May 2024 Volume 6

AUTOMATION

“The power of a Vectis system is that it combines components like cobots and welders from proven companies with our own propri etary software & applications expertise” says Akey, who leads the software engineering team at Vectis. “Vectis cobots are so easy to use, a company can cut shrink wrap in the morning and be making parts by the afternoon” (view case study video). “Welding takes a significant amount of domain expertise,” adds Pawley. “We’ve taken our combined 200+ years of experience and fused that into an easy-to-use interface for fast and intuitive program ming and operation. Our approach also makes features such as seam tracking, touch sensing, stitch and weave welds easy to implement, even for folks with no automation experience.” Potential Applications in Forging – Multipass, Hardfacing, And Rebuilds Some of the enabling technologies for potential forging applications include Vectis’ MultiPass software, pattern tool, and new features QuickTeach and AI Path Optimization. Vectis’ MultiPass feature uses an offset method by which the oper ator teaches the initial pass and then applies a directional offset to generate subsequent weld locations. The software then does all the calculations to plot out the path of each subsequent path.

pass structure and just teach the new root pass and it will go ahead and complete the full seven-pass weld program.” Similar software tools are used for hardfacing applications. “Hard facing is an ideal application for a cobot,” said Akey. “It fits all the categories that we talk about when discussing automation – managing the dull, dark, dirty, dangerous work.” The challenge with hardfacing is that how it’s applied varies a great deal. There can be a steady build-up, a crosshatch pattern, single-layer, or multi-layer build-up. Vectis’ software team has created tools to help with this, the main one being its pattern software tool. “This tool allows you to teach a group of instructions for welds and then copy-paste that in a certain direction on a part,” said Akey. “For applications in cladding and hardfacing on a flat plane with multiple beads in a row, which is very effective. In other cases, our in-house welding software team may need to provide additional support to meet a shop’s specific hardfacing profile.”

“Teaching a single-pass weld, teaching point to point, plotting out a path, whether it’s linear or a circle or compound pass is relatively straightforward,” said Pawley. “You teach the robot that and it just repeats it in production. But for multi-pass welds, we wanted to develop a system that didn’t require you to reteach the pass each time. We have customers that are doing 2, 5, 20 and 30-pass welds; to program each pass on that type of job would be counterproductive.” “The software allows you to teach the offset simply by moving the cobot to where you want the next pass,” said Pawley. “Once you have those offsets saved, just like a welding library you create an offset library. If I want to do a seven-pass fillet weld, I can pull up my seven

FIA MAGAZINE | MAY 2024 41