Industrial Robot: An International Journal

TIP TIG: new technology for welding

Mike Wilson
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Mike Wilson, (2007),"TIP TIG: new technology for welding", Industrial Robot: An International Journal, Vol. 34 Iss 6 pp. 462 -
466
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 Feature

TIP TIG: new technology for welding

Mike Wilson
Banbury, UK

Abstract
Purpose – The paper aims to report on a new welding technology, TIP TIG.
Design/methodology/approach – The principle of operation and benefits of the technology are described together with a typical application.
Findings – The study finds that the technology provides the quality of TIG welding at the speeds of MIG welding, providing significant cost savings to
the user.
Practical implications – TIP TIG provides a good opportunity for all users of robotic MIG welding to improve the quality of their product and reduce
their costs.
Originality/value – The paper introduces a new and useful technology to the robot industry.
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Keywords Gas tungsten-arc welding, Welding, Robotics

Paper type Case study

Introduction relatively low cost. This technology is therefore within the

reach of all welding companies.
Although welding has been utilised for many years there
continues to be developments in welding process to improve
performance. These are often specifically targeted at Background
automatic and robotic welding because the weld torch can TIP TIG was invented by Ing. Siegfried Plasch and patented
be manipulated at higher speeds and with good orientation in 1999 after about 1.5 years of development. Ing. Plasch has
control than can be achieved by hand. a strong welding background with 15 years of experience
Two recent examples of significant developments are the gained at Interweld, an Oerlikon distributor, and then
tandem MIG and laser hybrid processes. Both these provide Messer Griesheim. His company is based in Austria and
higher weld deposition rates by enhancing the existing MIG commenced sales for TIP TIG, with the first agreements
process. In the first case by utilising twin wires in the weld being reached with German distributors, in 2000.
torch, which are then controlled by dual power sources. In the
second case the Laser and MIG processes are combined to
gain the advantages of both processes. Description
Both these developments have proven to be successful in The TIP TIG process is very simple but produces dramatic
improving both the speed and quality of welding. However, results. The wire supply, feeding the wire into the weld pool,
they are expensive. Tandem MIG requires two power sources is normally controlled to provide a constant speed, set to
and laser hybrid a laser generator. They are therefore out of
match the welding parameters. For TIP TIG a secondary
the reach of many users and their application has been
oscillation is applied to this steady wire feed. This linear
concentrated in high-technology applications in sectors such
forward and backward motion provides kinetic energy into the
as automotive. Although, the quality of welding has been
weld pool. Both the wire feed speed and the oscillation are
improved the welds also still suffer, to some extent, from
continuously adjustable and can be independently controlled.
spatter, typically found in all MIG welding applications.
The dynamic effect produces a very stable and controllable
TIP TIG is a relatively new process which effectively
weld process.
provides TIG welding at MIG welding speeds. It therefore
The principle can be applied to all TIG processes as well as
combines the benefits of TIG welding and, in particular, the
plasma and laser processes. It can be used for welding a wide
cleanliness of the weld with the ability to weld at higher
range of materials including mild, stainless and other high-
speeds. This provides improved productivity over normal TIG
alloyed steels, aluminium, titanium, other non-ferrous
welding. Additionally the equipment required is simple and
metals and also zinc coated and other coated materials. The
range of applications is almost limitless ranging from pipelines
The current issue and full text archive of this journal is available at and off-shore to automotive, aerospace and precision metal
www.emeraldinsight.com/0143-991X.htm fabrication.

Industrial Robot: An International Journal

Benefits
34/6 (2007) 462– 466
q Emerald Group Publishing Limited [ISSN 0143-991X] The TIP TIG process provides TIG welding of the highest
[DOI 10.1108/01439910710832057] quality with very economical technology. It becomes possible

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 TIP TIG: new technology for welding Industrial Robot: An International Journal
Mike Wilson Volume 34 · Number 6 · 2007 · 462 –466

to achieve TIG welding at triple the normal speed and recognised as having particular expertise in welding and is
approaching the speed of pulsed MIG welding. There is no often called upon to solve difficult welding problems.
spatter producing excellent cosmetic results and very limited One recent success was the MIG brazing on the Jaguar X150.
fume generation improving the environment. At the same A robot system with vision guidance had been installed to
time, there is low-heat input and little or no distortion. perform this weld on the roof joint. As this was a visible weld
In addition to good cosmetic results the welds provide the quality of the finish was critical and the system supplier
excellent metallurgical and mechanical properties for all had not been able to achieve the quality required by Jaguar
materials. The same performance can also be achieved in despite working on the problem for a number of months.
all welding positions providing more flexibility for both Cyberweld were called in and, given their specific expertise,
manual and robotic applications. they were able to achieve the required result in a few weeks.
Comparison tests have been conducted in Germany to The robot system using TIP TIG has been supplied to weld
illustrate the enhanced performance of TIP TIG. The results brackets for the automotive industry. This consists of a simple
are shown in Table I. two station cell (Figure 2) based on a FANUC ARC Mate
These tests demonstrated that TIP TIG could achieve over 100i B robot with Kemppi welding equipment and a Binzel
20 per cent cost savings over pulsed MIG for every metre of torch. Cyberweld tends to offer systems based on FANUC,
weld and therefore provide very quick paybacks as well as Kemppi and Binzel because they have found this equipment
improved weld quality. to be easy to use and reliable. The TIP TIG feeder unit is
The TIP TIG equipment is basically for a wire feed unit shown in Figure 3.
The layout for the system is shown in Figure 4. In front of
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which costs approximately £6,000. A typical robot system

