TPT July 2009

W elding: L atest D evelopments and M achinery

“Three robots, equipped with arm peripherals and CMT (cold metal transfer) welding capability, carried out live demonstrations.”

The bulletin from the World of Industries industrial fair (WIN), held this year in February, in Turkey, arrested attention but disappointed expectations. The three robots, while talented otherwise, had not come to life in a hall of the Istanbul Exhibition Centre.

 Automated pipe welding with Pipe Kat (see page 82)

Their display of automated TIG (tungsten inert gas) welding of pipes on a dedicated orbital stand was impressive, and visitors to the booth received handy robot-welded pen holders as mementos of the encounter. But those who may also have taken away with them a vision of R2D2 creating perfect welds — continuously, untiringly, without instruction, urging, or supervision — may profit from a reality check. The website of a prominent designer of robotic welding systems warns that “planning for the following contingencies needs to be completed.” To wit, • Installation of backup robots in the production line; • Rapid substitution for inoperable robots;  Rafter’s RT-9000 Weld squeeze box (see page 95)

• Redistribution of the welding [workload] of broken robots to functioning robots close by. The message is clear — and very well understood by the providers of the equipment and products reviewed here. Welding is, was, and will always be a process requiring the highest degree of expertise at the man-machine interface.

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J uly 2009

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