With an ever increasing skills shortage and pressures on productivity,
arc welding equipment manufacturers are responding to the need by
developing power sources that automatically adjust the welding
parameters to reduce the skill and time needed to tune in a good welding
condition. One such power source is the Origo™ Mig C3000i from ESAB
with the QSet™ control. TWI has recently tested this equipment and
demonstrated that it is a significant step forward in arc welding
technology.
Tests were carried out for solid and metal cored
wires between 0.8mm and 1.2 mm in diameter with carbon dioxide and
argon/carbon dioxide shielding gases. A range of butt and fillet welds
were made to evaluate the capability of the QSet™ control to tune in
the welding condition in the dip transfer mode..
As stated in
the instructions, it was found to take about six seconds for the
equipment to tune in the parameters as is shown in the graph. The
welding condition is then set.
The equipment coped well with
changes in wire and gas. All that was needed was the setting of the
wire feed speed to obtain a good welding condition with the right arc
length and low levels of spatter.
The voltage trim provided was
found to be unnecessary in most cases and the preset inductance was
correct for argon/carbon dioxide shielding gases. However, in pure
carbon dioxide the welding condition was found to benefit by a reduction
in the inductance, which has to be performed manually.
The power
source also coped well with open rooting of single sided butt welds,
providing the operator with good control over penetration in the
vertical down position.
Contact: www.esab.com
Return to ESAB member page
