with the increased weld current capability and unusual TIG arc dynamics which reduce the weld surface tension, the ATT benefits are improved weld fluidity and a weld in which a stirring action drives defects from the weld. For those interested in the cleanest possible welds with the lowest possible porosity or weld defects, this has to be your weld process of choice.

For the first time with manual TIG welding, your weld personnel when using the ATT process, will have have a process that not only provides weld quality never before attained with conventional TIG manual welds, you will also with ATT, have a process that can provide on many applications, weld deposition rates equal to pulsed MIG.

As for weld skills, the ATT process typically requires one to two hours training with focus on specific torch techniques. Once the ATT technique is learnt, irrespective of the weld joint or weld position, it becomes quickly evident that this process requires less weld skills than any other weld process.


Six o'clock pipe welds, always the most difficult,
always a location to find weld defects.



Look how any pipe weld application is simplified with ATT. The welder can use one hand to steady himself on the pipe, or use two hands to hold the torch. Don't foget these pipe welds also reap other benefits from the controlled wire feed input, controlled wire placement, higher wire feed rate, higher weld current and the agitated weld puddle which enables superior side wall weld fusion and welds with less defects.





TRADITIONAL AUTOMATED TIG: To enable "consistent melting of the constant fed cold or hot TIG wire into the small TIG arc, there are many essential weld variables that have minimal room for change or error.

[] Arc current,
[] the arc length,
[] tungsten condition,
[] the wire feed rate,
[] the weld travel speed,
[] the weld wire placement.
[] wire step up or weld weave.



With the automated TIG welds, if the weld wire is not maintained at the correct distance from the tungsten tip to work, or the wire is not aligned in the same plain as the tungsten tip, the resulting weld energy will dramatically change, the weld will be more sluggish and this may result in either lack of weld fusion or porosity.

With most successful automated traditional TIG applications, automatic height control is used for the tungsten to work distance and manual adjustable controls of the torch movement and travel speeds, enable both the "Cold Wire TIG" and the higher wire feed rate, "Hot Wire TIG" process to successfully attain consistent weld results. However without these variables controls, the use of the traditional cold or hot wire process for "manual TIG applications" was not considered practical.



The conventional automated TIG process utilizes both Cold Wire and Hot Wire in which the weld wire is preheated with low amps. The automated TIG "cold wire" process is frequently used for challenging welds in which slower wire feed and slower weld speeds are beneficial to the application. Using the conventional TIG "hot wire" process, the weld shop can produce wautomated eld quality with occasional weld defects and respectable weld deposition rates, however if you have ever established the weld data for traditional hot or cold, automated TIG welds, you would be aware of the "process sensititivity" and the resulting too frequent weld, equipment and consumable issues that are generated from feeding a small diameter weld wire at a constant rate into the small narrow target in the weld pool, between the tungten and the work.

It's interesting to view traditional, global, automated cold / hot wire TIG applications such as cladding deep sea valve bores with Inconel, to providing a nuclear weld repairs on a failed valve and at the other end of the spectrum watch a robot struggle with cold wire weld on the edge of a stainless or aluminum electronic control cabinet. One thing most of these automated TIG weld / CLAD applications will have in common is daily weld quality, consumable and equipment issues.


Traditional Automated TIG Clad Bore Welds.
With deep sea, automated, Inconel TIG clad bore welds, to meet the exacting maximum clad 5 - 10% iron weld dilution requirements, and to meet the highly critical weld standards which IN 2009 may require "defect free welds" on the the finished machined clad weld surfaces, you will find many weld shops will struggle to maintain consistency in their automated hot wire TIG weld performance. While many engineers and managers in the oil industry look to weld shop personnel as a prime part of the root cause of their daily automated TIG clad weld issues, the clad weld inconsistency will in reality come typically from four areas easy to control;

(1) Poor weld procedure data taken from unsuitable PQR data.
(2) Incomplete clad weld and manufacturing instructions on the shop floors.
(3) The use of an out dated automated TIG clad weld process that while effective, is also highly sensitive to minute weld process, consumable and equipment changes.
(4) Lack of effective process control training.

I am place emphasis on this Inconel clad operation, as the reality is, the deep sea valve bore clad welds will often have a clad weld standard that is actually less forgiving than the traditional ASME standards applied to welds in a nuclear plant. I cannot resolve poor weld management issues, but with the ATT automated clad weld process, an organization will have an operation in which;

(a) The ATT automated process does not require cold welds.
(b) The ATT automated weld process and equipment variables sensitivity is dramatically reduced.
(c) The ATT automated process weld puddle dynamics are dramatically changed . The reduction in the weld surface tension provides low cost, immediate resolutions for attaining minimum weld dilution (at levels never before attained) and of course consistent clad weld fusion which is especially important on that first clad layer.
(d) The ATT automated process enables faster weld speeds, reducing weld heat input and dramatically reducing the weld time.



Pulsed MIG, automated rotary welds
made on stainless flanges similar to
three ply flexable stainless hose shown on the left, consistenly produced welds that leak and parts were damaged by the weld spatter. The leak rate averaged 6 to 10%. The parts were costly and could not be repaired.

In contrast, the ATT stainless tube to flange welds on the right were made with the ATT automated process and this process has consistenly provided welds at 22 IPM. These welds were far greater quality and of course weld spatter is never an issue.



