Automated cutting and welding of tubular parts can be an excellent way for a metal fabrication company to reduce costs and manual efforts in its manufacturing operation. The consistency that is needed for critical automated welding can be achieved by creating an automated work station in the production process. Cut-to-Fit™ technology will accomplish both the cutting and automated welding of fabricated parts with extreme accuracy. This state-of-the-art technology eliminates several critical issues when welding has to be done that has zero deviation. First, this automated process will exactly measure the size and shape of a tubular metal part, then it will define and cut the required hole for the weld to an exactness that is not possible manually. Lastly, the automated welding will weld the parts together with full penetration that would be difficult to achieve manually.
Laying down a straight weld to attach two straight edges of steel with square corners can be a simple process, for either manual or automated welding. The task of welding a circular shape is a bit more daunting, whether it is done manually or by robotics Sometimes the shape is not exactly round or the part may be “rounded”, but is not even a well formed ellipse, making the process even more difficult. Sometimes the shape of tubular objects that need to be welded are slightly “out-of-round”. However, the object has to be welded no matter the shape. The fact that a “round” part to be welded is either every so slightly “out-of-round” or off size in some other way can cause a lot of extra work and expense in cutting and welding if the process is done manually. In a lot of cases, the quality of the weld is not only a requirement, but it is a necessity for such “round edged” welds that are made to construct such things as oil well blow-out prevention devices, high pressure gas tanks, and gauges mounted on pipelines. Now all the tedious guess work has been removed from such welds. Using through the arc tracking technology automated welding robotics are now equipped with tactile sensing devices that allow for the determination of the exact shape and size of the outside of a “rounded” object that is to be welded to another metal object. The “sensing” of the exact shape and size of a structural tubular occurs before the weld is started. Tracking defines the joint by moving along it and determining where the deviations in the joint are located based on the geometry of the objects or thermal influences. Tracking can also determine the width of the joint so that an exact weld bead can create the full penetration needed by an automated welding operation. The robot will move around the outside edge of the tubular object to be welded. In doing this the shape and size of the object is “read” by the “sensing eye”. This geometry of the perfect or imperfect shape to be welded is stored in the memory of the computer that will be controlling the cutting and welding process. Even though the Cut-to-Fit™ technology is designed for the cutting and welding of tubular objects, welding technology can be programmed to handle any irregular shape that is consistent in size and shape.
After the entire shape and size of the tubular has been collected, a plasma cutting torch at the end of the robot arm verifies this exact shape on the surface where the weld is to be made. The plasma cutting torch then pierces through the thinnest point of this base plate and cuts a hole that perfectly matches the verified size and location. The cutting process is assisted by the addition of oxygen to increase the temperature. Because of the increase in the temperature the molten metal that is being removed becomes “wetter”. This allows it to fall away from the cut surface with minimal spatter. This will leave a clean, smooth cut surface that is optimum, excellent for welding.
The welding automation process is started by the welding torch verifying the weld path that has been previously defined by 
the plasma cutting torch. In a lot of cases the preparation of the surfaces to be welded is very inconsistent. But because of the oxygen used during cutting, the weld surfaces are the best that can be attained. The actual weld is a full penetration, two sided weld that is laid down exactly on the defined path. The illustration shows how consistently the adaptive fill and arc tracking have assisted the welding robotic in laying down an exceptional weld. As the weld torch moves along the path, it will adjust for any inconsistency in the weld groove center line using arc tracking. Also there is compensation for the width of the weld groove using adaptive fill to make sure that the weld is consistently high quality throughout.
Our consulting engineers can answer any questions that you might have about the automation of your welding or they can supply you with a no-obligation quote for automating your welding. If you have questions about automating your welding or you would like to request a quote for the automation of your welding, please click the “Request a Quote” button below and fill out the form to submit your question or request.
