14.

Mechanisation

and Welding Fixture

14. Mechanisation and Welding Fixtures 197

As the production costs of the metal-working industry are nowadays mainly determined by
the costs of labour, many
examples movement/ working cycles
factories are compelled to Designation gas-shielded arc welding torch-/
workpiece filler wire workpiece
TIG GMAW control feeding handling

rationalise their manufac- manual welding

manually manually manually
m
turing methods by partially
and fully mechanised pro- partially
mechanised
welding manually mechanically manually
duction processes. In the t

fully mechanised
field of welding engineering welding
mechanically mechanically manually
v
where a consistently good
automatic
quality with a maximum welding
mechanically mechanically mechanically
a
productivity is a must, br-er14-01e.cdr

automation aspects are

conse-quently taken into
account. Figure 14.1

The levels of mechanisation in welding are

stipulated in DIN 1910, part 1. Distinctions are
made with regard to the type of torch control
and to filler addition and to the type of process
sequence, as, e.g., the transport of parts to
the welding point. Figure 14.1 explains the
four levels of mechanisation.

Figure 14.2. shows manual welding, in this

case: manual electrode welding. The control
of the electrode and/or the arc is carried out
manually. The filler metal (the consumable
electrode) is also fed manually to the welding
point.
br-er14-02e.cdr © ISF 2002

Manual Welding
(Manual Electrode Welding)

Figure 14.2

2005
14. Mechanisation and Welding Fixtures 198

In partially mechanised
welding, e.g. gas-shielded
metal-arc welding, the arc
manipulation is carried out
manually, the filler metal
addition, however, is exe-
cuted mechanically by
means of a wire feed mo-
tor, Figure 14.3.

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Partially Mechanised Welding In fully mechanised weld-

(Gas-Shielded Metal-Arc Welding)
ing, Figure 14.4, an auto-
Figure 14.3 matic equipment
mechanism carries out the welding advance and thus the torch control. Wire feeding is re-
alised by means of wire feed units. The workpieces must be positioned manually in accor-
dance with the direction of the moving machine support.

In automatic welding, be-

sides the process se-
quences described above,
the work-pieces are me-
chanically positioned at
the welding point and,
after welding, auto-
matically trans-ported to
the next working station.
Figure14. 5 shows an ex-
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ample of automatic welding Fully Mechanised Welding

(Gas-Shielded Metal-Arc Welding)
(assembly line in the car
industry). Figure 14.4

2005
14. Mechanisation and Welding Fixtures 199

Apart from the actual weld-

ing device, that is, the
welding power source, the
filler metal feeding unit and
the simple torch control
units, there is a variety of
auxiliary devices available
which facilitate or make the
welding process at all pos-

br-er14-05e.cdr
sible. Figure 14.6 shows a

Automatic Welding (Assembly Line)

survey of the most impor-
tant assisting devices.
Figure 14.5
Before welding, the parts
are normally aligned and
assembly line
then tack-welded. Fig-
welding robot
ure 14.7 depicts a simple
machine carrier

linear travelling mechanism

tack-welding jig for pipe
track-mounted welding robots clamping. The lower part of
spindle / sliding head turntable the device has the shape
turn-/ tilt table
of a prism. This allows to
dollies
clamp pipes with different
assembly devices
diameters.
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Devices, however, may be

Figure 14.6 significantly more complex.
Figure 14.8 shows an example of an assembly equipment used in car body manufacturing.
This type of device allows to fix complex parts at several points. Thus a defined position of
any weld seam is reproducible.

2005
14. Mechanisation and Welding Fixtures 200

In apparatus engineering
and tank construction it is
often necessary to rotate
the components, e.g.,
when welding circumferen-
tial seams. The equipment
should be as versatile as
possible and suit several
tank diameters. Figure 14.9
shows three types of turn-
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ing rolls which fulfil the Simple Tack Welding Jig for
Welding Circumferential Welds
demands. Figure bottom:
the rollers are adjustable;
Figure 14.7
Figure middle: the rollers
automatically adapt to the
tank diameter; Figure top:
the roller spacing may be 1 portal with 2 industrial
robots IR 400, equipped
with tool change system
varied by a scissor-like ar- 2 resting transformer
welding tongs
3 depot of welding tongs
rangement. 4 clamping tool
5 copper back-up bar for
car roof welding
6 transformer welding tongs
for car roof welding
7 driverless transport system
In general, dollies are mo- 8 component support frame
9 swivelled support for
component support frames
tor-driven. This provides 10 resting transformer welding
tongs for car boot

also an effortless move-

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ment of heavy compo-

nents, Figure 14.10.
Figure 14.8

A work piece positioner, e.g. a turn-tilt-table, is part of the standard equipment of a robot
working station. Figure 14.11 shows a diagrammatic representation of a turn-tilt-table. Rota-
tions around the tilting axis of approx. 135° are possible while the turn-table can be turned by
365°. Those types of turn-tables are designed for working parts with weights of just a few
kilograms right up to several hundred tons.

