DEVELOPMENT OF A FLEXIBLE WELDING CELL

A flexible welding cell was developed using a Unimate 2005P and a Unimate Apprentice(r) welding robot. These two robots were interfaced to complete an on-line welding process. There were three stages in the development of this flexible welding cell. Stage 1 was an operation for spotwelding a pipe to a flange; stage 2 was an operation for placing a continuous weld at the intersection of the previously mentioned pipe and flange; and stage 3 incorporated a Unimate apprentice welding robot into the second stage. The three stages used different peripheral equipment to reach completion. The list of equipment included a pneumatic rotary index table, a variable speed rotary table, a Miller wirefeed unit, an automatic parts feeder, a finished part chute and a quench tank. Various problems were encountered throughout the development of the welding cell. The most serious of these problems was the positioning of the weld gun. A secondary problem involved increasing the flexibility of the cell without utilizing an excessive amount of peripheral equipment.