would be in the order of £50,000-150,000 and therefore this the robot is a fixed table divided into two stations. Fixtures to
is a small additional cost which given the improved locate the parts, with 12 parts per fixture, are located on each
performance is recovered very quickly. side of the table. The operator accesses the table via a sliding
The absence of spatter removes the need for any rework door. When the robot is welding at one station the operator is
operations and the reduction in fumes also provides for a unloading and loading the other. On completion of the
welding cycle the robot is able to immediately move to the
cleaner factory environment. Overall, this provides a more
other station. Therefore, the productivity of the robot is
efficient operation with parts being passed immediately onto
maximised.
the next process and an improved environment for the
According to Fraser Reid, Managing Director of
workers.
Cyberweld, TIP TIG was provided for this application
It should be noted that the TIP TIG system is very simple
because of the excellent weld quality that could be achieved
to set up and use. There is little training required and
together with high productivity.
maintenance is very limited. Therefore, there are no technical
A typical part is shown in Figure 5. This comprises two
limitations to the use of this technology and it is accessible for thicknesses of mild steel, 1.43 and1.54 mm. This is being
all existing fabricators and certainly those already using robot welded with 0.8 mm wire with a current of 220 A and a wire
systems. feed of 3.2 m/min. The shielding gas is Argon. The weld
speed is 65 cm/min. There is low-heat input minimising
distortion and the weld is spatter free with minimal porosity.
Application The customer is achieving TIG weld quality with the speed of
Although there are over 700 TIP TIG applications already in MIG with an overall cost reduction of 50 per cent.
use, many of which are in Germany and Sweden, the majority Although, the customer has experience of robots, as he
of these are in manual or semi-automatic welding already has three handling robots, this was the first robot
applications. The first robot applications are now being welding system. The basic price for this type of system is
implemented with five robot systems in use. These about £50,000, excluding fixtures and the additional cost for
applications have been performed using Motoman and the TIP TIG is about £6,000. The system has been running
Cloos robots (Figure 1). The UK has been very slow at for nine months now and the results have demonstrated the
using this new technology even though the cost is relatively benefits of TIP TIG both in quality and cost savings.
small and the benefits well proven. The first UK application is Cyberweld is now encouraging all their customers to
on a robot system. consider this technology. The system is easy to retrofit to
TIPTIG technology is being promoted in the UK by existing installations. The total cost of the retrofit, including
Cyberweld, a UK systems house specialising in welding the TIP TIG unit, a new welding torch, installation,
applications. They have supplied many robot systems in a programming and training would be about £10,000 and
wide range of industries. These range from simple two station would take approximately three days. There are many robot
applications, such as exhaust system welding and electrical
systems to systems with multi-axis manipulators. Cyberweld is
cabinets, where the reduction in spatter and the associated
costs of cleaning would lead to a payback measured in
months.
Table I Costs per metre of weld in Euros
Process Stainless steel Aluminium Conclusions
TIG 10.9 11.2 The first application of TIP TIG in the UK has demonstrated
Pulsed MIG 4.2 4.5 the success of this technology. The growing number of
TIP TIG 3.3 3.6 installations around the world also shows that there are many
users who are convinced by the benefits of TIP TIG.

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 TIP TIG: new technology for welding Industrial Robot: An International Journal
Mike Wilson Volume 34 · Number 6 · 2007 · 462 –466

Figure 1 TIP TIG on Cloos robot

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Figure 2 The two station robot system

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 TIP TIG: new technology for welding Industrial Robot: An International Journal
Mike Wilson Volume 34 · Number 6 · 2007 · 462 –466

Figure 3 TIP TIG feeder (green) mounted on Kemppi power source

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Figure 4 System layout

3,200

KEMPPI
WELDSET
TIPTIG
UNIT ON BASE OF ROBOT
2,000

ROBOT
CONTROL

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 TIP TIG: new technology for welding Industrial Robot: An International Journal
Mike Wilson Volume 34 · Number 6 · 2007 · 462 –466

Figure 5 Typical part welded using TIP TIG

1.5415

1.4301
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The need to achieve the highest levels of quality is pushing installations as more customers wish to gain the benefits of
users towards cleaner welding processes and TIP TIG this technology.
provides achieves the quality required at the speed of MIG
welding and also at a cost effective price. Therefore, we
Corresponding author
should expect to see an increasing number of TIP TIG Mike Wilson can be contacted at: [email protected]

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