TIP TIG Welding is always better quality than TIG and 100 to 500% faster with superior quality than TIG - MIG - FCAW.

MIG Equipment Facts. Part Two.

Five decades of sales influence.

<2005: Ed. I am reading pulsed MIG literature from the different weld equipment manufacturers. The different wave forms and pulsed MIG arcs sound fascinating and of course many welding / application promises are made. My question is this. How much should I rely on the pulsed MIG data that I am reading?

Ed's Answer: If you were reading about pulsed MIG MIG equipment made before 2006, the information on the weld equipment may be as reliable as what you get on a used car lot, or as reliable as the above headlines provided in 2006 by the world's largest newspaper, USA Today.

WHEN A WELD EQUIPMENT MANUFACTURER CANNOT MAKE IT'S SOPHISTICATED, ELECTRONIC MIG EQUIPMENT, WELD COMMON APPLICATIONS BETTER THAN IT'S LOWER COST, MORE DURABLE CV MIG EQUIPMENT, THE EQUIPMENT MANUFACTURER MAY CREATE A SALES MARKETING STRATEGY IN WHICH THEY CONFUSE THE POTENTIAL MIG WELD EQUIPMENT CUSTOMERS WITH BOVINE FECAL MATTER.

EXAMINE THE UNIQUE LANGUAGE THIS GENERATION OF WELD EQUIPMENT DESIGNERS AND MARKETING PERSONNEL USE TO DESCRIBE THEIR ELECTRONIC MIG EQUIPMENT.

And folks, for only $12999, this unique, new pulsed MIG power source provides;

[] ARTIFICIAL INTELLIGENCE.
[] FOZZY DE WOOZZY PULSED.
[] SOFT/ HARD PULSED.
[] TRIPLE PULSE ON PULSE.
[] DYNAMIC RESPONSE.
[] ETHERNET.
[] 4 MILLION WAVEFORMS.
[] PALM PILOT PULSED CONTROL, IN THREE DIFFERENT COLORS.
[] REMOTE CONTROLS FOR THE PULSED WELDER.

The optimum spray fillet on the right, was made from a simple, two control, CV, $2000, MIG power source. The inferior pulsed weld on the left, was made with the same wire feed rate and a $12,000 pulsed power source.

Power Point from Ed's MIG process Control Training CD program

The only problem with a CV. $2000 MIG power source, is minimal profits are generated for both the weld equipment manufacturers and the weld distributors.

 

 

 

 

You have to have a sense of humor if you
weld carbon steels and you spent more
than $3000 for that Pulsed MIG power source.

 

THE WELD BENEFITS OF ELECTRONIC BELLS AND WHISTLES ON PULSED MIG EQUIPMENT CAN SOUND IMPRESSIVE TO WELD SHOP MANAGEMENT AND PERSONNEL THAT HAVE NO OWNERSHIP OF THE EQUIPMENT ON THE WELD SHOP FLOOR.


2006: Twenty pus years after its introduction, we are now seeing one or two reasonably priced pulsed power sources that can provide minimal yet unnecessary weld benefits for carbon steels and stainless MIG applications.

2007. I checked the pulsed equipment sold in the USA and I still find that the most expensive pulsed equipment available to weld carbon steels still offers minimal benefits in contrast to the MIG equipment that costs 300% less

2008. A PRIMARY PROBLEM FOR MANY WELD DECISION MAKERS IS SORTING OUT WHICH MIG EQUIPMENT PROVIDES WELD BENEFITS AND WHICH EQUIPMENT DOES NOT.

Note: For those managers, engineers and technicians that would rather optimize MIG and flux cored weld quality and productivity from low cost MIG equipment, all you need is the information in Ed's weld books and process control CD training resources.

And the best MIG power source for
all position E71T-1 gas shielded, flux cored wires is?

In contrast to Inverters, multi-process MIG machines and pulsed
MIG equipment, a regular, low cost, CV, MIG power source will
always provide superior, all position,"gas shielded flux cored welds".

A WISE MANAGER WILL LEARN FROM THE
MANUFACTURING PAST

<2004 PANASONIC MIG EQUIPMENT:

A friend of mine is in charge of Robots at one the largest Honda supply plants in the USA. He will attest that the < 2004 Panasonic pulsed MIG weld equipment represented some of the most illogical, inconsistent, erratic weld equipment he has ever had to work with.

In the many plants that I was asked to resolve robot weld issues, I used to squirm when I saw the Panasonic pulsed MIG equipment, as I knew that in many cases the weld issues in the plants would not be resolved till the weld equipment was replaced.

As the Panasonic MIG equipment is popular on Panasonic robots sold in North America, I thought I would spend some time evaluating what the Panasonic Pana Star AA2 - AA11- 350 and the HM 500 power sources had to offer. The following is a description of a verbal event that took place at an AWS weld show. The conversation is not word for word, however it represents the content of the discussion.

The Panasonic sales rep provides his sales pitch at the AWS show, "Ed this dip pulsed power source is really unique. The power source provides "artificial intelligence". He continues.

"This power source is constantly analyzing the pulsed arc output weld data and making weld parameter corrections for the arc. In contrast to most other MIG equipment, this pulsed power source provides superior control of the weld penetration".

The just out of college sales rep continues, "Ed, you may not be aware that with the earth quakes in Japan, " weld penetration in that country is now a prime issue".

The Panasonic sales rep was in his twenties and keen to provide me with weld advice and startling revelations about Japanese weld penetration issues. If you are new to this web site please keep in mind, I have worked with the MIG process for 40 plus years and with the pulsed process close to 25 years. When I first started evaluating pulsed equipment the Panasonic rep was approx. four years old, this did did not stop this rep from trying to educate me on the subject of welding.

The Panasonic rep then told me "that one of the things that effects pulsed weld penetration is when the pulsed arc length changes, as the arc length is shortened the pulsed drop may not be allowed to form without a short circuit interruption, this therefore effects the pulsed arc stability and consistency of the weld fusion attained" This poor sales rep did not realize that the problem he described had been a major issue with his equipment since it was introduced into the USA. He also did not realize that his artificial intelligent weld equipment that sat proudly on display at the weld show would reveal that it still could not provide a consistent pulsed weld arc especially on small weld cycle times.


< 2005: WHY WOULD ANY WELD SHOP ACCEPT A MIG WELD POWER SOURCE THAT;

[A] PROVIDES INCONSISTENT, ERRATIC POOR PERFORMANCE?
[B] GENERATES CONFUSION FOR THE USER, EQUIPMENT/
[C] COSTS 300% MORE?
[D] IS DIFFICULT TO REPAIR?
[F] OFFERS LESS DURABILITY?

IF YOU HAVE SPENT MORE THAN 20 MINUTES AT THIS SITE YOU KNOW THE ANSWERS. IF YOU DON'T KNOW THE ANSWER, HE'S ON THE RIGHT.

For the last four decades in ten different countries I have set up more than a thousand different MIG weld applications with focus always on attaining optimum, constant weld fusion and weld profiles that would always be called optimum. The MIG welds I have always produced would be made with traditional, MIG equipment that typically would cost 25% of the price of the Panasonic pulsed equipment.

This oscilloscope chart shows voltage (red) and weld current (black) fluctuations taken by a frustrated Canadian weld engineer. He was frustrated because his Panasonic MIG equipment lacked the ability to produce two parts with the same weld appearance and fusion. The pulsed equipment was a Panasonic AA 11- 350.

Note on the chart. The dramatic swings of unstable prime weld parameters, with both volts and amps frequently hitting zero, this was too common an occurrence with many pulsed power sources built up to 2006.

The MIG welds I produced in 1965 and the MIG welds I produce forty years later with traditional, low cost, stable CV. MIG equipment, could pass any weld code requirement.

For over ninety nine percent of conventional manual and robot MIG welds on carbon steel applications > 4 mm, you simply do not require an intelligent power source that provides a so called special ~~~Wave Form or unique Ripples~~~.

The traditional MIG equipment I have always utilized, was not electronically "intelligent", however when I provided weld process control training to weld decision makers, you could assume that at the weld process control course completion the welding operators were "process intelligent" and trained to make optimum welds with out playing with controls and using unsophisticated MIG equipment.

The traditional MIG equipment I have utilized for decades did have an unusual 50 year old electrical attribute common to all CV equipment. During the weld the CV MIG power source instantly responds and makes a controlled current correction for the wire stick-out changes, (arc length variations).

Note with this oscilloscope the traditional, lower cost CV, weld parameter stability when using the same weld wire and similar weld parameters as indicated in the picture above of the Panasonic AA 11 -350

Before purchasing your next power source,
spend a little time on the subject of weld process controls.

When asked for his opinion on weld fusion, and spray
versus pulsed, Albert might have said the following.


"Constant weld energy attainable from CV spray transfer
is of course logical for consistent weld delivery
and constant weld fusion. Wheras the inconsistent weld energy from the peak to back ground current of a pulsed power source will of course lead to inconsistent weld fusion.".

