A metal fabrication company located in Charlotte, North Carolina received an order for 300 small I.D. vessels for titanium molds. At the time they were using FCAW and back gouging the inside and outside of the vessels to achieve 100% penetration. On average they were producing 2 vessels per hour with 2 welders.
They reached out to Red-D-Arc to find a faster and more efficient way to produce these vessels. After discussions with Red-D-Arc the fabricator decided to purchase a turnkey submerged arc system. The custom designed system came complete with a small I.D. sub arc welding head mounted on a 9’x9′ manipulator, flux recovery system, NA5R automatic wire feeder, DC600 multi-process welder and 5 ton turning rolls. The system also included a laser and camera for precise control and monitoring of the submerged arc welding process.
The submerged arc system increased productivity by 250%. They were able to produce 5 cans per hour with half the labor cost. The safety of the work place was also significantly increased for a number of reasons:
• Back gouging was eliminated which in turn reduced the risk of fire
• Turning rolls replaced manual rotation of the vessels on tables
• Welders no longer had to weld inside the confined space of the vessels
The customer and the Red-D-Arc team were beyond pleased with the results. The customer plans to purchase two more of these systems for future projects.
Submerged arc welding can increase the efficiency and quality of many industrial welding projects regardless of the size or complexity. Red-D-Arc has all the equipment, expertise and experience to provide you with a submerged arc system to fit your needs – available for sale, lease and rent.
Read more on welding efficiency.
Welding automation has been around for a while, but recently its role has grown exponentially in manufacturing. For years, the welding industry has faced a skill gap, which is expected to grow wider in the coming years. To combat this, employers are adopting automated welding equipment to increase the efficiency of weld operations.
What Is the Skill Gap?
The “skill gap” describes a discrepancy between the skills held by job seekers and the skills employers need. This leads to a paradox where there’s a large pool of applicants, but companies aren’t able to hire workers with the appropriate knowledge and skill set. This has led to increasing welder salaries as manufacturing businesses compete to attract skilled workers, and even then, many positions are left unfilled.
Why Is It Happening?
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Over the years, robotic welding has been utilized in various industries to increase productivity by automating production and ensuring consistent quality. Traditionally, robotic welders required large investments in equipment and in personnel training.
Why Robotic Welding?
Some of the reasons for using robotic welding are as follows:
- Production automation
- Cost reduction
- Quality improvement (consistency and repeatability)
- Improved health and safety (personnel are not exposed to hazardous fumes or radiation)
- Address shortage of skilled welders (an operator is required—not a welder)
- Increased flexibility (versus hard automation)
- Efficiency improvements
- Reduce repetitive strain injuries
However, there are some disadvantages with traditional robotic welding:
- High overall investment to implement (robot, controls, power source, jig/fixture, and safety fence/equipment)
- Specialized programming skills required
- Large space requirements
The above disadvantages restrict where robots can be used. Collaborative robots (cobots) have been introduced to address some of the limitations of traditional robots.
The Difference Between Cobots and Robots
Robots can seriously hurt people who get in the way of their movements. Since many robots move quickly, extensive safety measures are required to ensure that people and robots are separated when a robot is in operation. Contrary to this, cobots, if obstructed, will stop because of built-in safety features. Therefore, they do not require extensive protection infrastructure. This allows the operator to be close to the cobot when it is active and share the same space as required.
Safety of Cobots
The international standard ISO 10218 governs the safety requirements of cobots. Further guidance specific to the safety requirements of cobots is provided by technical specification ISO/TS 15066. According to this document, a cobot can achieve safe operation with personnel present in the cobot zone by using one or more of the following technologies:
- Safety-related monitored stop (cobot detects the worker and stops)
- Hand-guided control (operator can hold the cobot and guide it through the work)
- Speed and separation monitoring (sensor detects the distance between the cobot and the operator; cobot adjusts speeds accordingly)
- Power and force limiting by inherent design and control (when the co-worker touches the cobot, the cobot stops safely)
Cobots generally have a lower payload capacity than traditional robots, but this poses no issues because the welding gun is light. Moreover, the cable feed equipment does not need to be located on the robot and can be stationary. The speed of movements with cobots are generally slower than with robots. This ensures that personnel in the vicinity are kept safe. These characteristics make cobots more suitable than traditional robots for light applications.
Why Cobots?
