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By Geoff Lipnevicius, Engineering Manager Automation Division, The Lincoln Electric Company
While robotic welding can vastly improve productivity over semiautomatic welding, the level of efficiency of automation depends upon the
thoughtful design of the fixturing for maximum productivity.
When beginning a new project for robotic arc welding, consider these fixture
design objectives:
For the purposes of this discussion, the reference to fixturing is specific to the custom designed device used to locate or support the work
piece during the welding operation. Often used as interchangeable terms, 'tooling' is usually reserved for a specific device designed to form,
compress, or shape.
One of the first steps in designing a robotic welding fixture is to choose the
fixture base-metal. Factors include initial cost, long-term maintenance costs,
and special characteristics particularly suited to the robotic welding
application, such ad the critical aspect of maintaining accuracy and part
repeatability in an environment exposed to elevated heat and weld spatter.
resistance of copper. Novice fixture-builders sometimes overlook the electrical conductivity aspect
and paint all surfaces, including the bolted work cable connection surface, which is the source of
immediate start-up troubleshooting problems.
The thermal conductivity properties of aluminum and copper are high, referring to the ability of each
of these materials to conduct heat. For these reasons, these materials are often used as heat sinks
to conduct heat away from the work piece and 'spread' the heat over a larger surface area to
minimize work piece distortion. In a robotic welding system, thermal expansion properties should
also be considered. Thermal expansion refers to the fractional change in length of a material for a
unit of change in temperature. Aluminum has the capacity to significantly change in length and
volume when heated. For this reason, copper is more commonly used for heat sinks, and aluminum
is typically avoided in an effort to strive for part repeatability. Work piece sub-assemblies can also be
physically arranged and programmed with advanced welding processes, designed for low heat-input,
to minimize welding distortion tendencies.
Refined welding waveforms require an optimized welding circuit to maintain short arc lengths while reducing spatter, stubbing, arc-flare, and
arc outages, all in an effort to maximize travel speeds.
Special care must be taken to identify the optimum location of the work lead on the robotic welding fixture. As a general rule, it is desirable to
locate the work cable and sense lead (if applicable), as close to the welding arc as possible, rather than indirectly through a series of bolted
connections. In the optimum scenario, connection directly to the work piece is preferred.
Connection provisions on the fixture to insure that the work cable and sense lead are separated from each other, and from any robotic or
welding communication cables insure the best results. When more than one power source is welding simultaneously on a single part, each
power source requires a work lead from the work stud to the work piece. Avoid combining all of the work leads into one lead to reduce the
arc interference and induced magnetism, otherwise known as arc blow.
At this point, also consider the anticipated welding travel directions, with the preference to move in the direction away from the work lead, as
shown. Connect all of the work sense leads from each power source to the work piece at the opposite end.
Next, examine how your fixtures position the work relative to a vertical orientation to take advantage of the force of gravity. When welding a
part in the flat position, gravity is an ally. The finished welds are flat, uniform, and more easily made with higher deposition rates, that directly
increase travel speeds and productivity.
When sheet metal applications are designed with lap or 'T' joints, simple positioning of the part to allow a 15-degree downhill torch motion
can result in travel speed increases of 10 - 25 percent, by using gravity as an ally and the fast-follow characteristics of many consumable /
gas combinations.
Welding overhead may be appealing to reduce or eliminate weld spatter from sticking to the part, however, the spatter will inevitably stick to
the exposed surface of the fixture and tooling, requiring long-term maintenance attention. Welding overhead also requires overcoming the
force of gravity. Deposition rates are lower and it is more difficult to maintain proper weld contours.
There are many clamping / locating options to choose from when you approach a fixture at the design stage. The least complex involves
simple manual clamping such as swing, push, or plunger clamps applied to a fixed or stationary table and are typically applied for short-run or
prototype parts. In an R&D or short-run setting, these are very simple, low-cost methods to locate a part. The labor intensive nature of
manual clamping is overcome by flexibility and versatility in these settings. Modular fixturing is a secondary option that provides benefits of
flexibility while maintaining dimensional control.
On the other end of the spectrum, the more complex applications might
involve a dedicated fixture. These fixture installations are more complicated
with higher initial costs, and frequently involve the installation and routing of
wiring, and pneumatic or hydraulic lines. Advantages of automatic clamping
include the reduction or elimination of labor involvement for actuation, part
proximity sensing, and sequenced clamping.
clearance, supplemented by adequate lighting, should be an emphasis. Fixture surfaces are ideally designed to minimize flat surfaces to avoid
the collection of welding spatter from interfering with critical locating surfaces or actuating components.
The objective of the integration of the fixture and clamping / locating device
is to insure that the weld joint location repeats, in a 3-dimensional space
relative to the system, within +/- half the diameter of the applied welding
wire. For example, using 0.045" diameter wire allows a tolerance of +/-
0.022".
Gap location and width must be consistent from part to part, with the same
tolerances as the weld joint location. Beyond plus or minus half the diameter
of the wire thickness, the weld size may be required to be increased to
offset the smaller weld throat that results. A larger weld may require 125 -
200% more weld metal than required if proper fit-up is maintained.
Through-the-Arc Seam Tracking is another option that can be enabled once the
robot begins welding - the robot weaves across the weld joint and modifies its
path based on any joint location shift, perhaps due to distortion or part
spring-back, for example.
Summary
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