 

< 2006 ARC LENGTH SENSITIVITY FACT: In contrast to the pulsed mode in which one weld droplet per pulse cascades hopefully undisturbed across an arc gap, the traditional MIG spray weld transfer is "less sensitive to arc length variations" The simple reason for this is the spray transfer stream and does not require the formation of individual weld droplets to achieve optimum weld transfer.

In the pulsed mode, as the pulsed arc length shortens, the wire tip to work distance decreases and the pulsed weld drop will be eventually be disrupted as its in contact with both the positive wire and negative weld. This short circuit arc disruption can reduce the consistency of both the pulsed weld droplet transfer and weld fusion potential. Remember also this process spends fifty percent of it's time in a low back ground current of less than 80 amps. In contrast with traditional spray transfer, an arc length reduction has minimal impact on the delivery of the more consistent energy, spray transfer weld stream. With carbon steel welds particularly on metals > 5 mm when you want optimum and consistent weld fusion you figure out what process you should be using.



2006 NOTE: WITH CARBON STEELS AND HIGH DEPOSITION MIG WELDS DEPOSITED OVER 12 LB/HR, VIEW THE GREATER CONSISTENCY OF THE WELD TRANSFER AS EVIDENT IN THE SPRAY WELD SURFACE ON LEFT, VERSUS A 2006 PULSED WELD SHOWN ON RIGHT. PART OF THIS PROBLEM IS WITH THE PULSED WE HAVE THE INCONSISTENCY OF THE TRANSFER AND INSUFFICIENT CURRENT FOR THE WELD MASS:

The energy and configuration of a traditional MIG spray transfer plasma can also be superior to the pulsed MIG plasma reference the potential weld fusion profiles (side wall fusion) attained.

I did not get into a MIG arc plasma physics characteristic comparison with the Panasonic rep, as I know it would have been time wasted, any way he was to busy giving me welding advice.

I however I did ask the Panasonic rep a simple question on the pulsed wire feed range. I said "does your intelligent power source provide a practical measurable benefit like extending the traditional MIG spray transfer wire feed range so that we can weld faster with a robot"?

The Panasonic rep instantly developed the infamous "weld glazed look", paused a few seconds, then replied. He stated he was not qualified to provide an answer. This was the first real thing he said to me after thirty minutes of verbal diarrhea.

In 2006 and 2007 you too may be lucky enough to have discussions with some rep that wants to discus the attributes of pulsed MIG equipment artificial intelligence, yet it's likely this same individual will not know the weld deposition rate of a spray MIG weld made with an 045 wire at set at 450 ipm.

The Panasonic pulsed verbiage again proves that when it comes to welding, "seeing the actual weld, is always mightier than the salesman's word".

A few years earlier, at my first introduction to the Panasonic pulsed power source. I had a two hour lesson from another Panasonic rep that must have had least twelve months weld experience. This rep told me what he thought was the unique electronic benefits in his companies pulsed power source. In that time period the Panasonic power source was designed (or was it marketing strategy} to minimize the so called "ripple weld current output". Now keep in mind in that time for 30 plus years I had MIG welded with traditional CV weld equipment, yet with all the trillions of ripples I must have produced I have never produced a bad MIG weld or a weld with spatter issues. So you can imagine my surprise when I heard from Panasonic about the bad influence of the Panasonic "ripple output" .

TO ~~~RIPPLE~~~ OR NOT TO ---RIPPLE----
THIS IS THE PANASONIC QUESTION?

 

At the time of the Panasonic ripless power out put, I compared the rippless Panasonic power against a Miller DeltaWeld, which was a traditional CV power source.

By the way as this Panasonic was talking about ripples anyone could have put an oscilloscope on the Panasonic power source and see something much of a concern than ripples. The Panasonic power source voltage (red) and current (black) was all over the place. The bottom line the standard, lower cost CV Miller power source proved to provide superior arc stability, more consistent weld energy and welds on > 0.125 that have a superior appearance.

Seven years later at another AWS show, I noted that the latest and greatest Panasonic Power source was using an 0.045 (1.2 mm) wire.

I asked the welder doing the Panasonic demo to set the wire at the traditional high spray transfer setting of 500 in./min. I noted while he was welding that the resulting pulsed arc plasma zone was narrow, agitated and the plasma was intense. The resulting pulsed weld had a poor convex profile that likely would have resulted in inconsistent side wall fusion. The bottom line. For the last two decades, when welding carbon steels I have been trying to find real world, practical, measurable welding benefits from the complex costly Panasonic power source and from other similar pulsed equipment, here today in 2005. I am still looking.

MILLIONS OF PULSED WAVE FORMS LATER AND THE SOPHISTICATED ELECTRONIC POWER SOURCES THAT MAKE THOUSANDS OF WELD DECISIONS PER SECOND AND WHAT DOES THE WELDING INDUSTRY END UP WITH FOR STEEL WELDS?

FUZZY DE WUZZZY / RIPPLESS / POWER THE WAVES / DIP-DE - PULSE / ARTIFICIALLY INTELLIGENT, REMOTE CONTROLLED, COMPUTERIZED PULSED WELDING EQUIPMENT.

I CRINGE AT THE THOUGHT OF WHAT THE FUTURE HOLDS FOR AN INDUSTRY THAT BELIEVES IN SO MUCH GIBBERISH,

 

E-mail from Brian.
Aug 2005.

Ed: Have you heard that it's impossible to modify Panasonic robot settings to program weld parameters in WFS? (Something you can do with Motoman or ABB robots, for example.) Further, since even their newer tach-drive units they don't have any WFS readout or setting, you still can't calibrate the robot in WFS (without a separate device). I've exchanged a number of very in-depth e-mails with Panasonic on these two closely-related issues during the last 10 months. Currently Panasonic seems incapable of grasping the facts that calibrating in AMPS inherently introduces inaccuracy and cell-to-cell variations that strongly inhibit establishing a continuous improvement effort in high-level optimizing of parameters. Programming in AMPS lies to the programmer about what he's adjusting, masks the whole balance of joint-fill-volume vs. travel speed, and makes it more difficult to teach MIG process troubleshooting and process improvement to anyone.

Going far beyond my professional duty in attempting to assist Panasonic, I have presented several arguments of ironclad logic which clearly point out why WFS calibration would be far more accurate, than AMPS calibration. So far, they still don't get it. And with Panasonic being so devoid of in-depth process expertise in North America, I'm certainly not holding my breath. So far, the only weld engineers I've met who like PFA welding systems are either self-proclaimed welding experts with no degree in the field, or OSU welding engineers who typically wet behind the ears and are incompetent in weld process expertise.
Best Regards. Brian.

From Ed's CD Process Control Training Program

Ed's Reply. If you have time to waste and want unnecessary weld complexity in your world, consider a Panasonic robot cell. Brian I brought up the WF and amp issue with Panasonic in the early nineties, unfortunately . when it comes to MIG weld process controls the people I dealt with at Panasonic were sadly lacking on the subject.

You may be interested in a recent experience I had with Panasonic. In January 2006 I was asked to reset the Panasonic robot programs for a company in PA. The Panasonic robots were approx. 12 months old. At this company the touch sensing and through the arc tracking was not working correctly and as usual the pulsed process was not suited to the steel application. I switched the pulsed power source over to the spray transfer mode and with the Panasonic 500 pulsed equipment. To attain 270 amps I had to set 370 amps in the Panasonic robot pendant. By the way I figured for every hour it took for the programmer to make changes with the Panasonic weld and robot data, I could have done the same thing in 15 minutes with an ABB robot. There is only one way to control a MIG weld and that is through control of the wire feed.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~Burp~~~~

LET'S FURTHER SCREW UP A CONFUSED WELD INDUSTRY AND MAKE IT MORE COMPLEX? For it's sophisticated pulsed MIG equipment, Panasonic is proud to claim it provides "four million wave forms".

A MIG Weld Reality. Irrespective of the pulsed or traditional MIG transfer weld modes utilized, once the wire size is selected, optimum welds can be made on every carbon steel, alloy steel and stainless application with " four weld settings".

IF YOU DON'T KNOW THE FOUR MIG SETTINGS PER WIRE DIAMETER THEY ARE IN MY BOOKS & PROCESS CONTROL TRAINING RESOURCES.

From Panasonic the "Pana Star AA2" Panasonic increases the power source CPU'S for faster arc response from this artificial intelligent power source. Panasonic claims this Fuzzy logic, MIG power source offers electronic wonders. The weld reality, is the welds this power source produces are not superior to a short circuit or spray transfer weld made from a traditional CV. MIG power source that costs 50 to 70% less.

Japanese weld logic and European weld
logic are not the same.

For weld shops considering the purchase of a robot, remember at the end of the day it's not about the robot or
MIG weld equipment electronics, it's about the weld quality and productivity produced.

For those companies that do low to medium volume, ever changing steel / stainless weld applications, give serious consideration to the following;

[] When you examine each robot manufacture's product don't get caught up with the bells and whistles and fancy electronic pulsed MIG power source with it's 4 million wave forms. Stay focussed on the MIG power source weld output and communication with the robot, the weld arc consistency at high and low wire feed rates and don't forget the equipment durability.

[] With the robot program, examine the length of time required to both program a part and to make weld changes to the program.

