Test Reports - Silver Alloy Weld Contact Tips March 6, 2003
 Trial 1
Report by: SH, Dana Inc. 68
ROBOTS
Objectives: For several years we have been on a
quest to find longer lasting and cost effective welding contact tips. Goal
has been to find a tip that would last one entire shift in high volume
production environment. Through this continuous improvement and cost
reduction efforts, we have found and successfully tested such a tip. These
new breed of welding tips are copper silver alloy in composition.
Results Current production tip:
Water-cooled 450A torches with heavy duty standard copper tips.
Process: GMAW- Metal Cored Wire (Select Arc 70C-6, 1/16 dia, Miller Deltaweld Power Sources)
Parameters: 26V, 400 to 430 Amps. CV mode.
Between April 2002 and Feb, 2003 we have purchased 74300 tips
Above translates to monthly usage of 7430 tips
New Silver Alloy Tips: Supplier: Superior Consumables
Initially we tested silver alloy tips on couple of cells on Wide and
Narrow line.
Due to very positive results, we decided to run a much broader test. We
purchased 2000 tips
and tested these for a period of three weeks on all robotic cells in Ford
P131 lines (48 robots). Tips were changed once per shift and cleaned during breaks. No noticeable
degradation
in weld quality or arc out frequency occurred during the test period.
Test-Tip Consumption
Wide Line total production 16 days x 3 shift x 28 robots x 1 tip/shift =
1344 tips consumed
Narrow Line total production 20 day x 1 shift x 20 robots x 1 tip/shift =
400 tips consumed;
Tips remaining at end of three week test run = 182
Total Estimated usage =
1926 tips
Missing or lost due to arc out / burn back = (74 tips)
Projected Monthly Usage and Cost Savings:
Wide Line 20 days/month x 3 shift x 28 robots = 1680 tips/month
Wide Line 20 days/month x 3 shifts x 7 manual weld operators = 420
tips/month
Narrow Line 20 days/month x 1 shift x 20 robots = 400 tips/month
Narrow Line 20 days/month x 1 shift x 4 manual weld operators = 80
tips/month
Additional/extra for loses and arcouts/burnbacks (add 5 %) = 129
tips/month
Total Estimated monthly usage
= 2709 tips/month
Remarks
Our tip consumption will drop by approximately 63.5 %.
We have switched our entire plant to these welding tips |
