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to Previous Page MOTORMAN
ROBOT ISSUES?
The following is an email sent to me March 2001, I deleted only the name of the
individual and company name. If any of you have serious robot issues why not email
me. Ed, we
are on our 4th generation of Motoman robots here at _______, and I didn't think
they could get any worse, but I was wrong. Ed, I simply would not recommend the
new UP/XRC robots to anyone. We have had nothing but problems with them. Motoman
has a real problem with the encoders in their motors, and we have replaced everyone
at least once. In addition, I have a servo pack or motor go out on an average
of once per week. They are also having wire harness problems with the insulation
prematurely wearing out. I have had to replace four so far, and we have only been
running since August. We have also had to replace 13 boards in the main processor.
They are saying that the Panasonic power sources are creating noise in the unit
and taking out the boards, but we are not really buying it and neither is Panasonic.
What a nightmare.
Now, let's compare this to our Canadian facility which uses mostly Fanuc on the
same lines designed to produce the same product. I spoke with their technical
manager last week and he has not had any warranty claims since start-up. If you
total up what would have been my repair expense, if the robots were not under
warranty, I would have spent in excess of $175,000.00
THE
FOLLOWING IS AN INDICATION THAT ROBOT WELD PROCESS CONTROL IS NOT ESTABLISHED
AT YOUR FACILITY | [1]
If you have robot weld rework on more than 2% of your parts. [2]
If you utilize three part gas mixes for carbon steels or thin gage stainless.
[3] If you
believe you can produce welds with a Metal Cored wire which you cannot do with
a lower cost MIG wire. [4]
If you utilize flux cored wires for welding clean carbon steels <3/8 in
the flat and horizontal welding positions. [5]
If you weld carbon steels and you use mixes containing oxygen. [6]
If you purchase your primary weld supplies from more than one supplier. [7]
If the person who has full responsibility for the robots is in the union.
[8] If your company
allows operators or anyone other than the programmer to make welding parameter
changes to the robot program. [9]
If your purchasing personnel make decisions on the consumables selected. [10]
If there is no weld parameter data posted on the weld equipment or along side
the robot cells. [11]
If your manual welders daily use a whipping action or weave action with their
MIG guns. [12]
If your robots have a ROBOT down time per shift of more than 15 minutes. [13]
If you use pulsed MIG and don't know how to provide optimum pulsed parameter adjustments,
or you are not aware how your pulsed weld deposition rates compare against the
lower cost spray transfer. The
three welding products that have had the biggest growth in welding shops during
the last decade are, [1]Three
component gas mixes [2]Metal cored wires [3]Pulsed MIG equipment
MIG weld gas reality
Back in the sixties the British Welding Institute carried out GMAW gas research
that indicated in contrast to argon 10 to 20% CO2 mixes, three component gas mixes
containing argon - CO2 -oxygen when used for welding carbon steels "provide
no practical weld benefits". Adding oxygen to an argon CO2 mix simply lowers
the weld energy lowering the weld fusion potential increasing weld porosity potential.
The biggest selling gas mix for stainless is a tri mix that contains helium -
argon - CO2. This TRI-mix when used for welding most thin gage short circuit applications
cause more welding issues than a lower cost two component gas mix. See the MIG
gas section and invest in my books for practical weld gas data without marketing
or sales bias. Pulsed MIG reality
After two decades of use in North America many experienced weld
decision makers are still trying to figure out the benefits of the pulsed MIG
process for MIG welding "carbon steel" applications. In contrast to
a traditional, durable, low cost MIG CV power source that provides optimum short
circuit and spray transfer, pulsed MIG equipment when used for carbon steel welds
can readily provide more negative than positive attributes, (that's why I can
write over 100 pages in my Management Engineers MIG book on pulsed issues). And
for all of you that invest $6000 for pulsed equipment because it produces miniscule
amounts of weld spatter, well the bottom line is the $2500 durable, easier to
use traditional MIG equipment can also produce miniscule amounts of weld spatter
if you invest $60 for one of the MIG process control books available at this site
and learn to control the process. Metal
cored MIG reality. In the last decade I have never seen a carbon
steel weld made with a metal cored wire that could not be made at the same speed
or the same weld quality with a much cheaper MIG wire. Weld reality, I guess
that when it comes to welding technology in North America, "salesmanship
rules the weld shop"
"WELD
PRODUCT NEWS" The Most Improved USA Pulsed Power Source is ..... ? |
If
you have to succumb to salesmanship and purchase a "pulsed power source"
for traditional carbon or stainless applications consider the "Miller
Invision". After numerous electronic changes from its messed birth as
the Maxtron to its electronically reborn (many times over), again Invision, Miller
has finally got this one right. However with all its improvements this
power source offers weld benefits on very few applications. When
it comes to traditional MIG welding transfer modes the Invision is inferior to
the lower cost more durable pre-1999 DeltaWeld. In over a 1000 manufacturing companies
I have attained weld benefits only twice from pulsed MIG on carbon steel applications,
both applications were very sensitive to miniscule amounts of weld spatter. My
advice, don't use this or any other pulsed power source if you can do the job
with traditional short circuit spray, or flux cored. |
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