[] With the robot program, examine the ease in which wire feed, voltage or pulsed parameter changes are made.

[] Examine the logic in the robot's weld program and the calibration between pendant and power source weld data.

[] Examine the robot's automated tool center point TCP capability and repeatability.

[] Examine the robot's touch sense and through the arc tracking capability.

[] Examine the robot weld weave program, especially the logic of the program.

[] Examine the accuracy and repeatability of the robot with the "positioner".

[] Examine the complexity of programming the robot to work with secondary equipment such as the positioner, a camera or torch cleaning stations.

[] Examine the robot instruction literature, the technical support and service capability.

REMEMBER BECAUSE THE ROBOT YOU ARE CONSIDERING SEEMS TO WORK WELL IN AN AUTO PLANT, THAT THIS IS A LOCATION WHERE THEY THEY MAY RARELY CHANGE THE WELD PROGRAMS AND THIS IS AN ENVIRONMENT THAT TOO OFTEN HAS MINIMAL WELD EXPECTATIONS.

IN A JOB SHOP, CONSIDERATION SHOULD BE REQUIRED FOR THE SPEED AND SIMPLICITY REQUIRED TO PROGRAM DIFFERENT PARTS. ALSO THE ROBOT TOUCH SENSE AND WELD TRACKING CAPABILITY IS A CRITICAL FEATURE FOR ANY JOB SHOP.

MY FIRST CHOICE FOR A WELDING ROBOT.
I LIKE THE SWEDISH SOFT WARE LOGIC AND PERFORMANCE
OF "ABB ROBOTS" .

 

LINDE WAS OUTSTANDING MIG WELD EQUIPMENT.

LINDE VI 252 A LOGICAL, DURABLE,
CV MIG POWER SOURCE

> 1980s. The Linde VI 252 was and still is a gem. This is a power source familiar to many small to medium weld shops. This is the MIG unit that you would expect to last for at least two decades. It had an excellent slope out put, providing great short circuit and spray welds. This power source was considered a medium size MIG unit, providing 250 to 300 amps. The wire feed permanent MAG motor was and still is a work horse and it's two over sized drive rolls is better than most four drive roll units sold in 2008.

COMPANIES WHO CAN GET PAST WELD EQUIPMENT SALESMANSHIP AND PROVIDE THEIR EMPLOYEES WITH WELD PROCESS TRAINING CAN PURCHASE TRADITIONAL, LOW COST MIG EQUIPMENT AND PRODUCE CARBON STEEL / STAINLESS MIG WELDS THAT WILL MEET THE MOST STRINGENT, GLOBAL WELD QUALITY STANDARDS.

 

E Mail from nick@victoryteam.com

HI ED.

MY GOD ITS REFRESHING TO HEAR SOMEONE TALK STRAIGHT ABOUT MY FAVORITE SUBJECT. I USED TO FABRICATE RACE CAR CHASSIS AND IN MY QUEST FOR THE ULTIMATE MIG MACHINE I SELECTED THE MILLER MAXTRON AND THE INVISION. I HAVE BEEN DISAPPOINTED WITH BOTH POWER SOURCES AND COULD NEVER GET ANYTHING NICE GOING ON IN THE PULSED MODES.MY OLD MILLERS WERE SO UNBREAKABLE AND ALWAYS PROVIDED GREAT WELDS. ALL YOU HAVE SAID ABOUT THE NEW ELECTRONIC, MIG EQUIPMENT JUNK, I HAVE EXPERIENCED.

REGARDS AND KEEP UP THE GREAT WORK. NICK.

 

We would not have poor weld equipment
if we had good weld management.

WELD MANAGEMENT APATHY.

IN THE NINETEEN EIGHTIES, THE WORLD'S MOST SUCCESSFUL AUTO / TRUCK FRAME MANUFACTURER WAS COMPANY LOCATED IN MILWAUKEE, THE COMPANY WAS CALLED "A.O. SMITH".

A.O.SMITH STARTED OUT MAKING CAR FRAMES FOR CADILAC IN 1904. IN 1990s A.O.SMITH WAS THE ONLY GLOBAL CORPORATION TO ESTABLISH ROBOT MULTI-PLANT WELD BEST PRACTICES AND ALSO PROVIDE EFFECTIVE ROBOT PROCESS CONTROLS. THE AO SMITH DAILY ROBOT WELD REWORK FOR THE CAR AND TRUCK FRAMES WAS MINUSCULE AND IN CONTRAST TO MANY ROBOT COMPANIES WELDING IN 2008, THEIR ROBOT MIG PRODUCTION WAS BOTH OPTIMUM AND CONSISTENT.

In North America during the mid 1990's, A.O.Smith had more than 1200 ABB robots which were utilized mostly with Miller Delta Weld 450 equipment and 0.045 (1.2 mm) MIG wires. The majority of the welds produced were made with the spray transfer mode at weld deposition rates that averaged 11 - 14 lb/hr.


Note: IN 2008. THE MILLER DELTA WELD IS STILL THE WORLD'S BEST
CV POWER SOURCE.


AFTER WELDING FRAMES FOR 93 YEARS, AROUND 1997 SMITH WAS PURCHASED BY TOWER AUTOMOTIVE. I HAVE BEEN IN MANY TOWER PLANTS AND MY EXPERIENCES LED ME TO SINCERELY BELIEVE THAT THE HANDS OFF, TOWER CORPORATE ENGINEERS AND MANAGERS NEVER FULLY COMPREHENDED OR APPRECIATED THE WELD TECHNICAL AND PROCESS EXPERTISE THAT A.O. SMITH UTILIZED.

Today thanks to typical hands off management that you will find at companies like Tower Automotive and the lawyers we call politicians in Washington, through no fault of their own, American workers are fast loosing their future ability to earn a decent pay check.

IT'S SAD IN THIS APATHETIC MANUFACTURING ENVIRONMENT THAT AN AMERICAN MANUFACTURING GIANT LIKE TOWER ADDS TO AMERICA'S FUTURE POTENTIAL EMPLOYMENT ISSUES THROUGH POOR MANAGEMENT.

TOWER TOOK A PROUD 90 YEAR OLD COMPANY AND IN LESS THAN 90 MONTHS BROUGHT THEM TO CHAPTER 11. SO MUCH FOR WELD MANUFACTURING EVOLUTION: IT'S 2008 AND THERE IS NOT ONE AUTO / TRUCK FRAME PLANT, OR BIG THREE PART SUPPLIER IN NORTH AMERICA THAT HAS COME CLOSE TO ATTAINING THE SAME OPTIMUM DAILY ROBOT WELD PRODUCTION AND QUALITY ACHIEVED BY A.O.SMITH IN 1988.

 

 

2008 BEST WELD PRACTICES: 50 PLUS YEARS AFTER THE DEVELOPMENT OF MIG EQUIPMENT, THERE IS LESS THAN A HANDFUL OF COMPANIES IN NORTH AMERICA THAT HAVE IMPLEMENTED MULTI-PLANT MANUAL / ROBOT BEST MIG WELD PRACTICES.

2008 WELD COSTS: I BELIEVE THERE ARE LESS THAN 100 COMPANIES IN NORTH AMERICA THAT ACTUALLY KNOW THE REAL COST OF A MIG WELD PRODUCED ON THEIR WELDED PARTS.

ALL THAT'S REQUIRED FOR MANUAL BEST WELD PRACTICES, WELD COST CONTROLS AND ROBOT PROCESS CONTROLS IS FOR MANUFACTURING MANAGEMENT AND ENGINEERS TO TAKE RESPONSIBILITY FOR THE WELD DECISIONS AND EQUIPMENT IN THEIR PLANTS. TRY THIS BOOK.

WELD PROCESS OWNERSHIP DOES NOT START WITH:

[] Robot management and engineers who are not responsible for the processes they own.

[] Managers and engineers who cannot build steel parts and hold
1 mm tolerances.

[] Designers who don't understand the weld process limitations on their parts.

[] Engineers who produce poor weld fixtures.

[] Managers, engineers and technicians who don't seek the necessary MIG process control education or training.

Lets face it, you don't have to look too far today in a manufacturing plant to find a management or engineers that lacks weld equipment or weld process control "depth". . and in any auto / truck plant, it would not take more than two minutes to find an individual that believes they are an expert on a subject as they have 12 months experience.

MIG has been around for fifty plus years, it has two weld controls. If you are a manger or engineer who cannot understand those controls, you now know what you have to do.

The Miller Delta Weld.

< 2005: When you evaluate the best pulsed MIG equipment for welding carbon steel and stainless welds, you should compare the weld results with the much lower cost, optimum CV MIG power source.equipment.

 

In many different manufacturing plants in different countries, for close to two decades, I religiously recommended the purchase of the world's best traditional MIG power source, the Miller Delta Weld 450. I took the Delta Weld equipment to Thailand to MIG and flux cored weld 270 ksi armored plate on USA made army tanks. While Miller equipment was not sold in Spain, I encouraged a Spanish auto parts supply company, Viza (Citroen seats) to purchase Miller equipment for it's new robot lines. I recommended the Delta Weld equipment for hundreds of manual / robot applications across the USA and Canada.

