Gma średnia ruchoma

Miecznik Xiphias gladius Linnaeus 1758 Rysunek 187.8212Swordfish (Xiphias gladius). Po Kalifornijskiej Rybie i Komisji Gry. Opis8212 Istotną cechą miecznika jest przedłużenie jego górnej szczęki do długiego, spłaszczonego, ostro zakończonego 49 i szpiczastego miecza zajmującego prawie jedną trzecią całkowitej długości ryby. Ten miecz sam w sobie wystarczy, by zidentyfikować ryby na pierwszy rzut oka wśród wszystkich naszych północnych ryb. Na rybę o długości 10 stóp i 10 cali, którą spluwaliśmy na Georges Bank na Grampusie w lipcu 1916 roku, miecz miał 42 cale długości od czubka do oczu. Miecznik jest umiarkowanie tęgi, tylko nieznacznie spłaszczony z boku, najgłębszy tuż za otworami skrzeli i zwężający się ku tyłowi do smukłej ogonowej szypułki, która nosi po jednej stronie silną podłużną stępkę. Oprócz miecza głowa jest krótka, dolna szczęka jest spiczasta, a usta tak szerokie, że spogląda daleko w tył bardzo dużych oczu, które są ustawione blisko podstawy miecza. Miecznik (z wyjątkiem młodego narybku) jest bezzębny i bezręki. Pierwsza płetwa grzbietowa pochodzi od górnego kąta otworów skrzeli i jest znacznie wyższa niż długa (około 39 do 40 promieni), z głęboko wklęsłą tylną krawędzią. Drugi grzbiet jest bardzo mały i osadzony daleko z tyłu na ogonowej szypułce. Istnieją również dwa anality. Drugi jest tak mały jak drugi grzbiet i znajduje się pod nim, podczas gdy pierwszy jest podobny do pierwszego grzbietowego konturu, ale krótszy i znajduje się za nim, blisko drugiego odbytu. Klatki piersiowe są wąskie, bardzo długie, kosowate i ustawione bardzo nisko po bokach poniżej pierwszej części grzbietowej. Płetwa ogonowa jest krótka, ale równie szeroka jak połowa długości ryby od szczytu żuchwy do podstawy płetwy ogonowej, z głęboko obrzeżonym brzegiem i ostrymi końcami. Nie ma płetw brzusznych. 50 Color8212 Podczas gdy wszystkie mieczniki są ciemne powyżej i białawe z srebrnym połyskiem poniżej, górna powierzchnia waha się od fioletu do matowego ołowianego błękitu, a nawet do czerni. Oko zostało opisane jako niebieskie. Młodzi włócznicy, podobnie jak bardzo młody tuńczyk, są poprzecznie zablokowani, ale nie znaleziono na tyle małych, by pokazać ten wzór w granicach Zatoki. Kolory blakną wkrótce po śmierci. Size8212 Swordfish rośnie do wielkiego rozmiaru. Najcięższy na pewno odnotowany z Zatoki Maine, został złapany na Georges Bank latem 1921 r. Przez kapitana Irvinga Kinga i wylądował w Boston Fish Pier, który ważył 915 funtów ubranych, a więc ponad 1100 funtów żywych. 51 Ten okaz nie został zmierzony, ale miecz miał ponad 5 stóp długości, więc całkowita długość ryby musi wynosić około 15 stóp, a 16 stóp wydaje się być około maksymalnej długości, chociaż ryby tak długo, jak to jest bardzo niezwykły. Najcięższy wylądował w Massachusetts w 1922 roku ważył 637 funtów ubranych, to jest w górę 750 funtów żywej wagi, 52, podczas gdy największy wzięty w 1931 roku ważył 644 funtów ubrany i miał 13 stóp długości, w tym jego miecz, który mierzył 44 cale. Ten, który ważył 925 funtów przed jego ubraniem, wylądował w 1932 r., Także o wadze 650 funtów, które musiało ważyć 800 funtów przy życiu, podczas gdy jeden z 850 funtów (ubrany), przywieziony do Halifax w Nowej Szkocji, był podobno największy kiedykolwiek wylądował w tym porcie. I kilka, ważących ponad 500 funtów, ubranych, jest zgłaszanych prawie co roku. 53 Ale ogólny przebieg jest znacznie mniejszy. Tak więc średnie ubierane wagi różnych opłat ryb wylądowały w Portland, Bostonie i Gloucester w latach 1883-1884, a 1893-1895 między 200 funtów i 310 funtów, spadając do 114-186 funtów za lata 1917, 1919, 1926 i 1929-1930. Ogólny raport mówi, że ryby z wyspy Block Island są mniejsze niż Georges Bank i Cape Breton. 7-metrowa ryba waży około 120 funtów 10 do 11 stóp ryb około 250 funtów ryb od 13 do 13 frac12 stóp, około 600 do 700 funtów, jak wzięto z wody. Rekord pręta i bębna wynosi 860 funtów, za jeden 13 stóp 9 cali długości złapany z Tocapila, Chile, 28 kwietnia 1940, przez W. E. S. Tukera. Smażenie mieczników ma zupełnie inny wygląd niż ich rodzice, ma tylko jedną długą płetwę grzbietową i jedną długą płetwę odbytową, zaokrąglony ogon, obie szczęki są równomiernie przedłużone i ząbkowane, a skóra pokryta szorstkimi kolczastymi płytkami i łuskami. Ale ryby o wadze pół funta, które są złowione w nadmiarze w rejonie Morza Śródziemnego, już przypominają dorosłych, z tym, że mają minimalną wagę do 30 cali. Nawyki 54 8212 Miecznik ma charakter oceaniczny, nie jest zależny w żaden sposób ani na wybrzeżu (z wyjątkiem tego, że zapewnia zapasy żywności), ani na dnie i jest to ryba ciepłownicza, największa w miejscowościach i na głębokościach, gdzie temperatura jest wyższa niż około 60 stopni. Ale okazjonalnie łapie na stronie 353 miecznika na liniach halibuta położonych blisko dna aż do 200 sążni, wraz z faktem, że włócznik nie jest w żadnym razie rzadkością na Nowej Fundlandii, skąd kilka ryb zostało przywiezionych przez amerykańską flotę dorsza w 1920 r., Dowodzi że temperatury tak niskie jak 50deg do 55deg nie powodują tego, przynajmniej na krótki pobyt. Chociaż miecze mogą gromadzić się w niektórych miejscowościach, nie uczęszczają do szkoły, ale zawsze są widziane rozproszone, albo pojedynczo, albo co najwyżej dwie ryby pływają razem. Wcześniej publikowane sprawozdania, oświadczenia rybaków i nasze własne ograniczone doświadczenie potwierdzają ten punkt. W spokojne dni często siedzą cicho na powierzchni, lub chlupają razem z wysokim płetwą płetwy grzbietowej i końcem płetwy ogonowej nad wodą, i są łatwo harpunowane podczas ich używania, często pozwalając na zbliżanie się statku do wystającej ambony z łuku wychodzi bezpośrednio nad rybę. Kiedy miecznik pływa na powierzchni, jego pierwsza płetwa grzbietowa i górna część płetwy ogonowej pokazują się ponad wodą, podczas gdy marlin pokazuje tylko ogon. Można powiedzieć, że miecznik wynurza się z rekina za pomocą ostro zakończonego grzbietu (rekina ma szerszy trójkąt) i fakt, że płetwa ogonowa zdaje się przecinać wodę w linii prostej, nie chwiejąc się z boku na bok końce ogonów większości rekinów (innych niż plemię rekina makreli), jeśli w ogóle pokazują się nad wodą. Kiedy miecznik znajduje się na powierzchni, bardzo dużo skaczą, być może na próżno usiłują strząsnąć remorasy, które tak często przylegają do nich. Widzieliśmy jeden skok z wody cztery lub pięć razy w krótkim odstępie czasu w pobliżu Grampus. off Shelburne, Nova Scotia, 28 lipca 1914 roku. Raporty rybaków i nasze własne doświadczenia sprawiają, że pojawiają się tylko w ciągu dnia. Miecznik to zjadacz