 Argon Technology has in house experience that can assist and provide you with a solution to all your automated welding and cutting requirements.
Automated welding offers many benefits over classical manual welding. The repeatable nature of automatic machinery and its resistance to heat, smoke and fume make it ideal for repetitive welding activities.
What does this mean? That the weld you qualify is the same one that gets welded every time. This is because the machine sets the welding parameters from memory and accurately repeats the torch motion it was first taught.
With labour costs for experienced welders increasing and reliability and safety of these work forces being brought into question more companies are looking to robotics to guarantee continuous production quality. The beauty is that even if your operator leaves, you know tomorrow you can produce the same parts because all the knowledge is in the equipment.
Quality AND Quantity
 If you’re like most companies then the welding parameters you use have been developed over time for the specific jobs you work with. The qualification process is both time consuming and costly.
Like most other companies you’ve probably all walked out onto the floor only to find your boiler maker running his own parameters.
Robotics guarantees reproducible parameters, joint configurations and torch motion. With scheduled wire changes you can expect decreased weld defects. What’s more if you turn your staff over you just need to train a new operator to insert the parts, not re-qualify a welder.
Occupational Health & Safety
 Whether its hard facing with stellite, plasma cutting exotic materials or general welding if you’ve been on the tools in an industrial environment—you’ve been exposed. The dangers inherent in the heavy metal industries are well documented, dangers you’re employees are exposed to every day.
Robotics offers a means to reduce these risks. By removing the operator from the source of these hazards (ie the Arc) we limit their exposure. By reducing operator fatigue we improve operator awareness. Robotics is not the answer to all your problems — but it is a start…
Robotic GMAW & GMAW-P
 Ideal for general fabrication robotic Gas Metal Arc Welding (GMAW) is as versatile now as any boilermaker. From carbon steels to aluminium this process is ideal for joining. From 300A air cooled systems to 1000A water cooled high deposition systems the team at Argon Technology can help. We can even weld Titanium with MIG.
Unlike many robot suppliers you will find us eager to help with your welding challenges. Why? Because welding is our business too. You’d be surprised to find that our head technical officers are also experienced welders. Our understanding of arc behaviour, joint preparation, parameters, gases and materials is at your disposal to improve deposition rates and minimize quality issues.
We are particularly well versed in the new breed of high deposition MIG welding methods including T.I.M.E. and twin wire. These technologies need robotics to attain the travel speeds necessary for maximum deposition rates on a continuous basis.
Large construction work with long seam welds such as manufacture of truck dump bodies and boat hulls is greatly benefited by robotic welding. In these instances the labour intensive seam welds can be handled by a robot which is capable of withstanding the UV, fumes and monotony. High deposition welding methods can reduce this welding time further.
Component manufacture is another area where robotics is leading the way. Items such as pipe assemblies, brackets and small weldments can be manufactured more economically and with a better quality than conventional manual fabrication. More and more small to medium scale component manufacturers are now utilizing flexible work cells to improve productivity. Isn’t it time you did the same?
Robotic Plasma and Laser Cutting
 Plasma and laser are fast becoming the preferred cutting methods in industry. The effectiveness of 2D profiling has been demonstrated repeatedly but what about the effectiveness of 3D profiling? Systems such as these can be of unlimited importance to the structural engineering and pipe spooling industries. Pipe can be cut to length, prepped and have a blind cut for mating to another length of pipe—all as part of the same operation.
3D robotic profiling handles compound mitred joints on I-Beam with ease. It also allows perfect preps to be cut on pipes for welded connections and T’s. Such cuts can be programmed as simply as entering the cut data or uploading a CAD drawing to the controller.
PLASMA
The advent of ternary plasma cutting systems has allowed another leap in cutting technology. This system offers the relatively inexpensive capital costs of plasma cutting with the associated accuracy of laser (0.1mm). Cut quality is virtually dross free with greater consistency, faster cut speeds, longer consumable life and reduced operating costs.
The new 130 amp units can cut 38mm plate at travel speeds of 255mm/min. These systems are perfect for general fabrication on carbon and alloyed steels as well as aluminium.
FIBRE-COUPLED DIODE LASER (LDF)
Laser has also leapt ahead in terms of reduced capital equipment costs and improved hardware. The latest laser technology allows for the beam to be carried by optic fibre to the EOT (End Of arm Tooling). This allows smaller robots to manipulate higher capacity laser cutting units.
Exotic Joining Processes
 Through close affiliation with Welding institutes in Australia and around the world we are constantly exploring new and better welding techniques to get maximum productivity for our clients. Our experienced team has worked with GTAW, PAW (Plasma Arc Welding), Powder PAW and MIG Brazing.
In the welding of exotic materials the GTAW and PAW processes offer great benefits. Our team is experienced in joining of alloyed steels and aluminium for general fabrication. In the mining field we have worked extensively on joining of Stainless and Titanium pipe using GTAW, PAW and Keyhole welding.
In structural engineering and welding on galvanized iron the MIG brazing process reduces requirements for post weld treatments (such as painting). The MIG brazing process has such low heat input that it keeps the arc just below the boiling point of zinc. This process has been used to great effect in structural engineering where in some cases the welds do not even require painting!
Pipe Spooling - Overland Pipe
With so much of WA industry relying on pipe systems to operate its no wonder our manufacturers are working to reduce construction costs in piping projects. What’s more with the ongoing costs associated with some well known laterite nickel projects there is a demand for Titanium spools to meet the required life cycles. Finally the increasing labour costs, decreasing skill level and decreasing reliability of the fabrication work force is limiting economic growth due to its impact on overland pipe projects.
The team at Argon Technology has experience in welding of pipe spool assemblies in all materials. With parameters for conventional GTAW and PAW as well as Keyhole GTAW / PAW and the ability to MIG weld titanium Argon Technology has the experience necessary to set up your pipe welding project.
The torch can be manipulated via 6-axis articulated robot or in an orbital fashion by hard automation. These systems are capable of passing X-Ray NDT or any other testing you can throw at it! These systems can be set up for repetitive pipe spooling projects or a jobbing type approach where each spool is different. We even have mobile equipment which can bring the welding expertise to you—particularly useful in overland pipe projects. These robotic skids can be leased for short, medium or long term projects offering a flexible work force unlike any other.
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