The Delta Weld provided an optimum slope parameter output for both short circuit and spray transfer modes. This durable, extremely well built power source also provided excellent arc starting characteristics. MIG arc starts used to be a common issue especially with Lincoln's MIG equipment. The bottom line the Delta Weld was a durable, cost affective work horse for manual MIG welding and a logical power source for robot steel welds.

HOW ELECTRONIC ENGINEERS AT WELD EQUIPMENT MANUFACTURES WHO TYPICALLY KNOW LITTLE ABOUT ARC PHYSICS AND WELD REQUIREMENTS, OR OPTIMUM WELD DATA CAN SCREW UP GOOD MIG WELDING EQUIPMENT.


Don't screw up the Delta Weld. Up to 1998 the Miller Delta Weld was I believe the world's best MIG power source. I suppose if some idiot at Coco Cola thinks he can change the formula for Coke and increase Coke sales, then someone at Miller could believe he could screw around with the Miller Delta Weld.

Around 1998 or 1999, some individual at Miller, possibly a new electronic engineer or inexperienced product manager, decided some cost cutting changes could be made to this power source. The Delta Weld changes had a negative impact on the slope output effecting the weld equipment performance. I believe that the person who made the changes probably did not know what the optimum current / wire feed relationship is for the common MIG wires and weld transfer modes, or what the ideal weld current, wire feed relationship is for welding a 1/4 fillet with an 045 wire. Anyway who ever got their hands on the Delta Weld took a weld giant and created a mundane product readily available at the competition.

During 1999, I provided weld management consulting and training services to a company called Omniquip. This company made SkyTraks. At the time Sky Trak used Lincoln MIG equipment. I ordered 4 Miller Delta Weld power sources for the companies weld training facility.

Typically the Delta Welds would last for one to two decades without equipment or process issues. In a six month period the new Miller equipment at Omniquip resulted in;

[a] Numerous "wire feed" electronic issues with 3 of the 4 new power sources.

[b] In contrast to the traditional Delta Weld power source, the >1999 Delta Weld power sources, weld voltage and current per/wire feed rate (slope output) had been altered. The result was a negative influence on weld fusion potential and on the power source performance.

[c] For low current MIG applications, the Delta Weld power source when using "a low energy argon mix" now no longer provided low current, consistent arc starts.

Note: A primary weld concern with MIG welding equipment is attaining sufficient weld energy for the wire feed rate delivered. For example the slope output (volt amp curve) is designed to provide a specific current for a given voltage. Also the slope of the curve will determine the amount of weld current change per volt change.

How important is the volt / amp wire feed relationship? For example, with a traditional, effective CV power source, when using an 0.035 wire at 210 ipm, delivering 3.3 lb / hr, the power source would put out approximately 140 amps and require 17 welding volts. This weld parameter combination provided both optimum weld voltage and current for the short circuit wire feed rate selected. If a power source designer changes the slope, lets say the required short circuit weld voltage for that wire feed position is now 19 volts. As a result of the extra voltage, the short circuit weld droplet size is now larger, more globular and the short circuit weld transfer would be more erratic with excess spatter.

It seems in their quest to add electronic bells and whistles, some MIG power source designers forgot about the fundamental arc / slope and wire feed relationship of MIG weld transfer. When a power source designer makes negative changes to a power source that for decades has been perfect, one has to ask what is the weld equipment manufacturers motive?

[a] Is it weld process ignorance?

[b] Is the need to reduce the weld equipment cost?

[c] Is it the need to add electronic bells and whistles to justify a future power source price increase?

You don't try to change Coke and if they had any sense Miller management would not allow it's designers or product managers to screw around with their number one power source, the Delta Weld.

This Miller Weld Power Source Manager told me he
"Plays With the MIG Weld Controls"

To address the Delta Weld issues at the Omniquip (Sky Trak) plant, I had to deal with the Miller product manager for MIG equipment. The Miller product manager came to the Wisconsin plant to review the problems with his companies equipment. I went through the problems and also went through the wire feed range, pointing out the weld parameter, current / wire feed relationship issues.


While talking to the Miller product manager about the slope performance and the various wire feed settings, I noted the manager had a glazed look. I am familiar with this glazed look, as I have seen it many times in weld shops.

The Miller MIG power source product manager's response to my complaints was, "he had no problems with the power source, and reference to the weld parameter / wire feed differences, well he could not understand this issue as when he makes welds he just "plays around" with the weld controls till he finds a weld setting he likes.

 

Did the responsible Miller power source designer check the revised Delta Weld parameter output with the original unit?

Did the engineers who built the new revised Delta Weld equipment check the revised performance with all the common available argon mixes before sending the equipment out to welding shops?

Will Miller continue to hire product managers who believe the path to process control is "play around" with the weld equipment


Miller builds it and weld shops have to test it. 2003 MILLER DELTA WELD 450 / 452 UPDATE. DUE TO THE POOR PERFORMANCE OF KOBELCO MIG EQUIPMENT THAT'S USUALLY FOUND ON MOTORMAN ROBOTS, IN OCT 2003, I HAD TO GET ONE OF MY CLIENTS TO SWITCH OVER FROM THE KOBELCO 350 MIG EQUIPMENT TO A MILLER, DELTA WELD 452. THIS POWER SOURCE HAS THE BUILT IN ROBOT INTERFACE. THE 452 PROVIDED EXCELLENT WELD PERFORMANCE ON THIS APPLICATION. SOMEONE AT MILLER MUST HAVE BEEN TAKING NOTES. THE DELTA WELD IS BACK ON IT'S PEDESTAL.

 

 

From Miller. Invision 456MP.Electronics and Weld Mediocrity.
If you have nearly $6000 to waste on poor performance and a poor slope out put, take a look at the Miller Invision 456MP. However If you wanted to save well over $3000 you would bring in a Miller CP 302. Then spend a few $ on my books and Cd process control training resources, and then attain the process control expertise necessary to produce superior weld quality and productivity.

Miller Auto Axcess 450

I think this next e-mail tells a great story about Miller and bells and whistles:


E.Mail from Greg.
April 2005.

Ed. The following is my experience and my frustration since owning 7 Miller Auto Axcess 450 machines for almost 1 year. My Magna boss believes my job is to get the GM robot welded parts out of the door without weld quality or production issues, however with all the Miller issues I have had to put up with, I feel like less like a robot technician and more like an unpaid Miller Weld Equipment Technician. What happened to the good old days when you switched the Miller DeltaWeld on and got through the shift without welding issues?

1) We were told that the Accupulse would weld faster than traditional CV equipment and produce less spatter.

2) We set most of the welds in "Accupulse mode" initially, a few welds used Short Circuit CV where we had gaps. The Accupulse welds were on parts that had good fit. While we used optimum weld parameters and Miller's recommendations for the welds, we could not keep the arc stable enough while running production. Almost half the welds coming off the cell had ropey, unstable bead appearance, while the other 50% of the welds were perfect with small amounts of spatter. I was only traveling about 30 IPM when using Accupulse.

3) We also had high tip burn back issues when using Accupulse. I could not get more than 2-3 hours of production without an arc fault due to a burn back. We had lots of evidence of micro arcing on the weld wire.

4) To try and help stabilize the process and also to reduce the tip burn backs, Miller sent us custom Accupulse programs 2 times. They attempted to limit the peak current at the arc start to prevent the micro arcing and tip burn backs. This never worked properly and I still had the problems.

5) I have updated core system software in the machines 3 times since I own them.

6) Finally I was forced to turn off Accupulse due to excessive production downtime and excessive weld repair on welds that went unstable.

7) When running in the traditional CV mode we were able to get the travel speeds thirty percent faster 40 IPM than the Accupulse mode.

8) After turning off the Accupulse mode completely, we were still having what we felt were excessive robot cell stoppages due to Arc Faults and burn backs.

9) We were getting intermittent "Wire Stuck Alarms" when we did not have wire sticking conditions.

a) Miller's response to this was that there was a timing issue between the robot and the welder causing erroneous nuisance alarms. It may occur if the tip of the wire scrapes on the part after a weld was complete, even though the robot was not stuck and on the way to its next weld or its home position. Miller told me to disable this alarm to avoid nuisance occurrences.

10) We continued having excessive amount of "Arc Shortage Alarms" on the Motorman XRC robots. The Arc Shortage alarms are things coming in from the welder after getting a legitimate arc ignition. The welder was logging an excessive amount of wire feed speed errors for no apparent reason. Each time the welder felt it had a wire feed speed error; it would send an alarm to the Motoman XRC causing the Arc Shortage alarms.
a) Miller ended up turning off the Wire Speed Error alarms in the machine because they felt these alarms were nuisance only causing excessive faults on the robots.

11) Miller was requested for an on site visit to investigate the root cause of our problems.
While on site, they cold booted all of the welders to clear out any alarm occurrences. They then verified that the most recent version of "Code" was in the machines.