ryb. Podczas pobytu w amerykańskich wodach żywi się makreliami, menhadenami, bluefishami, srebrzystymi morszczukami, rybami maślanymi, śledziem, argentynami, grzechotkami (Macrourus bairdii), a nawet mniejszymi rybami, których wiaderka zostały pobrane z żołądków miecznika. Również kalmary często występują w nich i czasami mogą być ich główną dietą. A szczęki jednego z olbrzymich kałamarnic (rodzaj, być może Architeuthis), wyjęte z żołądka miecznika harpunowanego na północnym skraju Georges Bank 55, były szczególnie interesującym znaleziskiem. Ten, który zbadaliśmy na Georges Bank, 24 lipca 1916 roku, był pełen srebrzystego morszczuka, jeden zabrany tam w sierpniu 1929 r. Zawierał 5 dużych plamiaków (str. 199), podczas gdy inny harpunowany Halifax zawierał kałamarnicę (Ilex) i fragmenty srebra morszczuk. Często opisywano je jako rosnące w szkołach makreli, menhaden i innych ryb, uderzając w prawo i lewo za pomocą mieczy, a następnie zwracając się do pożerania martwych lub zniekształconych ryb. I widzieliśmy ich tak zatrudnionych więcej niż raz, aby sądzić po zamieszaniu. Nie jest niczym niezwykłym, że włócznik wyhodowany na morskich brzegach zawiera w swoich żołądkach głębinowe ryby tego samego rodzaju, wiele takich przypadków zostało odnotowanych, 56 które czasami były połknięte tak niedawno, że nadal są w dobrym stanie, kiedy miecznik jest otwarty. 57 A skoro te tak zwane czarne ryby żyją poza krańcem kontynentu, w większości poniżej 150 sążni, jest to dobry dowód na to, że miecznik znaleziony na brzegach nad naszą Zatoką żegluje na znacznych głębokościach dalej na morzu. Wydaje się również, że czasami odbarwiają linie ustawione dla halibuta i żabnicy złowionych już ryb, ponieważ czasami są one zaplątane w linie. To nie było niezwykłe, że miecznik mógł być zaczepiony na długich liniach ustawionych na halibuta w czasach kwitnienia tego łowiska (s. 255). Goode 58 przytacza kilka przypadków, w tym jeden, gdy 13 włóczników zostało złapanych w ten sposób podczas jednej podróży halibuta. Rybacy opowiadali nam o nowszych przypadkach. Miecznik często był również podpięty i wylądował na liniach ręki. Przypadek dotyczy 7 pobranych w ten sposób w trakcie jednego rejsu, w południowym kanale, na 15 do 25 sążniach wody, przy czym przynęta jest dowodem na to, że miecznik najwyraźniej nie nalega na żywą żywność. Czytaliśmy również o starych rybakach z Marthas Vineyard i Nantucket, którzy czasami brali je podczas trollingu z jakimś srebrzystym rybkiem jako przynętą, prognozując dzisiejszych wielkich wędkarzy. Wiele opowieści dotyczy nurtu miecznika atakującego wolno poruszające się statki bez prowokacji, i prowadząc mieczem przez deskę, na stronie 354 w napaściach tymczasowego szaleństwa, jak Goode 59 wyraził to, lub bardziej prawdopodobne, podczas ścigania delfinów lub innych ryb. Większość ataków tego rodzaju, pochodzących z tropikalnych mórz, zdaje się, że były to łowce włóczni (str. 357), ale niektóre na północnych wodach wydają się prawie na pewno występować na broadbill. Przykładem jest sprawa szkunera Wolontariusz. z Gloucester, który otrzymał silny cios w pobliżu Block Island, 7 sierpnia 1887, najwyraźniej z 300-funtowego włócznika, który widział płynący obok, i który okazał się stracić cały miecz, gdy został harpunowany i wprowadzony na pokład. 60 Możemy jedynie dodać, że nigdy nie słyszeliśmy o mieczniku, który dokonywałby niesprowokowanego ataku na żaden z statków rybackich, które ścigają ich każdego lata lub na każdym innym statku, dużym lub małym, który wypływa z naszych wybrzeży. Ale ryby, które były harpunami, często zwracają się do swoich prześladowców, i często zdarza się, że przebijają cienkie dno dory. W rzeczy samej, znaliśmy kilku rybaków z naszej znajomości, którzy zostali ranni w nogę w ten sposób, ale zawsze po tym, jak ryba została uderzona harpunem. W tych okolicznościach miecze były znane z prowadzenia swoich mieczy przez deskę statku rybackiego. 61 Opowieści o miecznikach atakujących wieloryby są honorowymi tradycjami morskimi, w większości pozbawionymi fundamentów, niż mitem, który sprzymierza się z nieszkodliwym młocarzem do tego celu. W rzeczywistości mieczniki łatwo się boją i często nie pozwalają małej łódce znaleźć się w zasięgu uderzenia, co powodowało, że harpuncja z trudem była trudna w dawnych czasach. 62 Ale z jakiegoś okultystycznego powodu pozwolą sobie na niemal całkowite spłynięcie z większego statku, nie zwracając najmniejszej uwagi na jego podejście, dopóki nie zostanie pobudzony przez jego cień lub przez wir wody pod jego stopą. Ale nigdy nie słyszeliśmy, żeby miecznik został uderzony przez naczynie, które zawsze brzmią lub odwracają się w czasie. Swordfish walczą na powierzchni lub na dole, gdy są harpunowane. Storer dawno temu pisał, że czasami brzmią z taką szybkością i siłą, aby wbić miecz w dno, co rybacy mówią, że wcale nie jest niezwykłe i widzieliśmy to Halifax w sierpniu 1914 roku, kiedy ryba miała ponad 10 stóp długości, co zabraliśmy się z Grampusa. pogrążony z taką siłą, że zakopał się w błocie za oczami w 56 sążniach wody. Kiedy wciągnięto go do środka, podniosło się tyle błota przyklejonego do głowy, by uzyskać dobrą próbkę dna. Dorosłe mieczniki są tak aktywne, tak potężne i tak dobrze uzbrojone, że mają niewielu wrogów. Plemniki i zabójcze wieloryby oraz większe rekiny mogą je zaatakować. I chociaż nie możemy znaleźć dowodów na to, że miecznik kiedykolwiek padł ofiarą dwóch pierwszych, kapitan Atwood znalazł ładownego miecznika w żołądku rekina Mako. Miecznik opisał, jak widzi dwa duże rekiny gryzące lub odrywające ogon 350-funtowego włócznika, który następnie harpunął. 