Page 39 - MetalForming December 2012

diameters of 0.045 and 0.052 in. to meet all of its robotic and hard-automation requirements. The wire of choice: Lin- coln Electric SuperArc L-59 (AWS ER70S-6) packaged in 500-lb. Accu-Pak boxes. The faces of the required fillet welds are consistently flat to slightly convex, with repeatable weld penetra- tion and sidewall fusion.
A key to decreasing cycle times is the use of Lincoln Electric’s Fast Start fea- ture, a welding program that turns on the power source and locates the exact point of the start of the weld before there is contact with the part. This fea- ture alone has accounted for a 6-sec. reduction in cycle time for Pioneer’s welded assemblies.
Results of the use of the RapidArc pro- gram, according to the Pioneer team: an increase in productivity on the robotic System 20 by as much as 50 percent over previous welding operations.
Hard Automation
The successful use of the RapidArc process with its robotic-welding cell led the Pioneer team to try the process on one of its 10 dual-torch hard-automated welding systems. Known at Pioneer Tool & Die as box-welder systems, these setups use two welding arcs to fabricate the cylindrically shaped pistons used in air-ride suspension assemblies. The fin- ished welds typically are circumferential and simultaneously deposited in the 2F horizontal position.
Using the RapidArc program on the box-welder system resulted in a 30- percent decrease in arc time, signifi- cantly reduced spatter and decreased distortion, reports the Pioneer engi- neering team. The flexibility of the GMAW-P process and the hard- automation box-welder systems is demonstrated in one particular sta- tion where welding occurs simultane- ously with one torch in the 2F hori- zontal welding position and the other torch positioned 180 deg. away and in the 4F overhead welding position.
Faster Switching
The latest box-welder system out- fitted with the RapidArc process uses
Lincoln Electric’s new Power Wave S350, a multiprocess, compact, invert- er-based power source that operates at 120 kHz, reportedly making it the fastest-switching welding inverter power source available. Among its fea- tures is use of PowerConnect technol- ogy that allows the unit to automati- cally adjust to input power from 200 to 600V, 50 or 60 Hz, single or three phase.
Also new to the box-welder setup is Pioneer’s first use of a human- machine interface (HMI) controller for programming the motion of the servo- driven turntable and for welding-arc initiation. MF
Information provided by the Lincoln Electric Automation Division, Cleve- land, OH: 216/481-8100; www.lincoln- electric.com.
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