12) On a few machines I had the Inductance set to 60 on a 0-100 scale. Miller's default inductance setting is 30. I did this on short circuit welds to get a better wetting action and better bead appearance. Miller decided to set all the welders at an inductance of 30. They felt that a 60 inductance may have been too high causing harsh arc starts. After turning the machines down to 30 inductance, we had to change the arc start conditions in the robots and reduce the start voltage. I had higher than normal starting voltages when using 60 inductance to prevent machine gun type starts.

13) Millers approach to its numerous equipment issues was to bring in a new pulsed power source, the Auto Axcess 300. My application is on 1.8mm and below down to 1.0mm. We are using 0.035 wire with a 92-8 Ar-C02 gas mixture.

a) Miller told me that the Auto Axcess 450 machines have a peak short circuit starting current of around 700 amps. They felt that this was much too high for an 0.035 wire causing the micro-arcing conditions.

b) The Auto Axcess 300 machines have a peak short circuit starting current of around 500 amps which they felt would be better for welds done less than 200 amps using 0.035 wire.

c) Miller turned down the run-in settings to 50 IPM from the 250 IPM I had set. They wanted the wire to run-in much slower while attempting to strike the arc. I started at 100 IPM when we first bought them and tried various settings between 100 and 275 IPM with no real changes noticed.

d) Miller also set the wire retracts at the end of the weld to 100 IPM for 0.2 sec. This is done at each arc off automatically by the welder to ensure the wire is not touching the part at the next arc strike.


14) The Miller Auto Axcess 450 has another core problem that I feel is definitely worth mentioning. If you use multiple processes on the machine as I am sure many users do, there is a software problem that causes harsh arc strikes, which will add to the tip burn back problems. Essentially the problem is this; if you are doing a pulse weld, and the next weld after that is a CV weld, the machine strikes the arc in its last known process (which was pulse) and then switches to its new process (which is CV). This switching cannot be preset in any fashion currently. Miller asked me to actually try and do an Arc On in mid air during an air cut so the next weld could have the proper schedule preselected. You can imagine the problems in doing this. While the robot is moving, a "Hot" weld wire would be enabled, and feed wire out at the run-in settings; it would have to see an Arc Off prior to the timer for the Arc Fail alarms, and then you would have to retract the wire before the next weld. I told Miller this was an unacceptable situation and that I need a way to ensure the next weld is set properly without having to do this. Miller is currently working on a fix for this in their next release of "Code" which has not yet been released. At this time there are also no factory preset programs for 0.035 Metal Core wires for CV, Pulse, Accupulse, or RMD. I have asked them to provide me with those as soon as possible because I am using 0.035 Metal Core wires. I am currently using Accupulse on a few welds but had to select an 0.045 program and had to turn the Trim and Arc Control settings way down on the machine to get the Arc Length down to a reasonable level. Much of the development on these machines is done way after the product launch at the customer's request. I feel that they should have had many of these things available, and most of the other bugs worked out prior to releasing this welder to the consumers.

15) We are going to monitor the progress of the machines and continue to compare the Auto Axcess 450 to the Auto Axcess 300. I will continue to monitor the progress and see what happens. I don't appreciate being a test facility for the Miller products. If new MIG welding power sources were designed and tested correctly, why is it that the major weld equipment manufactures such as Miller, Lincoln Panasonic etc. seem to be weekly revising the electronic circuit boards and programs in their MIG welding equipment?

Note From Ed. Greg has the patience of a saint. I believe his company should have replaced the MIG equipment and taken Miller to court. Scroll down to see that years later the Miller Axcess fiasco continues.

 

WANT TO CUT DOWN ON WELD SHOP FRUSTRATION? DON'T BUY ELECTRONIC MIG EQUIPMENT TILL YOU TEST THE HELL OUT OF IT AND MAKE SURE THAT THE MODEL YOU PURCHASE HAS BEEN AVAILABLE FOR AT LEAST 3 YEARS.

 

Jan 21-2007: E-Mail to Ed Craig.

Ed I am a robot technician at a plant that manufactures lawn mowers. We normally weld in the 170-230 Amp range. We had been using Miller DeltaWeld 452's on all of our robot cells. The decision was made to replace these welders with the new "high-tech" Miller AutoAxcess 350 which has MIG, Pulse, and Miller's own "accupulse" processes. Since changing to these new welders we have to change a lot of contact tips, mostly due to poor arc starts. Miller reps have been back several times but we are still not seeing the benefits from pulse welding that they promised. Any ideas.

From Ed:

[1] As you and I are not electronic engineers, you should consider setting your companies lawyers on Miller for selling equipment that does not function correctly.

[2] Perhaps your managers and engineers could read some of the info at this site before making important and costly MIG weld equipment and process decisions.

June 2005
E-mail to Ed.

Ed we have the Miller Axcess 450 in our our plant. Our latest Miller MIG equipment fiasco. The gas solenoid just quit working after welding a few parts. We could manually purge gas, weld 1-2 more parts and it would happen again. We originally thought it was in the Wire Feeder or the Feeder Cable, but swapping them out did not fix the problem. We replaced the Motor PC board inside the welder which actually turns the gas valve on and off and still had the problem. Finally in the end we exchanged the entire welder and the problem went away. We only own 7 of these welders and 1 is a spare for emergencies. Of the seven, four have required us to replace PC Boards, these units have not in service one year.

 

From Ed. What's that old song that has a line, "when will they ever learn"?

Ed having the same Miller Axcess problems in Spain 2008.

Its April 2008. A note from Ed. This month I visited the west coast of Spain to assist an auto plant that makes BMW car seats. The plant had great success with their ABB robots and Miller Delta Weld equipment which I had recommended to them five years ago. The plant in 2008 ordered the Miller Axcess for it's robot cells and arc start contact tip issues started to occur. Sometimes 13 contact tips a shift were being changed. I believe that Miller has known about this problem for at least three or four years and still has not fixed the problem. My client wants to get rid of the new Miller Axcess, however Miller adds to the problem by no longer making the Delta Weld equipment available with a robot interface. By the way what a useless toy the Miller Palm pilot is, its another tool that will ensure people waste the day "playing" around with useless bells and whistles.

 

E-mail. Aug. 2008. Ed in my Canadian company, we weld auto parts and use the Accu-Pulse, Miller Axcess, 450 amp mig unit with Motoman robots. Too frequently we get holes in the end of the welds on the thin parts, and the weld end craters are extra long. It seems like every afternoon I play around, (yes, I play around) with the torch angles and wire , stick out, but still have not been able to solve the problem. The bottom line is I get lots of complaints from the weld reworks guys. Do you have any suggestions? Regards. Zhu. Weld Tech. Canada

Ed's Answer Zhu, The crater and control of the weld end data has been an on going problem for years with this equipment. I have devised unique programming and process solutions for these issues. You will find them in package 4 of my robot process control resources.

 

Where the hell has the weld current gone?

Miller Invision, XMT or Accupulse.
What happens when you use the regular short circuit or spray transfer MIG modes with this equipment? Inverters, pulsed and multipurpose CC/CV MIG equipment typically provide a steeper slope than traditional CV equipment, restricting the typical weld current output. The current reduction from this equipment can result in sluggish welds (poor weld fusion) or welders welding in the globular mode when they should be in spray transfer. If using this equipment with low energy argon - oxy or argon < 9% CO2 mixes, these gas mixes as you know require low weld voltages and will further lower the potential weld current output.

 

WELD EQUIPMENT COMMENTS.

From ESAB the "Aristo 450" This multipurpose pulsed inverter provides two different features worth evaluating. The power source has a built in water circulator for water cooled guns. It also has if you feel you need one, an "arc data monitor" The Bottom line. This MIG power source provides good weld characteristics, however for 99% of your welds you will never need most of the bells and whistles found on this costly equipment.

MANUAL OR ROBOT WELD POWER SOURCES DO NOT REQUIRE "ARC DATA MONITORS". WELD SHOPS HOWEVER DO REQUIRE WELD PERSONNEL WHO HAVE WELD PROCESS EXPERTISE AND WELD MANAGEMENT WHO BELIEVE IN EQUIPMENT OWNERSHIP, BEST WELD PRACTICES AND WELD PROCESS CONTROLS.

ESAB / ABB Arcitec Weld Issues.

Robot Welds on Ford
6061 Aluminum Car Seats.

During 2000, I was requested by an engineer at VAW a tier one supplier to analyze the welding performance of their ABB robot and ESAB Arcitec welding equipment. This plant produces extruded aluminum parts. The aluminum welded car seats were for Ford. The car seats and parts required small welds which were made on thin gage 6061 aluminum.

Since the installation of the robot cells, continuous production of optimum weld quality parts has been impossible due to the issues documented in this report. Weld reject rates averaged sixty percent and the robot down time per hour averaged 20 to 30 minutes. To see the rest of the story, click here.

From the land of Lincoln.
The "Power Wave".

 

Its only fitting that my last weld consulting job in the year 2000, would be working with Lincoln pulsed MIG equipment at a GM plant in Ohio.