120-funtowy miecznik, prawie nienaruszony z wciąż przyczepionym mieczem, znaleziono w żołądku 720 kilogramowego Mako pobranego w pobliżu Bimini na Bahamach, podczas gdy inny Mako o wadze około 800 funtów, harpunowany z Montauk na Long Island, był atakowany na miecznika , i stwierdzono, że ma około 150 funtów mięsa tego ostatniego w żołądku, kiedy został wyładowany (s. 24). A Rich 63 wspomina, że ​​doniesiono o innych podobnych przypadkach. Młodzi włócznicy będą oczywiście żerować na każdej z większych, drapieżnych ryb. Miecznik atakuje wiele pasożytów oprócz remoras, z których kilka często przywiązuje się do jednej ryby. Z ryb wyjętych z Woods Hole zidentyfikowano nie mniej niż 12 gatunków robaków i 6 widłonogów. Jajka włócznika nie zostały zauważone lub nie zostały zidentyfikowane, jeśli widzi się je prawdopodobnie jako prężne. Nie wiadomo też nic o szybkości wzrostu miecznika. Przypuszcza się, że młode ryby o wadze od pół funta do 12 funtów, które są pobierane zimą w rejonie Morza Śródziemnego, są efektem tarła z dawnych źródeł, które wymagałyby niezwykle szybkiego wzrostu. Ale bardzo duże rozmiary, na które rosną mieczniki, mogą być również wynikiem długiego życia, jak ma to miejsce w przypadku tuńczyka (str. 342). Zasięg ogólny8212 Obie strony Oceanu Atlantyckiego na północ do północnej Norwegii, południową i stronę 355 zachodnich części Zatoki Świętego Wawrzyńca, południowe wybrzeże Nowej Funlandii i Grand Banks, na południe do szerokości geograficznej około 35 stopni na południe. Także w Morzu Śródziemnym i Czerwonym o Przylądku Dobrej Nadziei i rozpowszechnionym na Oceanie Indyjskim i Pacyfiku, zarówno na północ, jak i na południe od równika. Występowanie w Zatoce Maine8212 Wydaje się, że włócznik przyciągnął małą uwagę w Zatoce w czasach kolonialnych i chociaż od dawna wspierał intratne rybołówstwo poza Nową Anglią, wiemy o nim niewiele więcej niż w 1883 roku, kiedy Goode 64 opublikował jego Materiały do ​​historii miecznika. Zewnętrzna połowa szelfu kontynentalnego od Block Island i południowego Massachusetts, od strony lądu w regionie Nantucket Shoals Georges Bank, głęboki kanał pomiędzy Georges i Browns Browns Bank i La Have, a także brzegi zewnętrznego wybrzeża Cape Breton są jego głównymi centrami obfitość poza naszymi wybrzeżami. Z tych powodów 25 lub więcej jest często widywanych w ciągu jednego dnia, czasami tak wielu jest widocznych w tym samym czasie, jeden kapitan zgłasza, że ​​w jednym czasie odstrzeliło 47 ryb, po tym jak tygodniowy wietrzyk wyszedł na płaski spokój 65, a około 10 do 20 tysięcy z nich wypuszczanych jest każdego lata u wybrzeży Nowej Anglii, a tyle samo daleko od wschodniej Nowej Szkocji. 66 Od czasu do czasu Massachusetts Bay widuje sporadyczne mieczniki, a wzdłuż wybrzeża Maine prawie co roku. Podczas niektórych lat, z których 1884 było jednym, liczba z nich pojawiła się tam, a przy takich okazjach niektóre zostały zabrane w Zatoce od Cape Cod do Browns Bank, z Jeffreys Ledge i strefą około 10 do 12 mil od wybrzeża od Boon Island do Cape Elizabeth być może ich ulubiony przybrzeżny kurort. Ale ogromna większość utrzymuje się ściśle przez banki offshore przez większość lat, a rzadko są one widziane w Zatoce Fundy. W ten sposób znajdujemy tylko 2500 funtów (10 lub 12 ryb) przywiezionych przez rybaków z brzegu z hrabstwa Cumberland, a 3 lub 4 ryby (800 funtów) wylądowały w hrabstwie York w 1919 roku, podczas gdy żaden nie został zgłoszony jako złowiony u wybrzeży Maine w 1945 r. 19 000 funtów wylądowało w Nowej Szkocji po stronie Zatoki (Yarmouth Co.) w tym roku, a połowy na morzu były znaczne. Miecznik wydaje się być mniej obfity wzdłuż zewnętrznego wybrzeża Nowej Szkocji od Cape Sable do Gut of Canso niż na Georges Bank lub Browns, choć niektóre są sprowadzane każdego lata z różnych banków rybackich (s. 357). Jednak kwoty zgłaszane z zewnętrznych (atlantyckich) wybrzeży Cape Breton są tak duże, że pokazują, że prawdopodobnie są tak liczne, jak są gdziekolwiek nad Zatoką Maine, lub od południowej Nowej Anglii, i być może bardziej skoncentrowane . Te regionalne odmiany mogą być zilustrowane lądowaniami na rok 1945, które były następujące dla połączonych statków Stanów Zjednoczonych i Kanady: z południa Nowej Anglii, na zachód od Nantucket Shoals, około 242 000 funtów 67 blisko wybrzeża wschodniego Massachusetts, prawdopodobnie jedna ryba 68 wybrzeża Maine, 400 funtów Bay of Fundy (w tym oba brzegi), 0 Nantucket i Georges Bank (łącznie z South Channel), około 800 000 funtów na zachodnim wybrzeżu Nowej Szkocji i na zachodniej części Browns Bank, około 671 000 funtów Nova Scotian wybrzeże i brzegi od wschodniej części Browns do offing Cape Canso, przy wejściu do Gut of Canso, około 219,000 funtów zewnętrznego (atlantyckiego) wybrzeża Cape Breton, 69 około 2 059 000 funtów. Kilka z nich zostało złapanych na brzegu Zatoki św. Wawrzyńca na przylądku Breton, także w 1936 r. Odnotowano tam 600 funtów, 200 funtów (jedna ryba) w 1943 r. I 1000 funtów (4 lub 5 ryb) w 1946 r. Jedyny inny określony raport miecznika w Zatoce św. Wawrzyńca, który dotarł do nas, pochodzi z Bonne Bay, na zachodnim wybrzeżu Nowej Fundlandii, gdzie Wulff 70 zobaczył jednego z nich, i miał na niego uderzenie (nie zahaczył ryby). Ale niektóre z nich są widoczne i harpuowane na Grand Banks, a także wzdłuż południowego wybrzeża Nowej Fundlandii, najczęściej wzdłuż odcinka między Port au Basque, Cabot Strait i Hermitage Bay. Tutaj, jak pisze Wulff, czasami są tak blisko brzegu, że zostały harpunowane z małych nabrzeży, z brzegu i z dories w portach prawie pozbawionych dostępu do morza, których nigdy nie znaliśmy w Zatoce Maine. Miecznik to letnia ryba na północnoamerykańskim wybrzeżu, taka jak tuńczyk, i ich obecność (często opisywana) w błękitnej wodzie 72 między zewnętrznym krańcem kontynentu a wewnętrzną krawędzią właściwego Prądu Zatokowego, od południowej Nowej Anglii i Zatoki Meksykańskiej. Maine, dodając fakt, że tylko nieliczni są widywani wzdłuż wybrzeża na południe od Nowego Jorku, sprawia, że ​​najprawdopodobniej pochodzą bezpośrednio z brzegu. Pojawiają się jednocześnie poza Nowym Jorkiem, poza Block Island, na Nantucket Shoals i na Georges Bank, między 25 maja a 20 czerwca, ale rzadko na szkockich bankach, aż do nieco później, lub w wewnętrznej części Zatoka Maine przed lipcem. Najliczniej występują w lipcu i sierpniu, a znikają przy zbliżającej się mrozie. Nikt nigdy nie został zgłoszony na wschód od Cape Cod po pierwszej połowie listopada, o ile możemy się tego dowiedzieć (w 1875 r. Jeden został zabrany na Georgesa w listopadzie podczas burzy śnieżnej) 73, a większość z nich zniknęła w ostatnim tygodniu października, chociaż niektóre ryby zostały zabrane z Nowego Jorku i New Jersey w grudniu, a nawet w styczniu. Chodzi o to, że 13 zostało splątanych w długie rzędy ustawione na żabnice od 95 do 125 sążniaków od Long Island między 20 grudnia 1921 r. A 1 stycznia 1922 r. 74 Raport ogólny mówi, że ryba złowiona na początku sezonu średnia nie tylko cieńszy, ale znacznie mniejszy niż te złapane później, zjawisko wciąż oczekujące satysfakcjonującego wyjaśnienia. 75 Prawie wszystkie mieczniki, które odwiedzają nas, ważą od 50 do 60 funtów. Jeden z 6 funtów, 7 uncji, zrobiony przez szkunera Annę z Georges Bank, 9 sierpnia 1922 (obecnie lub wcześniej w Boston Fish Bureau), drugi z 7 funtów, zrobiony przez szkunera Courtney na długiej linii, na Browns Bank w 1931 r. Jedną trzecią z 7 frac12 funtów, zrobione na długiej linii przez Dacię na Zachodnim Brzegu, we wrześniu 1931 r. I czwartą 28 frac14 cali długości, aby przechylić dolną szczękę (jej miecz był zerwany na krótko), ważący 5 frac34 funtów, złowionych przez trawler Winchester. 