Today I'll introduce what affects welding cycle time.
Influencing Factors
In robot arc welding applications, many factors affect welding cycle time. We can look at three aspects:
1. On the Control System Side
1. Welding Process Parameter Settings
Arc detection confirmation time: to prevent stray signals caused by obstacles such as dust, a delay is added to ensure the arc signal is transmitted. This parameter directly affects arc striking speed; it is recommended to set it to 0 in applications where arc striking speed matters.
2. Wire Handling
Because the wire takes time to contact the base metal during welding, this period is also a reason for slow arc striking. If you can control the wire stick-out so that the wire just touches the base metal at the welding point, you save the wire feeder's wire-feed-out time, which has a significant impact on welding cycle time. You can enable the flying arc start function.
2. On the Welding Power Source Side
Using the welding sequence of an Aotai welding machine as an example, see the figure below:
Pre-flow time and slow wire feed speed are the key factors affecting arc start time. These two parameters should be set as low as possible on the welding machine side; arc starting speed will improve noticeably.
3. Environment Setup
Poor wire feeding reduces the success rate and efficiency of arc starting. Generally, the torch liner length, the clearance of the contact tip, the wire feeder pressure and the bending of the conduit all affect whether wire feeding is smooth.
1. Torch Liner Length
In most cases, the torch length depends on the robot's structure. When installing the torch, avoid bending and kinking of the front conduit. A correct conduit length can significantly improve poor welding results caused by feeding problems, as shown in the figure below:
2. Contact Tip Clearance
As a wear part in arc welding, the contact tip is an important factor affecting weld quality. Since backfire during welding can stick the wire to the contact tip and cause poor feeding, the contact tip clearance should be checked regularly. For carbon steel welding, choose contact tips from brands with good quality and reputation.
3. Wire Feeder Pressure
It is generally believed that the tighter the pressure roller, the better. Not necessarily. The correct pressure should be adjusted to the optimum value as follows, after the welding environment is set up:
a. Use the system's manual wire feed and retract functions to control wire feeding and pulling back; b. Adjust the pressure on the wire feeder by manually tightening the pressure knob, at the position shown in the figure below:
While feeding wire manually, loosen the pressure knob as much as possible; when the drive wheel is so loose that it can barely feed the wire, tighten the pressure just a little so the wire can just be fed. That pressure is the best.
4. Bending of the Conduit
Keep the conduit as straight as possible to ensure smooth feeding; this will significantly improve poor wire feeding.
