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Welding wire supplied on track without problems

With larger installations with the welding robot moving along a track, or when a gal-low construction is used, it is often desirable to put the drum with welding wire in an easily accessible location outside the installation. However, it needs to be possi-ble to supply the welding wire over a longer distance without any problems. For this specific application, Valk Welding supplies wire feeding systems from the American manufacturer Wire Wizard, such as flexible cables, wire guide modules, and pneu-matic wire dispensing support systems. Wire Wizard systems have already been used successfully in welding robot systems for more than twenty years in Europe.

Van Hool

Flex modules

One of the latest developments are the Flex Modules. These modules are especially designed for welding applications with automated systems on tracks, portals, and XYZ constructions where the cable package has to be able to move along with the robot. The Flex Module is built from segments with ball bearing rollers which guides the wire. These rollers eliminate friction and resistance on the wire, with which a flexible, consistent wire supply is realized. The standard Flex Modules are suitable for wires from 0.8 mm to 1.6 mm ø.

What makes the flex modules unique?

Flex Modules differentiate themselves from systems that work with pneumatic feed assist system (such as PFA). Firstly, the Flex Modules are built from heavy, large bearings, with steel ball bearings instead of plastic rollers. Therefore, the wear and tear of the rollers is so low that the Flex Modules last longer.
(Several years) The manufacturer can therefore give a three-year warranty to such a sustainable product. Secondly, another big advantage is that there is no compressed air needed, which results in a cost reduction.

Van Hool

Van Hool is very satisfied with the Flex Modules

Van Hool the most leading manufacturer of industrial vehicles, busses and coaches, in Europe, uses 24 welding robot systems from Valk Welding. A large amount of those are equipped with the traditional pneumatic feed assist system (PFA), combined with the Wire Wizard wire cables. Pieter Ceulemans, responsible for the welding robots at the department of industrial vehicles, experienced in practice that if the PFA units are not adjusted in the right way, or that the settings are changed. ‘’It will result in an overpowered PFA, with slipping feed rollers and a chance of damaged wires, or dust and dirt in the wire cable. This can lead to a wire supply which is not constant resulting in problems during welding due to misadjsustment of the feeding equipment.’’

Flex modules as a test

As a test, the last delivered installation to Van Hool was equipped with the new Flex Module, combined with the standard Wire Guide Modules. As a result of that, the PFA on the drum was not needed anymore. ‘’Beside the fact that there are no adjustments to be made in this system, it also has more advantages. Feeding in a new wire (end of drum cycle) is simple and can be done by hand which gives you the opportunity to check if the wire runs through the whole length correctly. There is no PFA installed above the drum anymore. This makes changing the drums with welding wires much easier, because there is more accessibility for placing the new drum into position. Also, the wire supply can be disconnected on several places and be cleaned,’’ Pieter Ceulemans says.

Flex modules cause a continuous process

In the new modular system, the wire supply consists of straight ends of wire cable, and curved feeding modules with rollers (Wire Guide Modules and Flex Modules). This limits friction and wear to a minimum. Only the wire cable on the robot arm is installed with bends, but since this a small distance, friction and wear are minimal. During the coming summer break, Van Hool plans to convert more of their current installations to this modular system.

Download the full Valk Mailing here

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