15 sierpnia 1951 roku, w południowo-wschodniej części Georges Bank w zaciągu, który łowił na 46 sążniach 76, są najmniejsze okazy z Zatoki Maine i Nowej Szkocji, o których słyszeliśmy. Goode 77 również zgłosił miecz, tylko 3 frac12 cali długości, znaleziony wbijający się w nozdrza rekina makreli złowionego w Gloucester, prawdopodobnie podniósł się gdzieś z południowej Nowej Anglii, gdyż ten konkretny rekin zwykle nie ciągnie się dalej na południe. 78 Na Morzu Śródziemnym jednak często wprowadza się na rynek młode mięso frytek o wadze zaledwie pół funta. Powszechnie uważa się, że mieczniki przybywają bezpośrednio z otwartych mórz, gdy pojawiają się na brzegu morskim wiosną kilka razy, aby wejść do Zatoki Maine, ale większość z nich pracuje powoli na wschód wzdłuż zewnętrznej części szelfu kontynentalnego. Kiedy odlatują jesienią, należy powrócić na otwarty Atlantyk, ale nigdy nie widziano ich w drodze na morzu, lub na południe, po prostu tracą wzrok, tak jak robią to tuńczyki. Żadna dojrzała ryba, samiec czy samica, nigdy nie była widziana z naszego wybrzeża. Jajniki i plemniki większości badanych 79 nie wykazały żadnych oznak zbliżania się do dojrzałości większości rybaków, o których pytaliśmy zapewnili nas, że nigdy nie widzieli spawn w mieczniku, chociaż ubierali setki. O ile doniesienia o 3 rybach zawierających jajniki zawierające jajeczkę we wczesnych fazach rozwoju zostały zgłoszone, jeden przyniósł do Provincetown we wrześniu 1909 r., Drugi z jajnikami o wadze 15 funtów, przyniósł do New Bedford 25 czerwca 1922 r., 80 i trzeci około 150 funtów zabitych z Marthas Vineyard w lipcu 1924 roku, wydarzenia tego rodzaju są tak niezwykłe, że powodują szeroki komentarz. Najwyraźniej miecznik, który latem odlatuje z naszych wybrzeży podczas części roku, kiedy są gdzie indziej, prawdopodobnie w subtropikalnych częściach basenu Atlantyku, dla Luumltkena 81 znaleziono miecznika o wielkości zaledwie 10 mm. (najwyraźniej wykluły się tylko krótki czas wcześniej) między szerokościami 20 stopni a 39 stopni. Fakt, że ryby są cienkie, kiedy wracają do nas na wiosnę, ale tuczą się podczas letniego pobytu, jest kolejnym dowodem na to, że są wydawane, zanim się pojawią. u wybrzeży. Abundance8212 Nasza jedyna wskazówka co do liczby włóczników, które odwiedzają nasze wody, to coroczna wypłata poundage. Najmniejsze lata połowu odnotowano jako wyładowane w Portland, Gloucester i Bostonie, w latach 1904 do 1929 było 883,000 funtów (w 1919 r.), Największe 4,593,000 funtów (w 1929 r.), Średnio około 2 000 000 funtów, lub gdziekolwiek pomiędzy 4,000 i 18 000 ryby na rok. A lądowania w portach Nowej Anglii wynosiły od 1 715 000 do 5 070 000 funtów w latach 1930-1939 dla południowej Nowej Anglii i Zatoki Maine. Przerwanie połowów mieczem przez niemieckie okręty podwodne i przekierowanie siły roboczej znalazło odzwierciedlenie w znacznie niższych lądowaniach w pierwszych dwóch latach wojny, jak można się było spodziewać. [82] Po wojnie jednak połowy mieczy wzrósł do około 1,250,000 funtów w południowej Nowej Anglii i Zatoce Maine, w tym Western Browns Bank, w 1944 roku (łącznie w Nowej Anglii i kanadyjskich lądowań), do około 2850 000 funtów w 1945 roku, do około 2.500.000 funtów w 1946 r., 83 i na około 2 000 000 funtów w 1947 r. 84 O połowę od 2 milionów do 3 milionów funtów można by się było spodziewać średnio w południowej Nowej Anglii i Zatoce Maine. Połów przylądka Breton we wschodniej Nowej Szkocji przebiegał między 1 frac12 a 3 milionami funtów późnych lat (1939-1946), średnio ponad 2 miliony do 1947 roku, kiedy spadł do około 770 000 funtów. 85 W czasie wojennych lat połowy w Nowej Szkocji nie uległy zmniejszeniu. Nie wiadomo, jaki odsetek całkowitej liczby włócznika u wybrzeży jest reprezentowany przez połowy. Ale przynajmniej nie sugerują, że jakiekolwiek ekstremalne wzloty i upadki miały miejsce przed 1947 r. Ważność8212 Uznanie włócznika za rybę jadalną ma raczej niedawny wzrost. Jeszcze w połowie ubiegłego stulecia w Bostonie było to nie do strawienia i przyniosło bardzo niską cenę w Nowym Jorku, ale z końcem lat zapotrzebowanie na tę dostawę byłoby o wiele większe niż wnoszone. W 1919 r. Cena rybacy wycenili średnio 24 centy w 1928 r., 22 centy i 18 centów za funt w 1929 r., kiedy dokonano dużego połowu. W 1945 roku przyniósł od 40 do 42 centów i wzrósł do około 60 centów w 1946 roku, ale ponownie spadł do około 40 centów w 1947 roku. Praktycznie wszystkie mieczniki wprowadzane na rynek są harpunowane, nigdy nie słyszeliśmy o złowionych w sieci lub niewoli nie jest też prawdopodobne, że jakakolwiek sieć będąca obecnie w użyciu utrzymywałaby dużą. Miecznik od czasu do czasu pobierany jest również na liniach rąk i na długich liniach przynęty dla dorsza lub halibuta z makreli lub innych ryb (strona 353). Ale liczba złowionych w ten sposób nigdy nie była wystarczająco duża, aby w jakikolwiek sposób uwzględnić całkowite połowy i prawdopodobnie nie będzie. 86 Sporadyczne włóczniki zostały złowione przez wędkarzy z późnych lat, na wędki i kołowrotku, a rybacy sportowi zgodziliby się, że dobry broadbill jest główną nagrodą morza. 49 W swoich tropikalnych krewniakach, żaglicach i włócznikach, miecz ma okrągłe ostrza, podobne do włóczni i stosunkowo krótsze. 50 W żaglówkach i łowiskach łuskowych ciało jest łuskowate, szczęki są ząbkowane, występują płetwy brzuszne, a pierwsza płetwa grzbietowa jest znacznie dłuższa niż płetwa miecznika. 51 Dziennik połowowy z września 1921 r., S. 13. 52 Gloucester Times, 26 kwietnia 1923. 53 Zob. Rich (Proc. Portland, Soc. Nat. Hist. Tom 4, 2, 1947, s. 34-37) dla tych i innych dużych ryb wyładowywanych od roku do rok. 54 Rich (Proc. Portland, Soc. Nat. Hist. Tom 4, pkt 2, 1947) przedstawił ostatnio obszerny opis występowania i zwyczajów naszych włóczników. 55 Rich, Proc. Natl. Portland Soc. Nat. Hist. vol. 4, pkt. 2, 1947, str. 23. 56 Nieżyjący Walter H. Rich z Amerykańskiego Biura Rybołówstwa podaje następujące rodzaje, które zostały zaczerpnięte z włócznika na Georges i Browns Banks: Alepisaurus. Chauliodus. Chiasmodon. Lampadena. Macrostoma. Myctophum. Notoscopelus. i Stomias. 57 Kingsley (Science, N. Ser., Vol. 56, 1922, str. 225-226) informuje, że dwa świeżo połknięte stomiaki (Echiostoma barbatum) zostały zabrane z żołądka miecznika harpunowanego na przybrzeżnym zboczu Georges Bank. 58 Rept. U. S. Comm. Ryba. (1880) 1883, str. 353-354. 59 ryb. Ind. U. S. Sect. 1, 1884, str. 345. 60 Powiązane przez Rich (Proc. Portland Soc. Nat. Hist. Tom 4, 2, 1947, str. 48-49). 