Many manufacturing companies and robot integrators will shy away from the automated / robot TIG hot wire process. These companies have found on many automated welds, clad or brazing applications, that this process can be extremely sensitive to minimal weld variable changes and a very tight balance is required between the TIG wire feed rate, the weld travel rate, the arc length, the weld current and the exact wire placement in the arc and weld pool.
In contrast the ATT automated weld process is extremely robust and therefore it's an easy process to use with automation and when used will provide extraordinary weld quality that should not require weld cleaning or repairs.



ADVANCED TIP TIG Ingeniously Simple - Simply Ingenious!



[] ATT readily enables manual pipe welds up to eight times faster than traditional manual TIG, and TIP TIG. On weld fabrications Att can produce weld deposition rates equal to manual pulsed MIG.

[] ATT requires less weld skills than traditional manual pipe TIG, flux cored or pulsed MIG welds.

[] ATT will provide superior pipe weld fusion than regular TIG, Pulsed MIG, or the flux cored weld process.

[] ATT will provide less internal weld defects than regular TIG, Pulsed MIG, or the flux cored weld process.


A MANUAL WELDER MADE THIS "ADVANCED TIP TIG" WELD WITH AN 0.045 ((1.2mm) WIRE. THE WIRE FEED RATE HE USED WAS THE EQUIVALENT OF FEEDING A 3/32 (2.4mm) TIG WIRE IN THE WIRE FEED RANGE OF 80 TO 120 IPM. AS YOU WATCH A MANUAL TIG WELDER WELD A PIPE LIKE THE ONE ON THE LEFT, THE WELDER WILL TYPICALLY FEED HIS 3/32 WELD WIRE IN A LOW MANUAL WIRE FEED RANGE OF 5 TO 15 IPM.






WHAT MAKES THE ADVANCED TIP TIG PROCESS UNIQUE? With the TIP TIG process, using either a Cold or Hot wire feed process, the traditional steady forward motion of the welding wire feed is superimposed by a secondary high-speed linear oscillation of the four-roll drive plate. This oscillation results in a motion similar to the manual TIG welder dipping the wire in and out of the weld, except with TIP TIG the dip frequency is much greater and of course it's done in a controlled manner. The wire dynamics and weld vibration will result in superior weld fusion, and this action allows impurities and gases to escape dramatically reducing the weld impurities and porosity potential.

TIP TIG WELD BENEFITS: The TIP TIG dipping action also induces a dynamic onto the wire in the form of a vibration. In contrast to a constant fed TIG wire, the TIP TIG vibration and injection of the wire in and out of the weld pool destroys the weld surface tension and provides increased weld fluidity.

The weld benefits of TIP TIG for the weld shop are extensive. The TIP TIG process is much less sensitive to the many weld variables mentioned that typically influence an automated cold or hot wire feed TIG weld. The unique TIP TIG controlled wire action, now allows a "manual welder" to use what was once considered sensitive automated process.




Advantages of TIP TIG Welding.


[] TIP TIG can be connected to any water-cooled TIG welding power source.
[] TIG TIP welds with higher deposition rates than traditional TIG, so the TIP TIG weld
gas costs could be reduced by up to 70%.
[] TIP TIG uses standard 15kg spools which in contrast to pre-cut TIG wire should
dramatically reduce weld wire costs.
[] TIP TIG reduces physical and skill requirements for the welder due to single-hand operation.
If the welder wishes, both hands can be used to stabilize the welding torch. Welder training time is very short.

[] TIP TIG provides superior manual weld quality than traditional TIG welds.
[] TIP welds up to 7 times faster than traditional manual TIG.
[] TIP TIG faster weld speeds can provide lower heat input, reduced distortion and produce less weld stresses.
[] In contrast to traditional automated cold / hot wire TIG welds, TIP TIG will provide superior weld quality.
[] TIP TIG welds provide superior weld fusion, requiring less weld edge preparation, saving labor and consumable costs.

[] TIP TIG provides superior weld quality than all position gas shielded flux cored wires and has no weld fume concerns.
[] TIP TIG will dramatically reduces arc start / stop weld defects, which are common with pulsed MIG, flux cored and traditional TIG.
[] TIP TIG provides superior all position weld quality at weld speeds almost that of low MIG-Pulse wire feed rates.
[] TIP TIG in contrast to all MIG spray and pulsed welds, can provide far greater control of small welds < 5mm.

[] TIP TIG brazing is almost as fast as MIG brazing, but without the spatter and superior braze control.
[] TIP TIG with cold or hot wire feed, can be used for manual and automated welding / cladding / brazing operations, with robots, and most automated welding systems.
[] TIP TIG in contrast to both the MIG and flux cored processes will generate less weld fumes.
[] TIP TIG needs minimal parameter changes for complex welds. This simplifies creating PQR's and weld procedures.
The few programs that will be required can be stored in the available 20 preset programs.


For information on how to attain the Advanced TIP TIG Process contact Ed Craig in the USA at 828 658 3574.



CUSTOMER APPLICATIONS AND TESTIMONIALS



CUSTOMER. SIEMENS GERMANY. THIS COMPANY DEMANDS THE
HIGHEST WELD QUALITY FOR THESE PIPES USED FOR GAS REDUCTION STATIONS.
THEIR TYPICAL MANUAL TIG WELD TIME, MORE THAN 3 HOURS PER WELD JOINT.
ADVANCED TIP TIG ACTUAL WELD TIME, LESS THAN 1 HOUR PER WELD JOINT.

 



For information on how to attain the Advanced TIP TIG Process
contact Ed Craig in the USA at 828 658 3574. E-Mail ecraig@weldreality.com

 


 







 

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