Robotic Welding: Improving the Performance of Your Automated Welding Processes

Robotic welding automation boosts productivity and weld quality across a diverse range of applications. It’s a big investment in operations to automate welding, and companies expect great returns.

It’s important to optimize the performance of your robotic welding systems to ensure you get the most return on investment in automation. But how can you improve the performance of robotic welding?

The Importance of Preventative Maintenance

The single most important aspect of maximizing return on investment and optimize welding performance is conducting regular preventative maintenance on all robotic systems. Proactively addressing minor problems before they become major problems saves time and money.

Preventative maintenance reduces unscheduled downtime and the costs associated with having to shut down production. It also reduces the need for costly repairs and equipment replacements.

3 Simple Ways to Improve Robotic Welding Performance

There are many things you can do to ensure your robotic welding processes are at peak performance, but the following ways are some of the most important.

1. Monitor Wire Feeding

A liner that’s too short, especially with small-diameter wires, can cause folding at the front and lead to poor wire feeding and burnbacks. This can also happen with too much articulation of the weld gun. Monitor wire feeding, or use a spring-loaded liner system, to ensure proper wire feeding and welding.

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2. Extend Contact Tip Life

Ensure you’re using the right wire size for your contact tip diameter – otherwise the wire may get stuck in the tip and cause burnback. You’ll also want to regularly clean the contact tip with clean, compressed air to avoid debris and splatter build up. If possible, use contact tips that rotate in order to further increase lifespan and reduce costs.

3. Choose the Right Consumables

Choosing the right consumables can help you avoid major problems down the road. In robotic MIG welding, for example, where consumables play a crucial role in delivering electrical current to the welding wire and shielding gas to the weld pool, the wrong consumable can create arc start failures and contact tip burnbacks.

These are just a few of the many things you can do to improve your automated welding processes. Preventative maintenance helps optimize the performance of robotic welding and maximize your return on investment in automation.