61 Wiele przypadków tego rodzaju zostało wspomnianych w dość obszernej literaturze poświęconej miecznikowi. 62 Rich (Proc. Portland, Soc. Nat. Hist. Tom 4, 2, 1947, str. 71) tak nas informuje. 63 Patrz: Farrington (Field and Stream, tom 47, luty 1943) i Rich (Proc. Portland, Soc Nat. Hist. Tom 4, 2, 1947, s. 44), aby uzyskać bardziej szczegółowe informacje. 64 Rept. U. S. Comm. Ryba. (1880) 1883, str. 298-394, pls. 1-24. 65 Rich, Proc. Natl. Portland Soc. Nat. Hist. vol. 4, Pt. 2, 1947, str. 71. 66 Zob. Rich (Proc. Portland, Soc. Nat. Hist. Tom 4, 2, 1947, str. 55-62), aby uzyskać bardziej szczegółowy przegląd rozmieszczenia włócznika na Georgesie, Brownsie i Nowej Szkocji Banki. 67 Podane ciężary są ubrane na żywo - wagi będą około 1 frak14 razy większe. 68 Zgłoszono czterdzieści funtów, ale to prawdopodobnie jest błąd, ponieważ nie jest prawdopodobne, że został tam zabrany miecznik. 69 hrabstw Victoria, Cape Breton i Richmond w Nowej Szkocji. 70 Internat. Gra Fish Assoc. Yearbook, 1943, s. 66. 72 Często mówi się o tym jako o Prądzie Zatokowym, którego dokładniejszą nazwą jest woda stokowa. 73 Rich, Proc. Portland Soc. Nat. Hist. vol. 4, część 2, 1947, str. 58. 74 Townsend, Science, N. Ser. vol. 56, 1922, s. 18-19. 75 Rich (Proc. Portland, Soc. Nat. Hist. Tom 4, 2, 1947, s. 43) jest skłonny sądzić, że na naszych wodach istnieją dwie lub więcej odrębnych szkół rocznych. 76 Zgłoszone nam przez George'a Kelley'a z US Fish and Wildlife Service. Okaz jest w swojej kolekcji w Woods Hole. 77 ryb. Ind. U. S. Sect. 1, 1884, str. 348. 78 Zob. Rich (Proc. Portland, Soc. Nat. Hist. Tom 4, 2, 1947, str. 37-39) w celu uzyskania dodatkowych zapisów o małej włóczniku z Zatoki Maine. 79 Wiele z nich zostało otwartych w tym względzie, niektórzy przez nas. 80 Townsend, Science, N. Ser. vol. 56, 1922, s. 18-19. 81 Spolia Atlantica, w Kong. Danske Vidensk. Selsk. Skrift, Ser. 5, Nat. Matematyka. Sekta. vol. 12, Nr 6, 1880, str. 444-445. 82 Lądowiska miały jedynie około 545 000 funtów w Massachusetts i 7 000 funtów w hrabstwie Yarmouth w Nowej Szkocji w 1942 roku, około 479,000 funtów w Massachusetts i około 17 300 funtów w hrabstwie Yarmouth w 1943 roku. 83 Ostatni rok, dla którego opublikowane zostały lądowania dla kanadyjskiego wybrzeża Zatoki Maine i portów w Nowej Anglii. 84 Kanadyjska statystyka połowów w 1947 roku jeszcze do nas nie dotarła. 85 Informacje od dr A. H. Leim z Kanadyjskiego Biura Badań Rybołówstwa. 86 Rich (Proc. Portland, Soc. Nat. Hist. Tom 4, Pt, 2, 1947, str. 67-82) przedstawia interesującą relację z metod połowu mieczy w Nowej Anglii. WISE MANAGER UCZY SIĘ Z SPAWANIA PRZESZŁOŚĆ lt2004 NAJBARDZIEJ WYPOSAŻENIE NAJWYŻSZEJ MIGII, W KTÓRYM PRAGNĘŁO W AMERYCE PÓŁNOCNEJ WYKONANE PRZEZ FIRMĘ PANASONIC, MOTOMAN amp LINCOLN. Mój przyjaciel jest odpowiedzialny za roboty w jednej z największych fabryk Honda w USA. Miał ponad 200 robotów, a dialy borykały się z wieloma, nigdy nie rozwiązanymi problemami spawalniczymi sprzętu Panasonic. Wiedziałem już, że w 2004 roku sprzęt do spawania MIG z pulsacją Panasonic, z którym musiał pracować, reprezentował jedne z najbardziej nielogicznych, niespójnych i niekonsekwentnych urządzeń spawalniczych, które kiedykolwiek trafiły na brzegi Ameryki Północnej. W wielu zakładach, w których poproszono mnie o rozwiązywanie problemów związanych z spawaniem robota, chciałem skręcać, gdy zobaczyłem sprzęt pulsacyjny MIG firmy Panasonic, ponieważ wiedziałem, że w wielu przypadkach problemy z spawaniem w zakładach nie zostaną w pełni zoptymalizowane, dopóki sprzęt spawalniczy nie zostanie zastąpiony. Ponieważ sprzęt Panasonic MIG jest popularny w robotach Panasonic sprzedawanych w Ameryce Północnej, pomyślałem, że poświęcę trochę czasu na ocenę, co ma do zaoferowania Panasonic Pana Star AA2 - AA11- 350 i źródła zasilania HM 500. Poniżej znajduje się opis wydarzenia słownego, które miało miejsce podczas pokazu spawów AWS. Rozmowa nie jest słowem, ale stanowi prawdziwą treść dyskusji. Przedstawiciel handlowy Panasonic zapewnia jego promocję na targach AWS, cytując, że to impulsowe źródło zasilania jest naprawdę wyjątkowe. Źródło zasilania zapewnia sztuczną inteligencję. On kontynuuje. quotTe źródło zasilania nieustannie analizuje dane spawania wyjściowego łuku impulsowego i wykonuje korekty parametrów spawania dla łuku. W przeciwieństwie do większości innych urządzeń MIG, to impulsowe źródło zasilania zapewnia lepszą kontrolę penetracji spawania. Właśnie kontynuuje działalność przedstawicielstwa handlowego w college'u, niestety, nie zdajesz sobie sprawy, że z powodu trzęsień ziemi w Japonii, penetracja spawania w tym kraju jest obecnie najlepszym rozwiązaniem. Przedstawiciel handlowy Panasonic miał dwadzieścia kilka lat i chętnie udzielał mi porad dotyczących spawania i zaskakujących rewelacji na temat japońskich problemów związanych z penetracją. If you are new to this web site please keep in mind, I have worked with the MIG process for 40 plus years and with the pulsed process close to 25 years. When I first started evaluating pulsed equipment the Panasonic rep was approx. three years old, this did did not stop this rep from trying to educate me on the subject of welding. The Panasonic rep then told me quotthat one of the things that effects pulsed weld penetration is when the pulsed arc length changes, as the arc length is shortened the pulsed drop may not be allowed to form without a short circuit interruption, this therefore effects the pulsed arc stability and consistency of the weld fusion attainedquot This poor sales rep did not realize that the problem he described had been a major issue with his equipment since it was introduced into the USA. He also did not realize that his artificial intelligent weld equipment that sat proudly on display at the weld show would reveal that it still could not provide a consistent pulsed weld arc especially on small weld cycle times. WHY WOULD ANY WELD SHOP ACCEPT A MIG WELD POWER SOURCE THAT A PROVIDES INCONSISTENT, ERRATIC POOR WELD TRANSFER PERFORMANCE B GENERATES CONFUSION FOR THE USER, C COSTS 100 - 300 MORE D MORE DIFFICULT TO REPAIR E HAS A MUCH SHORTER LIFE IF YOU HAVE SPENT MORE THAN 20 MINUTES AT THIS SITE YOU KNOW THE ANSWERS. IF YOU DONT KNOW THE ANSWER, ITS FRED ON THE RIGHT. For the last four decades in ten different countries I have set up more than a thousand different MIG weld applications with focus always on attaining optimum, constant weld fusion and weld profiles that would always be called optimum. The MIG welds I have always produced would be made with traditional, MIG