I cover TIG welding more than MIG welding on this site because I know a lot more about TIG. I’m learning about MIG, however, especially automated MIG and I came across this great article in Welding Magazine

Robotic GMAW Torch Maintenance

Robots are helping companies become more competitive by reducing costs and cycle times, but they are increasing one vital shop function: maintenance.

Effective maintenance is critical to consistent performance of robotic systems, Tom Jaeger, engineering manager for research and development and new product development for Tregaskiss (www.tregaskiss.com), said. Tregaskiss manufactures MIG welding equipment and consumables, including robotic MIG welding guns.

“Seconds count in this industry, and a slow-down, stoppage, or weld re-work on a line or in a cell can result in costly downtime and lost production. The welding industry is very competitive and all manufacturers work diligently to maintain productivity and get a good return on their investment in their automation,” Jaeger said…..CONTINUE READING ONLINE–>

Of course this got me to thinkin’ How many of you read the trade magazines? Did you know that many of them have online editions? and/or newsletters? They are a great resource for basic and very technical information. Here’s a list of my favorites:

• Welding Magazine. Website a little rudimentary but the content is good and they have the online forum, Welding Web.
• Welding Journal. This is the publication of the American Welding Society (AWS). If you go to the aws.org you’ll have a tough time navigating to the Journal. In fact, you’ll have a tough time navigating the site, but once you figure it out, you’ll find a ton of great information from Safety / Fact Sheets to the Welding School Selector.
• The Fabricator.  This website is actually the home of The Fabricator magazine, Stamping Journal, Practical Welding Today and Tube and Pipe Journal.

Do you have favorite sites or magazines that you frequent?

At Arc-Zone.com we have a lot of international customers. We’ve delivered TIG, MIG and Plasma Arc Welding to fabricators world wide: Canada, Brazil, Israel, England, Spain, Guam, Greece… to name a few.

However, I think I’ve found the most GLOBAL of Arc-Zone.com’s customers… Matt Binns of Giant Globes.

Matt purchased a foot pedal from our eBay store, Arc-ZoneAuctions, where we sell some of the same product you’ll find in our Arc-Zone.com webstore –you know the high-performance MIG, TIG and Plasma Arc Welding accessories you need to Weld Like a Pro(tm). Sometimes on our eBay store you’ll find a really good deal. Sometimes you’ll find an item we’ve taken in on trade, or refurbished in-house…

Matt, however, wasn’t entirely pleased with his remote amperage foot pedal for his Miller Dynasty because the photo we had in our eBay store– and the price– was wrong. Yeah. Ooops. Big ooops. We quickly refunded Matt the difference in price on the foot pedal and sent him a big ole apology, and an offer for the foot pedal shown in the picture. He declined the offer to swap, and was really super nice about the whole misunderstanding.

In the exchange of emails, however, I noticed the tag line on his email, “Oh and as a bit of self promotion, buy a globe from me at: http://giantglobes.com”

So I clicked.

Wow. I don’t know about you, but I would love to have one of these finely crafted globes on display in my sculpture garden!

“We make the globes from 6061 -T6 tubing, which we bend ourselves, continents are made from 3003-0 sheet, we bend them ourselves using a variety of old and new methods, including an English wheel,” says Matt.

Almost all the welding is done with a Miller 210 MIG welder with a spool-gun, as it is really hard to weld the intersection of two tubes with a TIG torch. If anyone has any tips on how to weld two tubes (Tubes are 1/2″ OD up to 2″ OD) at right angles without notching them, leave a comment– we’ll pass it on to Matt!

Matt says “The globes can rotate on their axis if required on weatherproof silent bearings. We also motorize them.”

What are you fabricating today??