The job was simple. A new multi-million dollar production line set up to automatically MIG weld torque converters. The weld problems generated on the lines created, a 4 - 8 % leak rate from the 1000 MIG welded parts produced daily,

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

Two days into my visit, after switching the erratic pulsed mode off, I used a different wire size and set the torque converters welds to spray transfer mode. The weld reject figure was reduced to "0%" and as a bonus I gave the GM plant 25 % more production. If the lower cost, traditional, more durable Lincoln CV 400 power sources had been purchased, the weld problems would not have occurred and several GM engineers would today would have more respect for Lincoln and it's red welding equipment. By the way when making those changes on the converter lines, not one GM manager showed any interest.

 

An E-mail sent to Ed Oct. 2002.

I work in the US in an automotive parts plant that manufactures components for a Japanese company. We continuously have problems with internal weld porosity. The porosity is not visible from the outside of the weld but when you grind the surface away the welds are full of it.

We are MIG welding the galvanealed materials and we have exhausted all efforts to eliminate the porosity. We use a Lincoln Power Wave 450 and have had Lincoln come in and try different pulsed Wave Forms but they could not solve our problem. We have tried different wires and use 90 argon 10% CO2. I believe that the galvanealed coating is contaminating the weld, however it's a customer spec and cannot be changed. Any suggestions?

From Ed: Galvanealed coating rarely causes weld issues. Galvanized causes extensive weld issues. You need more weld energy. Get of the pulsed. Increase the CO2 content to 20 %. Use smaller weld wires 0.035, (greater current density). Use low end spray data when possible.

For decades Lincoln lived on its SMAW weld equipment and consumable reputation. Lincoln MIG welding equipment was rarely sophisticated, however it was usually durable, low cost and typically always provided a few process performance irritations. From my personal perspective, the Lincoln MIG equipment of the last two decades was inferior to Miller, Linde (ESAB US) and Hobart MIG equipment.


The Lincoln ~~~~~Power Wave ~~~~ 455 / STT. This power source combines surface tension transfer (STT) with the pulsed Power Wave characteristics. In other words two unique sets of bells and whistles for the price of one. I have got to admit, I am fascinated by the hype that surrounds the PowerWave, but not facinated by the performance. This is a MIG package that along with the wire feeder can sell for more than $12.000, or the price of a decent car.

STT? If your company MIG welds carbon steels, low alloy or stainless steels, and you don't weld a "root pass on a pipe, with the pipe in the fixed position, then instead of spending $12.000.00 on the Lincoln Power Wave / STT you could purchase a traditional 300 amp, CV power source from Lincoln or Miller, equipment that is 25% of the cost, easier to operate and much more durable.


Irrespective of what that salesman tells you, when used for welding steel parts, the traditional lower cost, CV weld equipment in combination with a little weld process expertise can produce the same weld quality and productivity as the $12.000.00 Lincoln Power Wave unit.

~~~The Power Wave~~~ At the AWS welding show, while visiting the Lincoln booth, I watched with amusement as a Lincoln rep, with his computer attached to the Power Wave told the welding crowd, (these were mostly guys who typically had not learnt how to control the fifty year old, two control, CV power source) "that if they do not like the "Power Wave Waveform Output" then we at Lincoln can use this computer with its unique software change the pulsed waveform features to suit your specific welding application".

 

Note from Ed: First lets get the "designer software" that can change a MIG waveform put put, BS out of the way. If a weld equipment manufacturer provides you with a "pre-programmed" pulsed power source set to weld carbon, stainless or aluminum applications, as you will likely not be welding metals that fell of the side of a space ship, the preset pulsed weld program should therefore be set to deliver optimum pulsed parameters for a specific gas mix and electrode type and size.


As all pulsed welds can be made with 4 weld settings, it's logical to assume that any preprogrammed pulsed weld data from a pulsed power source manufacturer, should be close to optimum.

If the preprogrammed weld programs in the pulsed MIG equipment are not optimum, the weld equipment manufacturer should replace the individuals responsible for setting the substandard pulsed weld programs.

The bottom line, if welds on the world's common steel MIG applications could be improved through playing around with computer programs, the reality is that data should be part of the preprogrammed weld data.

I guess many things have changed at Lincoln during its electronic renaissance, especially when they found out that MIG equipment profits are greatly enhanced when electronic bells and whistles are added to the MIG power source and wire feeders.

 

E-MAIL to Ed.
Nov. 8 2003.

Ed. I find that in you are right on the mark. I have silently read much of what you have published here without response and sometimes I bite my tongue when the "salesman" (as you would say) in me would love to send off a scalding e-mail.

Yes, my company does manufacture the Lincoln Power Wave 455 and many times, I have seen first hand benefits to welding companies. I do not try and "sell" a Power Wave 455 to people that do not need a Power Wave 455, which is one way that I tend to agree with you. Many of my competitors in Detroit are pushing their "bells and whistles" on to people to weld simple carbon steel applications that can be tackled with a traditional CV 300 unit quite easily. One more thing, to dispel any thought in your head about the manufacture of L-50 (and L-56) MIG wires. These wires always have and always will be manufactured in Cleveland. Yes, we make MIG wire in Taiwan, England, Mexico etc. but these wires are not branded as L-50 (L-56) nor are they manufactured to the same standard as L-50 (L-56).

In order to compete with all of the foreign MIG wires out there, we created "budget" brands that cost less to manufacture and therefore, cost less. Keep it real Ed, I look forward to meeting you down the road.

Name with held FROM A Technical Representative
The Lincoln Electric Company - Detroit

 

E-MAIL.
May 2007:

Mr. Craig. First allow me to say that I truly enjoy visiting your website. There are always a multitude of informative articles to view. I am writing in regard to a specific article you wrote that I just viewed today (5/10/07) entitled "The Lincoln Power Wave, is Not Required For This Job". But first allow me to say that I agree with your position on Pulsed Spray GMAW equipment and the common misapplication of it. As a AWS CWI/CWE that provides training to manufacturers throughout the region, I have run across many instances where manufacturers have been sold the most innovative technology at a stifling price only to find out after considerable cost in rework ,rejects and unacceptable welds that they could have had superior quality in finished product by using conventional Spray-Transfer GMAW.

Having welded to ASME pressure vessel code for years using conventional GMAW-Spray Transfer and conventional DCEN GTAW along with AC GTAW, I have difficulty in supporting the pulsed technology trend, and even more difficulty understanding why the blue and red suppliers alike are not doing a better job of explaining the technology. Wouldn't have anything to do with increased weld equipment prices or sales commission rates would it?

Mark Trego. May 2007.

 

The Lincoln Pulsed MIG Power
Wave and Axle Cracks:

If you want to make your weld manufacturing life more expensive, more complex and less meaningful than it needs to be, you could always have listened to a salesman and purchased the Pulsed Lincoln PowerWave for your robot application.

1999 -2000: My weld task appeared simple. A tier one, axle manufacturer located in Michigan ordered two robot systems to weld truck axles. The company I worked for supplied the robots, we were also responsible for setting up the robot cells that would provide one million axles annually. When the robot cells were complete, as part of the contract, we were required to provide a few hundred welded axles as part of the robot cell run off, little did I know about the cracking issues that were about to occur. For the rest of the story click here.

Lincoln STT:

 

The two pictures above are the Lincoln STT wire feeder and STT power source. Lincoln's price on the STT package with a few extras should be around $11,000 to $12,000. Lincoln advertises that on gage applications you can eliminate weld spatter and reduce smoke,

The two, 300 amp traditional MIG equipment packages on the right are from Lincoln and Miller. These power sources sell for with the wire feeders for approx $2700. The majority of gage applications in the industrial world can be welded (spatter free) utilizing the lower cost CV equipment. Also in 2006, you can use $3000 pulsed MIG equipment, that can easily out perform the STT power source on most common gages steel applications > 20 gage.


With a little MIG weld process expertise, low cost CV equipment will get the job done to your satisfaction. Its up to you, if you have money to burn you know where the fire is. If you weld parts less than 0.080 and you simply cannot have miniscule weld spatter, then yes evaluate STT and the electronically modified short circuit weld transfer modes like RMD and CMT, with the low cost (< $4000) pulsed MIG equipment now sold by Miller (350P).

 

E.Mail Question:

Ed we run a Lincoln CV 600. We are running an 0.035 (1 mm) wire at 650 ipm and 28 - 30 volts. We use 90 argon 10 CO2 and are drawing about 200 amps. According to your books we should go into spray at >200 amps at >420 inch/min, what's happening?

Ed's Answer. You have lost your current. If you note, on this power source you will find a process switch that can be set at three settings.

[1] UPPER SETTING: Stick SMAW,

[2] Middle SETTING SAW - CV,

[3] LOWER SETTING. Self shield (fcaw).

If you use either the stick (SMAW) setting you will have selected a steeper slope which restricts the weld current. Use the SAW - CV setting and you should be drawing 240 - 250 amps, which is correct for that wire feed rate. Of course the power source could also require repair, or you need to replace a fuse

When a weld equipment manufacturer's rep informs you that their sophisticated MIG power source has "unlimited weld parameter adjustment potential", please remember this simply allows your workers to spend even more time "playing around" with typically useless, unnecessary weld parameters and controls".

AS MIG WELD EQUIPMENT BECOMES MORE SOPHISTICATED, THE POWER SOURCE MANUFACTURERS APPARENTLY DO NOT SEEM TO CONCERNED THAT THE WELDING EQUIPMENT IS ALSO BECOMING MORE COMPLEX, COSTLY TO REPAIR AND IS LESS DURABLE FOR THEIR CUSTOMERS.

 

E-mail question: Ed. We have a Lincoln PowerWave and are having what Lincoln calls a "Birds Nest" problem. This is an intermittent problem but when they do occur, at various locations in the weld paths, they begin with an Arc 18 arc failure alarm, followed by the wire continuing to feed momentarily, doubling over on itself inside the weld gun conduit and jamming up the guide. We checked our lost arc detect interval in our weld system setup; it is set at the factory 0.25 sec.

Lincoln was not sure what the problem was so they have been having us swap out components in an elimination process to isolate the cause. First we replaced the wire feeder cable. Then we replaced the wire feed unit itself. Now they think we should have our Power Wave looked at, since the problem persists. Do you have any suggestions on what can be causing this problem and how we should best deal with it? The snarls never used to happen; it is a recent thing in the last couple of months. Sincerely. Brian O.

Ed's Answer.
For a weld power source that has more weld issues than an Enron balance sheet you know what my answer to this problem would be.

 

Do you really want a power source that will control you? Or would you rather have your weld personnel have the unusual ability to control the power source?

FOR THOSE THAT ARE IMPRESSED WITH WELDING BELLS AND WHISTLES,
LINCOLN MAY HAVE PRODUCED THE ULTIMATE WELDING TOY.

Today in 2008, the Lincoln Power Wave is one of the biggest selling robot power sources sold to the North American automotive industry. Many automotive manufacturing plants believe that costly, sophisticated weld equipment with extensive bells and whistles will provide the solutions to their hands off management / engineering welding woes. It's a pity the managers and engineers who select this equipment, don't spend a few dollars and get a weld process education. It will be even more of a pity the first time they see the frequent issues from this equipment and the high repair costs for the Power Wave.