equipment that typically would cost 25 of the price of the Panasonic pulsed equipment. PANASONIC AND THE POOR WELD GRAPH: This oscilloscope chart shows voltage (red) and weld current (black) fluctuations taken by a frustrated Canadian weld engineer. He was frustrated because his Panasonic MIG equipment lacked the ability to produce two parts with the same weld appearance and fusion. The pulsed equipment was a Panasonic AA 11- 350. Note on the chart. The dramatic swings of unstable prime weld parameters, with both volts and amps frequently hitting zero, this was too common an occurrence with many pulsed power sources built up to 2006. The MIG welds I produced in 196 0 and the MIG welds I will produce for companies in 2018 with with the little changed, traditional, low cost, durable , CV. MIG equipment, could pass with process expertise, any global FILLET weld code requirement. For over ninety nine percent of conventional manual and robot MIG welds on carbon or low alloy steel applications gt 4 mm, you simply do not require a sol called Intelligent power source that provides a so called special Wave Form or unique Ripples The traditional MIG equipment I have always utilized, was not electronically quotintelligentquot, however when I provided weld process control training to tthe weld decision makers, you could assume that at the weld process control course completion, the weld personnel w ere quotProcess I ntelligentquot. These people were nd trained to make optimum MIG or Flux Cored welds with out playing around with controls and using unsophisticated MIG equipment. A PANASONIC POWER SOURCE VERSUS MUCH LOWER COST, MORE DURABLE CV MIG EQUIPMENT: The traditional MIG equipment I have utilized for 50 pluse years d id have an unusual 50 year old electrical attribute common to all CV equipment. During the weld the CV MIG power source thanks to an optimum slope out put, instantly responds and makes a controlled current correction for the wire stick-out changes, (arc length variations). Note with the left weld output oscilloscope, the traditional, lower cost CV, weld Amp - Volt stability. in contrast to the right graph where the same weld wire and similar weld parameters were used with the very electronic Panasonic AA 11-350. Before purchasing your next power source, spend a little time on the subject of weld process controls. When asked for his opinion on weld fusion, and spray versus pulsed, Albert might have said the following. quotConstant weld energy attainable from CV spray transfer is of course logical for consistent weld delivery and constant weld fusion. Wheras the inconsistent weld energy from the peak to back ground current of a pulsed power source will of course on certain applications lead to inconsistent weld fusion. quot. lt 2006 ARC LENGTH SENSITIVITY FACT: In contrast to the pulsed mode in which one weld droplet per pulse cascades hopefully undisturbed across an arc gap, the traditional MIG spray weld transfer is quotless sensitive to arc length variationsquot The simple reason for this is the spray transfer stream and does not require the formation of individual weld droplets to achieve optimum weld transfer. In the pulsed mode, as the pulsed arc length shortens, the wire tip to work distance decreases and the pulsed weld drop will be eventually be disrupted as its in contact with both the positive wire and negative weld. This short circuit arc disruption can reduce the consistency of both the pulsed weld droplet transfer and weld fusion potential. Remember also this process spends fifty percent of its time in a low back ground current of less than 80 amps. In contrast with traditional spray transfer, an arc length reduction has minimal impact on the delivery of the more consistent energy, spray transfer weld stream. With carbon steel welds particularly on metals gt 5 mm when you want optimum and consistent weld fusion you figure out what process you should be using. 2006 NOTE: WITH CARBON STEELS AND HIGH DEPOSITION MIG WELDS DEPOSITED OVER 12 LBHR, VIEW THE GREATER CONSISTENCY OF THE WELD TRANSFER AS EVIDENT IN THE SPRAY WELD SURFACE ON LEFT, VERSUS A 2006 PULSED WELD SHOWN ON RIGHT. PART OF THIS PROBLEM IS WITH THE PULSED WE HAVE THE INCONSISTENCY OF THE TRANSFER AND INSUFFICIENT CURRENT FOR THE WELD MASS: The energy and configuration of a traditional MIG spray transfer plasma can also be superior to the pulsed MIG plasma reference the potential weld fusion profiles (side wall fusion) attained. I did not get into a MIG arc plasma physics characteristic comparison with the Panasonic rep, as I know it would have been time wasted, any way he was to busy giving me welding advice. I however I did ask the Panasonic rep a simple question on the pulsed wire feed range. I said quotdoes your intelligent power source provide a practical measurable benefit like extending the traditional MIG spray transfer wire feed range so that we can weld faster with a robotquot The Panasonic rep instantly developed the infamous quotweld glazed lookquot, paused a few seconds, then replied. He stated he was not qualified to provide an answer. This was the first real thing he said to me after thirty minutes of verbal diarrhea. In 2006 and 2007 you too may be lucky enough to have discussions with some rep that wants to discus the attributes of pulsed MIG equipment artificial intelligence, yet its likely this same individual will not know the weld deposition rate of a spray MIG weld made with an 045 wire at set at 450 ipm. The Panasonic pulsed verbage again proves that when it comes to welding, quotseeing the actual weld, is always mightier than the salesmans wordquot . A few years earlier, at my first introduction to the Panasonic pulsed power source. I had a two hour lesson from another Panasonic rep that must have had least twelve months weld experience. This rep told me what he thought was the unique electronic benefits in his companies pulsed power source. In that time period the Panasonic power source was designed (or was it marketing strategy to minimize the so called quotripple weld current outputquot. Now keep in mind in that time for 30 plus years I had MIG welded with traditional CV we ld equipment, yet with all the trillions of ripples I must have produced I have never produced a bad MIG weld or a weld with spatter issues. So you can imagine my surprise when I heard from Panasonic about the bad influence of the Panasonic quotripple outputquot . At the time of the Panasonic ripless power out put, I compared the rippless Panasonic power against a Miller DeltaWeld, which was a