Cobots offer several benefits:
- Higher flexibility than traditional robots
- Quick way to address welder shortages
- Lower overall investment to implement
- Easy programming and simulation (generally point-to-point teach programming)
- Economic setup for low-volume work
- Easy to relocate
- Compact cell layout (less space required)
- Considerations for implementing cobots for welding include the following:
- Type of power source, which depends on the welding type (e.g., MIG, spot welding, stud welding)
- Programming system
- Cobot physical dimensions (reach) and performance capabilities (e.g., speed/acceleration, payload)
- Cell layout
- End effector design
- Communications protocols
- Risk assessment and controls
How to Get Starte with Cobot Welders
When hiring cobot systems, all of the above considerations and selections have already been taken care of. The client can get straight to the work at hand, with no installation costs, and pay only for the time the system is being used.
Looking to get your feet wet? Red-D-Arc offers a turnkey collaborative welding system: BotX.
Red-D-Arc was featured in the December/January issue of Tank Storage Magazine in an editorial titled “Rental welding equipment for storage tank fabricators”. Tank Storage Magazine is an industry leading publication, reporting exclusively on the bulk liquid storage tank and terminal sector.
The storage tank construction industry is highly competitive and fabricators gain a significant advantage by leveraging Red-D-Arc’s rental fleet of automatic tank welding equipment. Red-D-Arc supplies specialized automatic storage tank welding equipment to companies in the tank fabrication industry for projects all over the world.
Along with our specialized tank welding equipment comes a highly knowledgeable and experienced team of Red-D-Arc technicians. Sayer Hendricks – storage tank welding equipment specialist at Red-D-Arc is quoted in the article: “A fabrication company without prior knowledge of the equipment, is able to rent a turn-key tank welding automation system and increase their welding productivity by 40-50%. With on-site training, service and support, our customers are up and running quickly and making 100% x-ray quality welds without fail”
The full article is available here: Rental welding equipment for storage tank fabricators
Red-D-Arc recently supplied a variety of equipment to a UAE based company that is fabricating pile piping and jackets for the largest offshore wind farm project in the world. The company had to meet a strict time line of only 6 months, and would require a massive amount of welding and weld automation equipment immediately. Through consultation with Red-D-Arc, the customer determined that renting the majority of the equipment would be the most economical option. Red-D-Arc was able to fulfil the customers equipment needs immediately thanks to our vast and diverse fleet of equipment.
This massive order involved equipment and support from Red-D-Arc North America, Red-D-Arc UK and Red-D-Arc Middle East. The order consisted of a variety of welding and weld automation equipment including:
• 23 column and booms with single and tandem submerged arc welders
• 20 submerged arc tractors
• 200 rotators
• 167 jack-up rotators
• 400 CC/CV inverter welders
• 200 FCAW wirefeeders
• 10 Induction Heating Systems
By renting the majority of the equipment the fabrication company avoided the need to invest heavily in specialized equipment and ensured they would meet their deadline. Red-D-Arc works with customers to address their unique challenges and develops specialized solutions. Learn more about customized turnkey packages here.
Red-D-Arc has launched an exciting new product designed to increase the productivity and efficiency of pipe welding. The Red-D-Arc Process Pipe Cell with oscillating welding torch is a dual wire feeder, multi-process welding cell.
The system is easy to set up and operate and reduces weld operator errors, reduces welding time, and increases deposition rates, productivity and arc-on time.
A variety of welding power sources and wire feeders can be used with the system including Miller RMD PipeWorx 400 and Lincoln STT S350, S500 and S700 Power Wave systems, with all welding functions controlled via a remote interface.
Root passes can be performed manually with solid wire using either RMD or STT technology (instead of manual GTAW or SMAW) followed up by hot passes and cap passes either solid-wire or flux-cored) with the jammer-style weld oscillator.
Choose the welding positioner, welding chuck, turning roll set or headstock to suit your specific needs. All positioning functions including welding head manipulator, oscillator, welding positioner and turning rolls are managed via a single control.
Contact a Red-D-Arc Weld Automation Expert to learn more or request a demo: 1-866-733-3272 | Contact Sales
See more welding turntables, pipe welders and pipe welding positioners
“We were grateful to be able to see a product demonstration for the Red-D-Arc (Orbitalum) system. The machine lived up to its expectations and the technical team was invaluable”
—Rob B. (customer)
Update: Red-D-Arc now offers Orbital Welding Equipment from Axxair.