~~~Wave Forms: While on the subject of pulsed, let me quote from a Lincoln article on the Waveform in the Welding Journal, Jan 2000 edition. The Lincoln author states, that "the waveform is the means for determining the performance characteristic of a single molten droplet of electrode. The area under the waveform determines the amount of energy applied to that single drop. The Lincoln author continues with this statement which every weld shop decision maker has been holding his breath for three decades waiting to here, "superimposed in a selective fashion over the waveform is the "adaptive" characteristic of synergic pulsed GMAW.

This 1980 picture is a slo motion shot of regular, spatter free MIG transfer in the glob to spray transition zone. Do you really believe that all the electronic sophistication mentioned is necessary for controlled weld metal transfer from the MIG wire tip to the weld?

Take any low cost MIG power source, built in the last 40 years, set it with spray parameters and watch it provide controlled, spatter free weld metal transfer.

Still not convinced? For god's sake I could take two car batteries and create a power source to form a good MIG weld. Also a point many seem to forget, any traditional >300 amp CV MIG power source manufactured from 1960 can produce a MIG or flux cored weld to meet the most stringent weld code requirements anywhere in the industrial world.

~~WAVES UNDER THE BRIDGE~~. It's Feb. 2004, I just spent a few days with a bridge manufacturer. This company had two robot cells for welding bridge decks and frames. On the one side an ABB robot was utilized with Miller Delta Weld equipment, the other robot cell utilized Fanuc robots with the Lincoln Power Waves. The robots and MIG equipment was purchased in the late 1990s. The steel, short length, 6 mm fillet welds made by the the Miller equipment required minimal weld repairs, the weld repairs that were required were a usually a result of the part fit.

In the robot cell containing the Lincoln Power Wave, the weld rework for two years had been over fifty percent. When evaluating the weld performance I came to the following weld conclusions.

[1] The Fanuc cells were supplied with through arc weld tracking. Due to the inconsistency and poor performance of this equipment the bridge company had turned the arc tracking off. To compensate they made the welds much larger and longer than the weld spec called for.

[2] When evaluating the Lincoln power source, I found the Power Wave weld current variation on a weld 2 inches long, varied from 170 amp to 300 amps, with the same welds you could also note a two volt weld variation. This parameter instability from the power source, has dramatically impacted what should have been a simple weld application. This application required through the arc weld tracking, however it's not logical to try to utilize through the arc weld tracking when the MIG power source cannot provide relatively stable weld voltage or current on an application with a constant wire stick out.

[3] The crater control on this unit was very poor, the robot / Power Wave data did not start to react till more than a second was added and even then the crater welds with optimum weld data, at best would be described as erratic. On bridge welds, if you cannot control the weld craters you have to compensate and make the welds longer.

[4] The weld arc on time on the application in the Fanuc cell accounted for more than 85% of the total cycle time. Due to the lack of effective through arc tracking and unstable weld conditions twice the amount of weld required was used for the bridge platform welds. The bottom line this weld equipment has caused the bridge manufacturer to utilize three shifts to do work that could have been done in less than 2 shifts. To resolve the weld issue the bridge company will for its next robot installation make sure it has stable weld equipment (not from Lincoln) and the robot has an effective through the arc tracking unit.

 

E.Mail April 2005:

D.H. GM Pontiac MI.

Ed we are a GM plant in MI. I have about 50 Fanuc Robots all using Lincoln Power Waves pulsed MIG equipment. We weld using an 0.045 (1.2 mm) silicon bronze wire and argon gas. The 0.045 wire feed rate is 240 inch/min with 24V. The welds are made on galvanealed thin gage parts. The robots were purchased around 2001 and 2002. In the last 6 months some of the Power Waves have extensive burnt backs to the contact tip for no logical reason. The burn backs occur any where in the welds. We have changed liners, the guns and tips. We even changed the power source. The good Lincoln Power Wave power source we have would also start to do the same thing when placed in the cell where the burn backs occur. We have had all the experts in and got no help including Lincoln, what do you think? Dave

Ed's Answer.

Dave. As you are using short circuit wire feed rate for the silicon bronze 045 wire it's a pity your organization did not purchase the much lower cost Lincoln CV 400, you would have saved around $250,000.00 and avoided these power source electronic problems. Also for those of you new to this site, if you have a moment, try the search engine in the QA section to see if other people are having similar problems. You would use the search words (Power Wave).

[] I am amazed that Lincoln or Fanuc did not help you as this appears to be a power source issue, however I guess your 36 month warranty is up. Yes burn backs can occur frequently if wire restriction issues occur, as you changed the guns and tips and checked the weld wire feed ability, that should rule that out.

[] Are you using an external volt sensing (VS) lead? if so check continuity.

[] If the volt sense lead is OK, its likely the power source is causing the issues. Disable the VS lead. I have found that artificial intelligence (looped electronic feed back of the weld data) with pulsed equipment can be unstable even when the pulsed equipment is new and that the instability can increase with the aging electronics, (especially once the 36 month warranty is up). This problem in my simple mind would be an indication that the power source technology is beyond the capability of the power source mfg. I believe to disable the VS, a jumper lead has to be moved in the power source, this is supposed to only take 10 minutes.

[] If disabling the VS did not work, then in the robot pendant disable both the arc start and wire burn back functions as these functions have been known to influence weld performance and produce erratic results. To displace this preset power source weld data use separate weld schedules at the arc starts / ends.

[] Arc start. Use one to two volts higher than weld volts.

[] Arc end. Use one to two volts less than weld volts.

[] Your 24 weld volts for this application also sounds too high. For short circuit an actual weld voltage (indicated on the power source volt meter of 16 to 19 volts would be typical. For pulsed around 22 volts.

[] If using a laptop provided weld schedule / program, change to a standard power source program. Try the 045 standard short circuit mode for steel / stainless. Its a pity your 36 month warranty is just up, what's that song? "when will they ever learn"

See Lincoln issues above, and thanks to Greg Smith at Marada for his contribution. Greg also had to go through many frustrating issues with his Lincoln Power Wave equipment.

THE NEXT TIME YOU WANT TO SPEND MONEY ON WAVE FORMS MAKE SURE IT'S AT THE BEACH. I have had extensive experience with the Lincoln Power Wave on many robot applications. I would rather not repeat the experiences. My advice to anyone looking at a Power Wave, consider instead the $2000 to $4000 traditional Lincoln CV units and use the thousands of dollars saved for a cool vacation.

 

A PULSED PICTURE IS WORTH A THOUSAND WORDS. The next two picture are are two 3/16 fillet welds I made on 1/4 stainless steel. The welds are made with a Lincoln 300 Power MIG. This is single phase, pulsed MIG power source that retails around $3,700 . This power source has pre-scheduled pulsed programs for specific wire diameters. This MIG power source was purchased by a company that welds steel and stainless parts. The MIG wire is an 0.035- 308L stainless wire. I set the 0.035 (1mm) wire feed at 550 ipm which should be an optimum pulsed wire feed rate. The power source provided the preset pulsed parameters. I simply had to set the trim weld voltage to attain the optimum arc length. The welds were untouched after welding. Take note of the pulsed weld appearance and also the heat affected zone.