traditional, lower cost CV power source. By the way as this Panasonic was talking about ripples anyone could have put an oscilloscope on the Panasonic power source and see something that was much more of a concern than ripples. The Panasonic power source voltage (red) and current (black) was all over the place. The bottom line the standard, lower cost CV Miller power source (as shown above) proved to provide superior arc stability, more consistent weld energy and welds on gt 0.125 that have a superior appearance. Seven years later at another AWS show, I noted that the latest and greatest Panasonic Power source was using an 0.045 (1.2 mm) wire. I asked the welder doing the Panasonic demo to set the wire at the traditional high spray transfer setting of 500 in. min. I noted while he was welding that the resulting pulsed arc plasma zone was narrow, agitated and the plasma was intense. The resulting pulsed weld had a poor convex profile that likely would have resulted in inconsistent side wall fusion. The bottom line. For the last two decades, when welding carbon steels I have been trying to find real world, practical, measurable welding benefits from the complex costly Panasonic power source and from other similar pulsed equipment, here today in 2005. I am still looking. MILLIONS OF PULSED WAVE FORMS LATER AND THE SOPHISTICATED ELECTRONIC POWER SOURCES THAT MAKE THOUSANDS OF WELD DECISIONS PER SECOND AND WHAT DOES THE WELDING INDUSTRY END UP DISCUSSING FOR ITS STEEL WELDS FUZZY DE WUZZZY RIPPLESS POWER THE WAVES DIP-DE - PULSE PULSE ON PULSED ON PULSE. PULSE ON 12 A BLOODY PULSED, ARTIFICIALLY INTELLIGENT, REMOTE WIRELESS CONTROLLED FROM YOUR CELL PHONE OR COMPUTERIZED PULSED WELDING EQUIPMENT. I CRINGE AT THE THOUGHT OF WHAT THE FUTURE HOLDS FOR AN INDUSTRY THAT HAS BEEN SUCKED IN BY SO MUCH GIBBERISH. E-mail from Brian. Aug 2005. Ed: Have you heard that its impossible to modify Panasonic robot settings to program weld parameters in WFS which is something you can do with Motoman or ABB robots. Further, since even their newer tach-drive units they dont have any WFS readout or setting, you still cant calibrate the robot in WFS (without a separate device). Ive exchanged a number of very in-depth e-mails with Panasonic on these two closely-related issues during the last 10 months. Currently Panasonic seems incapable of grasping the facts that calibrating in AMPS inherently introduces inaccuracy and cell-to-cell variations that strongly inhibit establishing a continuous improvement effort in high-level optimizing of parameters. Programming in AMPS lies to the programmer about what hes adjusting, masks the whole balance of joint-fill-volume vs. travel speed, and makes it more difficult to teach MIG process troubleshooting and process improvement to anyone. Going far beyond my professional duty in attempting to assist Panasonic, I have presented several arguments of ironclad logic which clearly point out why WFS calibration would be far more accurate, than AMPS calibration. So far, they still dont get it. And with Panasonic being so devoid of in-depth process expertise in North America, Im certainly not holding my breath. So far, the only weld engineers Ive met who like PFA welding systems are either self-proclaimed welding experts with no degree in the field, or OSU welding engineers who typically wet behind the ears and are incompetent in weld process expertise. Best Regards. Brian. From Eds CD Process Control Training Program Eds Reply. If you have time to waste and want unnecessary weld complexity in your world, consider a Panasonic robot cell. Brian I brought up the WF and amp issue with Panasonic in the early nineties, unfortunately, when it comes to MIG weld process controls the people I dealt with at Panasonic were sadly lacking expertise on the subject. You may be interested in a recent experience I had with Panasonic. In January 2006 I was asked to reset the Panasonic robot programs for a company in PA. The Panasonic robots were approx. 12 months old. At this company the touch sensing and through the arc tracking was not working correctly and as usual the pulsed process was not suited to the steel application. I switched the pulsed power source over to the spray transfer mode and with the Panasonic 500 pulsed equipment. To attain 270 amps I had to set 370 amps in the Panasonic robot pendant. By the way I figured for every hour it took for the programmer to make changes with the Panasonic weld and robot data, I could have done the same thing in 15 minutes with an ABB robot. There is only one way to control a MIG weld and that is through control of the wire feed. TO FURTHER SCREW UP THEIR CONFUSED CUSTOMERS AND MAKE LIFE MORE COMPLEX FOR WELD SHOPS, PANASONIC WAS MORE THAN UP FOR THAT TASK For its sophisticated pulsed MIG equipment, Panasonic is proud to claim it provides quotFour Million Wave Formsquot. A MIG Weld Reality. Irrespective of the pulsed or traditional MIG transfer weld modes utilized, once the wire size is selected, optimum welds can be made on every carbon steel, alloy steel and stainless application with quotFour simple weld settingsquot. THE PROBLEM IN MANY WELD SHOPS IS THE WELD PERSONNEL DONT KNOW THOSE FOUR OPTIMUM WELD SETTINGS, THEY ARE IN MY Books amp Process Control - Best Pra ctice TRAINING RESOURCES. From Panasonic the quotPana Star AA2quot Panasonic increases the power source CPUS for faster arc response from this artif icial intelligent power source. Panasonic claims this Fuzzy logic, MIG power source offers electronic wonders. The weld reality, is the welds this power source produces are inferior to short circuit or spray transfer welds made from a traditional CV. MIG power source that costs 50 to 70 less. Ja panese weld logic and European and USA weld logic are simply not the same. For weld shops considering the purchase of a robot, remember at the end of the day its not about the robot or MIG weld equipment electronics, its about the weld quality and productivity produced. For those companies that do low to medium volume, ever changing steel stainless weld applications, give serious consideration to the following When you examine each robot manufactures product dont get caught up with the bells and whistles and fancy electronic pulsed MIG power source with its 4 million wave forms. Stay focussed on the MIG power source weld output and communication with the robot, the weld arc consistency at high and low wire feed rates and dont forget the equipment durability. With the robot program, examine the length of time required to both program a