South Carolina Metal Fabricator Tackles Welder Shortage with Cobots

January 4, 2023

January 4, 2023

Weld-shop productivity jumps 400 percent with the addition of welding cobots to this South Carolina metal fabricator, helping the company attract new business previously out of reach.

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Qualification Process When Using Sustainable Metal Powders for AM in a Production Environment

Sustainability and recycling are two words that have been grabbing headlines in additive manufacturing. AM organizations have been looking at ways to incorporate sustainable materials into their production processes.

In this webinar, Dr. Behrang Poorganji, Vice President of Materials Technology at Morf3D, a strategic supplier to aerospace and defense customers, will detail their qualification of powders made from sustainable sources and will highlight the specific requirements they are looking for to satisfy some of their more demanding applications and strategic customers. He also will share some of the material results they have seen from their qualification process and how it enables their customers to be more environmentally friendly.

ABB, Lincoln Electric Team for Cobot GMAW Cell

At FABTECH...ABB and Lincoln Electric offered live demos of a new collaborative-robot (cobot) gas-metal-arc-welding cell, featuring an ABB GoFa CRB 15000 cobot and the Lincoln Electric Power Wave R450 welding package. The package includes proprietary programming software that greatly eases cell programming and the setting of welding parameters, according to ABB officials.

Efficiency is the Name of the Game

CNC punch presses have been called the “Swiss Army Knives” of the sheet metal fabrication world, and when appropriately tooled up can perform a wide variety of processes. When combining a CNC punch press with fiber laser cutting, the opportunities to improve workflow, productivity and efficiency become magnified.

Extended Range for Cobot Welding and Other Tasks

At FABTECH…Welding and collaborative robot (cobot)-base extenders took center stage at the Universal Robots (UR) booth, as company officials note that welding has become the fastest-growing application segment for (UR), growing more than 80 percent the first nine months of 2022 as compared to 2021. With this backdrop, Vectis Automation debuted at the UR booth the Park’N’Arc (pictured), a rotational range extender that allows for the base of cobot to be manually moved to various locations in welding and other applications.

Long-Lasting Nonwoven Flap Discs Deliver Quick Cutting, Fine Finishes

At FABTECH…Norton | Saint-Gobain Abrasives introduced Norton Vortex Rapid Prep nonwoven flap discs that last longer and produce significantly increased cutting rates and smear-free finishes, according to company officials. Vortex agglomerated aluminum-oxide-grain technology reportedly enables the cutting power of a coarser grit while producing a finer finish in one abrasives-disc product. The company reports that based on tests performed, the nonwoven discs can increase material removal rates by more than 50 percent as compared to nonwoven medium-grit flap discs.

Updated Software for Fabricating Operations and Management

At FABTECH…Lantek showcased Lantek Global Release 2022, which boasts more than 80 improvements and advances, designed to optimize fabricators’ flexibility, usability, and automation. For example, Lantek Expert CAD/CAM nesting software includes a redesigned module that enables application of automatic tagging technology, providing improved configuration options to adapt to any part geometry or level of cut quality. The new version also eases interpretation of bending-line technology from the import stage, as well as the automatic import of nests created by external systems including the automatic detection of repeated parts. Additionally, new options have been added for the semiautomatic generation and modification of scrap.

Single-Piece Consumables Cartridge for Plasma Cutting Units

At FABTECH…Hypertherm Associates featured its HPR cartridge consumable platform for HPRXD plasma cutting units. The HPR cartridge provides a simple, single-piece alternative to traditional plasma consumables that reportedly enables enhanced cut quality while reducing operating costs. One cartridge replaces five standard consumables, and the tool-less consumable change allows the cartridge to be replaced without removing the torch.

OTC Daihen Hits a Home Run with its New Compact Robotic-Welding Cell

At FABTECH…OTC Daihen packed several pre-engineered, production robotic arc-welding systems into its booth, all featuring robotic arms matched with welding power supplies and part-positioning equipment, all promising to deliver low-spatter welding on a variety of materials. Center stage at the booth: the firm’s new Eco-Arc-Mini cell, combining a FD-V8 welding robot (8-kg payload, 1.4-m reach) with a Welbee II WB-P402 welding power source (400-A, pulsed GMAW) demonstrating mild-steel welding in a compact, portable, full-production capable cell.