May 2025 Volume 7

AUTOMATED ROBOTIC WELDING SYSTEM By Chris Kerchkof AUTOMATION

W elding and maintaining tooling for the forging industry has always been a constant challenge. One of the bigger obstacles facing companies today is the ability to find and keep good hands on welders that not only have the necessary skills, or at least a willingness to learn, but that can also endure the high heat and rigorous environments required to perform the job of tool and die welding on a daily basis. According to recent studies the younger generation today are seeking out more hi-tech positions in the job marketplaces as opposed to manual hands-on professions, in particular, positions such as welding. The American Welding Society predicts a shortage of more than 360,000 welders by the year 2027. Now more than ever genuine help is needed for those companies struggling to meet growing demands for their products and for maintaining their forging dies and components. Robotic welding has been around for the past 30 years or more and has helped immeasurably in today’s marketplace in a variety of capacities. But up until recent years there has never been a successful automated robotic die welder. The project to invent an automated robotic die welding system started back in 2006 by two pioneering Italians, Luca Giamberini and Andrea Tonoli. Drawing from their years of experience with manual welding and the lack of skilled and experienced welders, they started

programming and welding many different geometries of tooling. Eureka Welding Alloys, pioneers in the tool & die welding industry since 1926, recognized this growing need as well and have developed a solid working relationship with Italian partners at DG Weld Robotics. Eureka Welding Alloys worked in conjunction with them to develop a line of robotic welding wires that have run with great success in these systems worldwide over the past 10 years. To date there are over 50 automated systems operating efficiently in over a dozen countries worldwide. Combining resources, they have established a proven, revolutionary advancement into the future of the trade of tool and die welding. Until recently the preferred method for die and component repair was flood welding, and to date it is still a highly successful and widely used method. Flood welding has been the industry standard for die and component repair for decades but there is a cost associated with it due to lengthy weld times and wire/ electrode usage. One of the goals of this automated system is to reduce the cost of welding by cutting down the weld times as well as to reduce the amount of weld alloy used in each project. Consistency and repeatability from the robotic welding process produces added benefits that lead to an increase in productivity by reducing machining times as well as tooling costs; the less weld material you put into the work piece, the less you will have to machine back out. The automated system usually consists of a two-person team, a programmer and an operator, each with separate but important responsibilities. The programmer, of course, takes care of the programming using the dedicated offline software, a key component that was developed by DG Weld Robotics. The operator takes care of running the welding jobs generated by the programming software with the robot. It is important to note that the programmer and operator work in harmony with one another as they each have a unique perspective on the projects. It is essential they share what they are seeing and hearing throughout the process. Working together they will benefit from it and will result in a more productive work environment. The hardware needed for the automated system consists of a six-axis robot with a robot controller, ranging in size and working envelopes from small, medium to large. The system employs the use of a pulse arc welding power source. This along with using a .062 (1/16”) diameter welding wire, allows the system to deposit weld beads at lower voltage and amperage reducing the heat stress input into the work piece and weld deposit, eliminating the need for peening after extinguishing the arc. All systems are equipped

collecting data to use in the development of the new automated system. Robots were the logical solution but programming them manually was time consuming, usable only on easy shapes and not very economical. So, they developed and patented the missing part of the equation, dedicated offline programming software in order to program the robots for each unique welding job quicker and more accurately. Whether it be impression dies, open dies, rotary dies, components etc. this system is capable of

Robot welding a round die

FIA MAGAZINE | MAY 2025 23