In the metal industry, it’s common to hear: “The person who kept our resistance welders running is no longer here!” Relying solely on tribal knowledge is no longer sufficient. Today, we are using outdated technology and equipment while trying to meet increasingly strict quality standards for a wide range of advanced steels. When I first…
Why You Need a Water Chiller for Your Resistance Welder 1. Consistent Temperature = Reliable Welds Resistance welding generates substantial heat—and you need a stable coolant to maintain electrode and transformer performance. Without that stability, weld quality suffers. A passive ice barrel starts cold, but warms rapidly under use—temperatures fluctuate and heat builds up internally….
Things Every New Spot Welding Operator Should Know Although resistance welding has been widely used in manufacturing for decades, the process is not well understood outside of the automotive industry. Unlike arc welding, which produces a bead that can be checked visually, successful resistance welding hinges on understanding the process, setting up the machine properly,…
Weld Cycle Terms & Definitions There are many programmable settings in a resistance weld cycle. Here we will briefly look at some of these settings: What is Squeeze Time? Squeeze time is a programmable delay timer in the weld schedule needed to allows electrodes to travel, contact the material to be welded and build up…
Condensation Kills Resistance Welders: Case Study Condensation on a cold glass of Coke is a good thing, but internal condensation caused by cooling your resistance welder with water chilled to a temperature below the prevailing Dew Point can cause serious damage to the welder’s transformer and control. Case History During an August heat wave, a…
What is Expulsion in Resistance Spot Welding? In a resistance weld, expulsion is the forceful ejection of molten metal from the weld. Expulsion can occur at the tip to workpiece interface or at any faying surface. Expulsion is caused by the lack of containment of the expanding molten material between the electrode tip faces. Is…
Q: Why are those little copper tubes installed in the resistance spot welding electrode holders we purchase? They’re fragile and our spot welding machine operators often throw them away when they get bent. A: Problems commonly observed during our company’s service calls at customers’ plants indicate that the proper use of water tubes in resistance…
Spot Welding Safety Spot welding safety is among one of the main priorities of T. J. Snow Company. While spot welding machines are widely used in sheet metal shop and are generally safe machines, several safety concerns should be considered. These safety concerns include: Pinch point hazards between the welding electrodes or tips Expulsion of…
Tip dressers help extend the life of your copper electrodes, which in turn reduces down time and improves and improves weld quality. When spot welding, a high forging force and heat generated by passing current through the electrodes causes the electrode face diameter to increase over time. Eventually, the electrode face grows or “mushrooms” to…
Dressing electrodes refers to the re-cutting of the face of the electrode back to its original profile. The dressing of the electrode face is very important because it’s the diameter of that face that gives us the current density in our weld. The larger the face, the larger the area that the current has to…