One of our clients, a machine shop based out of Opelika Alabama, needed a solution for welding stainless steel tubes and elbow sections efficiently that would be able to withstand hydrostatic testing of up to 300psi. After taking the time learn about their requirements, specialists from the Red-D-Arc branch in Austell Georgia, worked alongside experts from Airgas to demonstrate how the Orbitalum enclosed orbital welding system would help solve their challenges.
Red-D-Arc welding specialist Gregory Bellamy showed how the extremely narrow design of the Orbiweld 76S enclosed weld head was ideally suited for working in situations where space is limited. The Orbimat 76s was fitted with clamping shells (which are available for all dimensions of pipe) to ensure an exact match and strong hold. The pipe on this application was stainless steel tubing 1.500″ with a .035″ wall, diameter tubing (straight tube) and stainless steel elbow 180 degree 1.500″dia. with a .049″ wall. When the welds were complete, the welded pipes passed the hydrostatic testing at upwards of 300psi.
Thanks to Gregory Bellamy and Rob Storch from Red-D-Arc as well as Wayne Blamire and Bill Hatter from Airgas for their support on another successful orbital pipe welding customer demo.
Read more on orbital welding
A Texas career training institute recently experienced a jump in enrolments for their welding training program. In order to provide the best possible learning experience for their students it was clear that they would need to acquire additional welding assessment tools and welding equipment. Red-D-Arc worked very closely with the customer to help them understand their equipment and financing options. It was clear that the Red-D-Arc WelderLogistics lease program was the right choice. The WelderLogistics program is a low cost, flexible financing option which allowed the school to acquire Red-D-Arc Welder Certification Trailers, Advanced Process Welders and Wirefeeders and all while conserving their capital; avoiding a significant investment in depreciating assets.
Red-D-Arc designed and built a custom made manipulator with a boom length of 30 ft for a leading tank manufacturing company in the Netherlands. The Red-D-Arc facility had to be customized with a raised roof section to accommodate the height of the large column. The raised roof was later opened, allowing for a crane to hoist the manipulator out of the manufacturing facility and then shipped to the customer.
The manipulator was part of a welding system provided by Red-D-Arc. The system featured a compact welding head designed for welding in narrow spaces, touch screen controls and a high resolution weld monitoring system to allow the operator to monitor the welding process from a safe distance.
A Red-D-Arc customer shared some interesting photos which document the process of extending the legs of a large seabound work platform and also feature several Red-D-Arc turning rolls. The platform is used for cleanup activities on the seabed and in order to work at greater depths; the legs of the work platform needed to be extended. The massive cylindrical legs were placed on Red-D-Arc turning rolls and rotated while the cutting and welding processes were carried out. Once the extensions were completed the legs were then returned to the platform.
Red-D-Arc delivered three submerged arc systems to a construction company from Willebroek (Belgium) which has acquired a record contract for the construction of foundation structures to be used in an offshore wind farm close to the German-Dutch border. The Red-D-Arc manipulators are 23 ft x 23 ft and are equipped with a double wire system powered by the ESAB 1250 for welding 4 mm cored wire. In addition, each of the manipulators included a seam tracking system and flux recovery unit. Thanks to the advanced electronics and touch screen interface controls the turnkey systems each require only a single operator.
Red-D-Arc UK delivered and installed a new vertical cladding facility for a manufacturing facility in Doha, Qatar. Red-D-Arc’s logistics team arranged for the equipment to be air-freighted to the new manufacturing facility in Qatar where Engineers awaited the arrival to begin installation.
The installation consisted of a Red-D-Arc automation controller, 4×4 manipulators, 2×1 cross-sides and a 20 ton floor turntable. This took Red-D-Arc engineers only three days to fully install and weld test. They were able to begin on-site training shortly after.
Red-D-Arc supplied equipment and installation services for a new weld overlay cladding facility in the west of Scotland for one of the leading global distributors of raw material for wellhead and completion equipment to the oil and gas industry. After discussions with the client, Red-D-Arc designed a solution to meet the specific needs of their project. It was determined that the new cladding facility would consist of six Compact Cladding Cells and four Butt Welding Stations.
“We regularly develop specialized solutions alongside our customers…”
Layout of the facility began with our experienced engineers installing the six Red-D-Arc Compact Cladding Cells. Each Compact Cladding Cell consists of an automated system controller, 2m x 1m cross slide, 3 tonne turntable with built-in slip ring for preheating, and a Miller power source. Next, the four Red-D-Arc Butt Welding Stations were installed. Each station consists of an automated system controller; 3m x 3m travelling column and boom; 300mm x 300mm oscillation slide; 3 tonne headstock, 2 travelling support pipe idlers and a Miller power source.