Lincoln pulsed power source
with pulsed switched on.

Lincoln pulsed power source
with pulsed switched off.

 

Switch off the pulsed mode and this 3/16 stainless, traditional spray transfer fillet weld was made with the same power source, consumables and wire feed rate as the pulsed weld. As you can see the HAZ is similar, this weld had similar spatter and similar surface. My point is simple, why pay an additional $1500 for something you don't need for steel or stainless welds? Why pay for something that adds to the weld complexity, something that is less durable and more costly to repair?


E-MAIL. Oct 2008: : Ed I recently bought a new Lincoln 350MP, for pulse welding 18 ga aluminum. At first my new unit performed OK then the problem started, while welding 18 gage, my weld would flare up the wire back into the nozzle. The machine is rated to weld 19 ga. I got the supplier to exchange my machine for another one, which has the same problem, it flares just as bad on 1/8th alum. I have a push-pull gun, and the wire feeds fine. I'm running the machine on 50ft multi-strand cable, two 50 amp breakers. My friend is going to help me check out the electricity. Lincoln and the supplier have been no help, I don't have a clue, and I don't know what to do. Adam

Ed's Reply: Adam as you are using a push pull gun with this multi-purpose, Lincoln pulsed on pulsed, chopper technology I rule out wire feed issues. The fact that you purchased a multi-purpose power source and, these units are rarely noted for optimum MIG performance especially at low end or high end parameter ranges.You are welding very thin gage that requiries low, stable pulsed parameters and Imn sure the 50 foot cable does not help. Your weld problem sounds like you don't have enough voltage and current available to sustain a consistent pulsed arc. Low, erratic pulsed parameters would cause the pulsed arc plasma to collapse causing the arc to wonder or occasionally flare. I have said many times at this site, that instead of being impressed with bells and whistles and the wave forms, chopper and pulsed on pulsed marketing verbage, check out the equipment, especially the recommended low and high end welding range. The bottom Line when the same problem occurs in two new power sources, you have an equipment design or part problem. This is Lincoln's problem, not yours. As they are not likely to recall the equipment, and you have wasted enough of your time on this issue, send the power source back. The Miller 350P appears to have a good pulsed low end, give it a try. Ed

WHEN YOU PURCHASE MIG EQUIPMENT BELLS AND WHISTLES, DON'T EXPECT REAL WORLD RESULTS: Lets face it the biggest attribute about some of the Lincoln equipment, may be the marketing names applied to the specific options and weld transfer modes. Chopper, pulsed on pulse, wave forms, all sound impressive and I am sure help in the sale of the in the equipment. The real question is does the technology in question perform in a consistent stable manner and do the resulting weld transfer modes provide real world benefit for the application..

For a pulsed equipment manufacturer to show his pulsed technology is superior, we are going to hear some wonderful pulsed equipment gibberish presented in the next decade. In 2009, expect a tremendous amount of new marketing induced bovine fecal matter to be presented on how advanced electronics will further influence the pulsed weld droplet size, shape and energy etc.

Unfortunately in an industry that too frequently has to rely on sales brochures and weld sales expertise to resolve it's weld issues, there are many welding customers that are ready to believe the pulsed MIG equipment sales hype. Also lets face weld reality. Weld distributors have never made much profit selling Lincoln equipment, a product line which now appears to be available in just about every hardware store in North America. I believe the high price of the Power Wave is it's greatest feature, and that feature benefits Lincoln and it's weld distributors more than it will benefit most weld applications.

 

2003. Be very wary of the JAPANESE Motoman 350 MIG Power Source,
it's a sad excuse for a MIG power source.

 

If you use Motoman robots, it's unfortunate that you may have purchased the Japanese built 350 MIG equipment. If you want a poor to mediocre, inconsistent, traditional globular type short circuit this equipment will provide it.


At two separate locations during 2003 I have had issues with this equipment. In Aug. 2003 it was my unfortunate task to optimize a large welding cell that utilized Moto Man UP6 robots with the 350 welding equipment. One of the new power sources was so erratic it had to be replaced. On the remaining equipment I found inferior arc starting characteristics, inconsistent weld transfer and the required voltage range was excessive resulting in globular type transfer.

Later in 2003 I assisted one auto supplier of thin parts with his numerous robot weld issues. The parts were 1.2 mm thick, the weld wire was 035 - 1 mm. The weld mode selected was short circuit. I noted again with the Motor Man MIG equipment that at the required low wire feed short circuit settings that the minimum stable weld voltage required from this equipment was 1 to 3 volts higher than that which would have been required with the traditional North American CV equipment.

The required, higher weld volts from this inferior Japanese MIG equipment caused ERRATIC "globular transfer" and the additional voltage provided higher weld energy which added to the "weld burn through potential" on the thin parts.

Controlled weld droplets or a stream of weld metal? Do you believe that when you water your lawn the grass will be greener if the water is pulsed when it leaves the hose?

What is an issue for most welds is the weld energy delivered. The bottom line, pulsed can produce in some instances a lower energy open arc weld mode. Therefore to justify purchasing pulsed equipment look for a weld application that requires the heat concerns, such as clad welding or welding aluminum;

[a] Pulsed provides lower weld energy than traditional spray transfer. However if you are aware of all the wire feed and voltage settings that can produce spray transfer with the different wire diameters, you can often replicate the pulsed weld energy with spray transfer and a smaller diameter MIG wire.

[b] Pulsed can provide weld spatter levels to an absolute minimum. If spray transfer is set correctly the weld spatter amount will be minuscule.

[c] Pulsed is beneficial on alloy electrodes that typically provide poor weld transfer, electrodes such as alum bronze. A real pulsed benefit.

 

Power Sources I Would Not Recommend.

 

If you have a robot purchase in mind the following power sources are what I personally would not recommend in 2008.

[1] The Lincoln Power Wave.
This welding unit "will often take you where you don't need to go, restrict you where you should not be restricted, and make you pay a price you don't need to pay. With this power source in your robot cell it would be wise to make sure you have a spare. For optimum manual or robot carbon / stainless MIG welds stick with the Lincoln CV 400 amp power source.

[2] The Lincoln Ideal ArcThis multi-purpose unit provides mediocre MIG performance

[3] The Panasonic HM Units.Pre-year 2004 units. If Panasonic thinks this is a solution to North American welding problems they should fire their so called Japanese welding experts. If you purchased Panasonic pulsed equipment before 2004 god help bless you.

[4] The ABB/ESAB Arcitec. Sold as a built in with ABB robots. This erratic, poor performance power source introduced in the nineties must have put Swedish weld manufacturing technology back two decades. For more information on this "unique" welding equipment you know where to find me, and I won't be in Stockholm.

[5] Miller Maxtron. It's hard to understand how a company with Miller's reputation would want to place this machine into any welding shop.

[6] Miller Invision. Inconsistent performance, sold before it was ready for weld shops. .

[7] Thermal Arc MIG equipment. Erratic electronics and poor pulsed / spray arc characteristics at high / low data.

[8] Kemppi. I do not like the performance or durability of their MIG equipment.

BACK TO WELDING REALITY.

Spray Transfer can be so simple. With traditional CV MIG equipment, an argon mix and two simple weld parameter settings, you can produce weld droplets as shown in this video, or turn the wire feed rate up and create a weld stream at higher current and voltages. Its true that with spray transfer, the weld droplets are not "individually controlled" but who cares, as long as they transfer into the weld in a stable manner, inside a suitable plasma. And if you want more or less MIG energy from CV equipment,

[a] change the wire feed rate,
[b] change the welding voltage,
[c] change the wire size or type,
[d] use a different gas mix.
[e] change the wire stick out.

With open arc transfer such as pulsed MIG and spray transfer, its not that important on how the weld wire converts to molten metal, what is important is that the molten metal transfers in a consistent, stable manner. A CV MIG power source has had this capability since the nineteen sixties.



MOST MIG WELDS ON PARTS > 3 mm WILL PROVIDE MARGINALWELD FUSION: With correct spray weld parameters, the traditional spray transfer is stable and almost completely spatter free. Yes traditional spray transfer is hot, but as most MIG welds have marginal weld fusion this is a weld benefit not a weld detriment.

The primary issue with most spray welds is insufficient side wall fusion, there fore there is little logic to utilize pulsed and reduce the potential weld energy.

At the end of the day, the following may be the best justification why pulsed MIG will one day soon be the world's number one MIG welding process.

A welding distributor if lucky may make 10 to 20% on a traditional $3000, CV. MIG power source / wire feed equipment package. In contrast on that $6000 to $12,000 pulsed equipment package which produces no more weld productivity and no better weld quality on most steel welds, that additional profit will certainly be an incentive for both the weld equipment manufacturer and distributors. And lets face it, with the short pulsed equipment life, well that's just a bonus to the MIG equipment manufactures who repair and sell this equipment.

 

MORE MIG WELDING EQUIPMENT DATA FOR
WELDING PIPE IN THE MIG AND FLUX CORED PIPE SECTION
AND ALSO IN THE PULSED MIG SECTION.