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14. Mechanisation and Welding Fixtures 201

set of rollers 1 set of rollers 2

br-er14-09e.cdr

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Turning Rolls
Turning Rolls

Figure 14.9 Figure 14.10

A turn-tilt-table with hydrau-

table top gear segment
lic adjustment of the tilting
table support
rotational axis and vertical motion as well
tilting axis

support
as chucking grooves for the
part fixture is depicted in
Figure 14.12.

br-er14-11e.cdr

Figure 14.11

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14. Mechanisation and Welding Fixtures 202

In robot technology the

types of turn-tilt-tables - as
shown in Figure 14.13 - are
gaining importance. Posi-
tioners with orbital de-
sign have a decisive
advantage because the
component, when turning
around the tilting axis, re-
mains approx. equally dis-
br-er14-12e.cdr

tant to the welding robot.

Turn-Tilt-Table With Hydraulic Adjustment

Other types of workpiece Figure 14.12

positioners are shown in
Figure 14.14 – the double single-column turn-tilt-table orbital turn-tilt-table

column turn-tilt-table and table top table support table top table support

tilting axis tilting axis

the spindle and sliding support support
rotational axis
holder turn-tilt-table. rotational axis

Those types of positioners

are used for special com-
ponent geometries and
allow welding of any seam
in the flat and in the hori-
br-er14-13e.cdr © ISF 2002

zontal position.
Turn-Tilt-Tables

In the field of welding, spe- Figure 14.13

cial units are designed for
special tasks. Figure 14.16 shows a pipe-flange-welding machine. This machine allows the
welding of flanges to a pipe. The weld head has to be guided to follow the seam contour.

2005
14. Mechanisation and Welding Fixtures 203

tilting axis rotational axis

table top

support table support

br-er14-14e.cdr © ISF 2002

Double-Column Turn-Tilt-Table
Figure 14.14

table tops

spindle holder

sliding holder

bed way

br-er14-15e.cdr © ISF 2002

Spindle / Sliding Holder Turntable

Figure 14.15

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Figure 14.16
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14. Mechanisation and Welding Fixtures 204

Plain plates or rounded

tanks are clamped by
means of longitudinal jigs
for the welding of a longi-
tudinal seam, Figure 14.17.
The design and the grip-
ping power are very de-
pendent of the thickness of
the plates to be welded.

br-er14-17e.cdr

A simple example of a
special welding machine is
Figure 14.17 the tractor travelling car-
riage for submerged-arc
welding, Figure 14.18. This device is de-
signed for the application on-site and pro-
vides, besides the supply of the filler metal,
also the welding speed as well as the feeding
and suction of the welding flux.

For the guidance of a welding head and/or

welding device, machine supports may be
used. Figure 14.19 shows different types of
machine supports for welding and cutting.
Apart from the translatory and rotary principal
axes they are often also equipped with addi-
tional axes to allow precise positioning.

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Tractor for Submerged-Arc Welding

Figure 14.18

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14. Mechanisation and Welding Fixtures 205

To increase levels of
a b c
mechanisation of welding
boom
processes robots are fre- main piloting system case cross piloting
pillar system case
quently applied. Robots are travelling mechanism

handling devices which are

equipped with more than d e

three user-programmable
auxiliary piloting system case
axes. Figure 14.20 de- auxiliary piloting system case

scribes kinematic chains

which can be realised by
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different combinations of
translatory and rotary axes.
Figure 14.19
The most common design
of a track-mounted weld-
cylinder spherical
designation cartesian coordinated coordinated horizontal vertical
ing robot is shown in Fig- robot robot robot knuckle arm
robot
knuckle arm
robot

ure 14.21. The robot

arrangement
depicted here is a hinged-
arm robot with six axes. The A
R R D
x B
axes are divided into three kinematic z
z
B C

schedule C z
y C C

principal and three addi-

tional axes or hand axes. operating
space
The wire feed unit and the
spool carriers for the wire br-er14-20e.cdr © ISF 2002

Kinematic Chains
electrodes are often fixed on
the robot. This allows a
Figure 14.20
compact welding design.

2005
14. Mechanisation and Welding Fixtures 206

Varying lever lengths permit the design of robots with different operating ranges. Fig-
ure 14.22 shows the operating range of a robot. In the unrestricted operating range the
component may be reached with the torch in
any position. The restricted operating range
allows the torch to reach the component only
certain positions. In the case of a suspended
arrangement the robot fixing device is short-
ened thus allowing a compact design.

For the completion of a robot welding station

workpiece positioners are necessary. Fig-
ure 14.23 shows positioner devices where
also several axes may be combined. These
axes may either turn to certain defined posi-
tions or be guided by the robot control and
moved synchronically with the internal axes.
br-er14-21e.cdr
The complexity and versatility of the axis posi-
Robot Motions tions increases with the number of axes which
participate in the movement.
Figure 14.21

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Figure 14.22

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14. Mechanisation and Welding Fixtures 207

Movement by means of a
linear travelling mecha-
nism increases the operat-
ing range of the robot,
Figure 14.24. This may be
done in ease of stationary
as well as suspended ar-
rangement, where there is
a possibility to move to
fixed end positions or to
br-er14-23e.cdr

stay in a synchronised mo-

tion with the other move-
Figure 14.23 ment axes.

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Figure 14.24

2005