The Red-D-Arc Weld Automation team has extensive experience across diverse sectors of industry. We regularly provide weld process recommendations and develop specialized solutions alongside our customers to address their unique challenges. Red-D-Arc Weld Automation Systems are designed for optimized reliability and productivity, and come complete with installation, onsite training, services and support.
View our entire range of pipe welding positioners
Red-D-Arc contributed several Growing Line Systems to be used during the production of wind tower foundations for a wind farm in the Adriatic Sea. In addition to the Growing Line Systems, Submerged Arc Welders were supplied along with camera systems that are equipped with a monitor and touch screen for optimal control of functions. Red-D-Arc equipment was used because the foundations must be long and strong to withstand the depth of the Adriatic Sea.
To learn more about Red-D-Arc Growing Lines and Fit Up Stations watch our video: reddarc.com/videos
MacAljon, an industrial general contracting firm, has increased the productivity of its thin-wall tank manufacturing operation by more than 50% using the Red-D-Arc RDA MFUB-TW (fit-up bed for thin-wall cans). Fit-up time has been decreased by 20% and the use of spider bracing is no longer required. With no spider bracing to get in the way, a manipulator is now used to perform SAW ID circumference welding which has increased productivity by 30%.
The RDA MFUB-TW system is specially designed for the construction of thin-wall vessels ranging in size from 10′ to 15′-6″ in diameter (custom sizes are available). Our patented system is fitted with independently-adjustable vertical-rolls to support, align and compensate for tank non-concentricity when assembling multiple thin-wall sections which eliminates the need for spider bracing.
If you work with vessels that require the use of spider bracing or that have a wall thickness of between 3/16 – 3/8″ contact the Red-D-Arc sales team to learn more about the RDA MFUB-TW and how it can increase the productivity of your thin-wall tank manufacturing operation.
Read more about the RDA MFUB-TW here.
Red-D-Arc UK was recently awarded the contract to supply a fully-automated welding system to QA Weldetch, a UK company which is a large subcontractor to companies involved in the manufacture of subsea components, these companies being FMC, Cooper Cameron’s, GE, Aker etc.. This system was designed to clad pipe up to a maximum length of 6.5 meters and to a minimum diameter of 125mm.
Red-D-Arc UK was invited into the customer’s facility to measure the facility so that the customer could clad the maximum length of pipe that their facility would physically allow. Our engineers visited the site then provided the customer with the GA, showing what RDA’s design and solution was for them. The system consists of Key Plant – RDA fully automated control system, 7 ton hollow bore head stock, 2 sets of floating pipe supports (to compensate for any bend in the pipe), Fronius welding power sources and Fronius hot wire power sources.
If you require any further information on this system or a vertical hot wire cladding system please contact Ross McCrorie at ross.mccrorie@airgas.com
Red-D-Arc UK was recently awarded the contract to supply a fully-automated welding system to the Nuclear Advanced Manufacturing Research Centre (NAMRC), a UK-government funded organization sponsored by several global companies including Rolls-Royce (the lead industrial partner), Areva, Westinghouse, Sheffield Forgemasters and Tata Steel.
The UK government’s Low Carbon Industrial Strategy, initiated in July, 2009, was a commitment to “establish a Nuclear Advanced Manufacturing Research Centre that combines the knowledge, practices and expertise of manufacturing companies with the capability of universities.” Following bids from some of the UK’s leading universities to develop the centre, it was announced in December, 2009 that the NAMRC would be managed by the University of Sheffield and The University of Manchester in conjunction with the industrial partners.
NAMRC took possession of its facility in the Advanced Manufacturing Park in October 2011, with an official launch in May 2012. The refurbished Manufacturing Technology Research Laboratory in Manchester also opened in October 2011.
Red-D-Arc supplied and installed a sophisticated, fully-automated system (pictured above) consisting of a 4m x 4m column and boom, a 15-ton positioner complete with slip-rings for heating, a Miller tandem sub-arc head, and a Miller strip-cladding head capable of welding a 90mm strip. All this equipment is controlled and programmed through a touch-screen PLC control system that Red-D-Arc supplied. All the equipment (except for the Miller welding equipment ) was manufactured by Key Plant, our new partner for PMT/Weld Automation products and services. The successful fulfillment of this order puts Red-D-Arc in a strong position to offer additional weld-automation equipment packages to other companies who will be investing in the UK nuclear-build programme.
