Choosing a welding kit

When employers select work equipment, the Provision and Use of Work Equipment Regulations 1998 require them to consider the risks posed to the health and safety of people using that equipment. This includes ergonomic risks.

When selecting a welding set, consider the effect poor equipment handling might have:

■personal suffering caused by injuries;
■the financial burden of sickness absence;
■reduced productivity;
■increased insurance premiums; and
■the welder being unable to return to this type of work, which would affect their potential future earnings.

Reducing injuries caused by handling welding equipment will benefit everybody.
Here are some ergonomic design features to look for when deciding between welding sets with the same power output:
■Does the set have to be carried? Consider controlled pushing or pulling of the load instead of lifting and carrying.
■How easily can the load be grasped?

Health and Safety Executive
■Are the handles suitable?
■Can the load be held close to the body (avoid sharp corners, jagged edges, rough surfaces etc)?
■Is it well balanced?

Other considerations include:
■handle orientation;
■ease of pushing/pulling;
■axle types;
■size of wheels;
■wear and maintenance of wheels/tyres;
■effect of torch, wire feed, hoses, gas bottles etc on the handling characteristics of the welding set.

The checklist in this leaflet will help you select the right welding set.

Advanced Welding Torch

The B&B Precision Machine Variable Polarity Plasma Arc welding torch.

In the course of VPPA development, it became apparent that the technique had broad potential for improving weld reliability and lowering costs not only in NASA work but in many private industry applications. Since there were no suitable commercially available tools for VPPA welding, MSFC expanded the development effort to include a technology transfer project designed to make VPPA available to the private sector.

A key part of this effort was development of a welding torch that would have dual utility, as a component of NASA's External Tank welding system and as a component of derivative systems for commercial applications. MSFC awarded the torch contract to B&B Precision Machine, Owens Cross Road, Alabama. Working in cooperation with MSFC's Materials and Processing Laboratory, B&B developed and patented a Shuttle-use torch that won a 1987 NASA Inventor of the Year Award for Bob Dempsey of B&B, Ernest Bayless and Sam Clark of MSFC.

A small version of the B&B torch is used in commercial sheet metal welding.

The small torch, which has attracted considerable interest in the commercial sector, has the same features and advantages as the original torch, but it fits in approximately half the space. It is in commercial service with Whirlpool Corporation for sheet metal welding of major appliance parts, where the torch's production line dependability is a significant asset. Offering such advantages as multiple cost reductions and eventual reduction of requirements for x-ray inspection of welds, the microprocessor-controlled VPPA system is in use at the plants of such industrial giants as Babcock and Wilcox, Boeing, General Dynamics, Lockheed Martin and McDonnell Douglas. The system and the B&B torch continue to make all the welds in the External Tank and they have been selected as the preferred welding approach for the International Space Station.

Pulsed Mig tigs

1. Weld in a well-ventilated area. Welding fumes should be ventilated away from the person welding, not across the welder's face. Remember that shielding gases are asphyxiants, and welding fumes are harmful. Work in well-ventilated areas to prevent suffocation or fume sickness.
2. Never wear synthetic fiber clothing or weld with flammables in your pocket. Synthetic fibers are highly flammable. If ignited by a welding spark, flammable i.e. matches, butane lighters, fuel sticks, etc. could cause serious burns. Do not allow bystanders to smoke in the welding area.
3. Use both hands. To reduce fatigue, use both hands for welding.
4. Handle hot metal with pliers or tongs. Submerge hot metal completely in water to prevent steam burns

Joining and cutting of metallic materials and the welding of thermoplastics i.e.: conventional and pulse arc welding and surfacing; electron beam welding and laser welding and cutting; resistance, friction and friction stir welding; brazing and soldering; thermal cutting; joining of thermoplastics.
Some of the most recent research works are as follows: weldability of corrosion-resistant nickel-based alloys; weldability of a modern thermomechanically rolled steel; joining of the heat resisting steel; properties of welded joints after long-term operation;

• Axes: 6
• Payload: 6 kg
• V-Reach: 3398 mm
• H-Reach: 1885 mm
• Repeatability: ±0.06 mm
• Robot Mass: 285 kg
• Structure: Vertical jointed-arm type

SPECIFICATION
MODEL	PULSE TIG
INPUT	415 VAC 1 Phase
CURRENT	42 A
OUTPUT	300A
O.C.V.	80 V
DUTY CYCLE	60%

Welding and cutting 1005 TLF 3800 TRUMPF; welding systems for recording and processing of welding parameters; thermal- and stress-strain cycle simulator; computers programmes for research, engineering calculations, design of experiments and Finite Element Analysis.