part and to make weld changes to the program. With the robot program, examine the ease in which wire feed, voltage or pulsed parameter changes are made. Examine the logic in the robots weld program and the calibration between pendant and power source weld data. Examine the robots automated tool center point TCP capability and repeatability. Examine the robots touch sense and through the arc tracking capability. Examine the robot weld weave program, especially the logic of the program. Examine the accuracy and repeatability of the robot with the quotpositionerquot. Examine the complexity of programming the robot to work with secondary equipment such as the positioner, a camera or torch cleaning stations. Examine the robot instruction literature, the technical support and service capability. REMEMBER BECAUSE THE ROBOT YOU ARE CONSIDERING SEEMS TO WORK WELL IN AN AUTO PLANT, THAT THIS IS A LOCATION WHERE THEY THEY MAY RARELY CHANGE THE WELD PROGRAMS AND THIS IS AN ENVIRONMENT THAT TOO OFTEN HAS MINIMAL WELD EXPECTATIONS. IN A JOB SHOP, CONSIDERATION SHOULD BE REQUIRED FOR THE SPEED AND SIMPLICITY REQUIRED TO PROGRAM DIFFERENT PARTS. ALSO THE ROBOT TOUCH SENSE AND WELD TRACKING CAPABILITY IS A CRITICAL FEATURE FOR MANY APPLICATIONS. NOTE: IT TYPICALLY TAKES 30 TO 50 MORE TIME TO PROGRAM A JAPANESE ROBOT THAN IT DOES TO PROGRAM AN ABB SWEDISH ROBOT. GLOBAL WELD MANAGEMENT APATHY. IN THE NINETEEN EIGHTIES, THE WORLDS MOST SUCCESSFUL AUTO TRUCK FRAME MANUFACTURER WAS COMPANY LOCATED IN MILWAUKEE, THE COMPANY WAS CALLED quotA. O. SMITHquot. A. O.SMITH STARTED OUT MAKING CAR FRAMES FOR CADILAC IN 1904. IN 1990s A. O.SMITH WAS THE ONLY GLOBAL CORPORATION TO ESTABLISH ROBOT MULTI-PLANT WELD BEST PRACTICES AND ALSO PROVIDE EFFECTIVE ROBOT PROCESS CONTROLS. THE AO SMITH DAILY ROBOT WELD REWORK FOR THE CAR AND TRUCK FRAMES WAS MINUSCULE AND IN CONTRAST TO MANY ROBOT COMPANIES WELDING IN 2008, THEIR ROBOT MIG PRODUCTION WAS BOTH OPTIMUM AND CONSISTENT. In North America during the mid 1990s, A. O.Smith had more than 1200 ABB robots which were utilized mostly with Miller Delta Weld 450 equipment and 0.045 (1.2 mm) MIG wires. The majority of the welds produced were made with the spray transfer mode at weld deposition rates that averaged 11 - 14 lbhr. Note: IN 2018. THE MILLER CV DELTA WELD 450 IS STILL THE WORLDS BEST PERFORMING AND MOST COST EFFECTIVE CV MIG POWER SOURCE. After welding frames for 93 years, around 1997, A. O. SMITH was purchased by Tower A utomotive . I have been in many Tower plants, and my experience led me to sincerely believe that the quotHANDS OFF, Tower corporate engineers and managers never fully comprehended or appreciated the weld process control expertise that A. O. Smith utilized in the management of its robot weld cells. Today thanks to typical hands off management that you will find at companies like Tower Automotive and the lawyers we call politicians in Washington, through no fault of their own, American workers are fast loosing their future ability to earn a de cent pay check. ITS SAD IN THIS APATHETIC MANUFACTURING ENVIRONMENT THAT AN AMERICAN MANUFACTURING GIANT LIKE TOWER ADDED TO AMERICAS FUTURE POTENTIAL EMPLOYMENT ISSUES THROUGH POOR MANAGEMENT. TOWER TOOK A PROUD 90 YEAR OLD COMPANY, AND IN LESS THAN 90 MONTHS BROUGHT THEM TO CHAPTER 11. SO MUCH FOR AMERICAN WELD ENGINEERIG - MANUFACTURING PROGRESS AND EVOLUTION: IN 2008 THERE WAS NOT ONE GLOBAL AUTO TRUCK FRAME PLANT OR SUPPLIER THAT HAS COME CLOSE TO ATTAINING THE SAME OPTIMUM DAILY ROBOT WELD PRODUCTION AND QUALITY ACHIEVED BY A. O.SMITH IN 1988. 20I5: BEST WELD PRACTICES AND WELD PROCESS CONTROLS: 50 PLUS YEARS AFTER THE DEVELOPMENT OF MIG EQUIPMENT, THERE IS LESS THAN A HANDFUL OF COMPANIES IN NORTH AMERICA THAT HAVE IMPLEMENTED MULTI-PLANT MANUAL ROBOT BEST MIG WELD PRACTICES. 2008 WELD COSTS: I BELIEVE THERE ARE LESS THAN 100 COMPANIES IN NORTH AMERICA THAT ACTUALLY KNOW THE REAL COST OF A MIG WELD PRODUCED ON THEIR WELDED PARTS. ALL THATS REQUIRED FOR MANUAL BEST WELD PRACTICES, WELD COST CONTROLS AND ROBOT PROCESS CONTROLS IS FOR MANUFACTURING MANAGEMENT AND ENGINEERS TO TAKE RESPONSIBILITY FOR THE WELD DECISIONS AND EQUIPMENT IN THEIR PLANTS. TRY THESE RESOURCES. WELD PROCESS OWNERSHIP DOES NOT START WITH: Robot management and engineers who are not responsible for the processes they own. Managers and engineers who cannot build steel parts and hold 1 mm tolerances. Designers who dont understand the weld process limitations on their parts. Engineers who produce poor weld fixtures. Managers, engineers and technicians who dont seek the necessary MIG process control education or training. Lets face it, you dont have to look too far today in a manufacturing plant to find a management or engineers that lacks weld equipment or weld process control quotdepthquot. and in any auto truck plant, it would not take more than two minutes to find an individual that believes they are an expert on a subject as they have 12 months experience. MIG has been around for fifty plus years, it has two weld controls. If you are a manger or engineer who cannot understand those controls, you now know what you have to do. Miller Delta Weld 450. I believe that for the last few decades. the worlds most cost effective, best performing MIG power source has been the Miller Delta Weld 450. lt 2005: When you de cide to evaluate a pulsed MIG power source for welding carbon steel and stainless welds, you should compare the pulsed weld results you attain with the the weld resulats from an optimum, CV MIG power source that will cost much less and last much longer.. In many different manufacturing plants in different countries, for close to two decades, I religiously recommended the purchase of the worlds best traditional MIG power source, the Miller Delta Weld 450, and never got a thank you note from the folks at Miller. I took the Delta Weld equipment to Thailand to MIG and flux cored weld 270 ksi armored plate on USA made army tanks. While Miller equipment was not sold in Spain, I encouraged a Spanish auto parts supply company, Viza (Citroen BMW car seats) to purchase the Miller Delta Weld 450 equipment for its new robot lines. The bottom line is I recommended the Delta Weld equipment for hundreds of manual robot applications across the USA and Canada and in many countries. The Delta Weld was extremely well built and unique in that it provided an optimum slope parameter output for both short circuit and spray transfer modes. This durable power source also provided excellent arc starting characteristics. MIG arc starts used to be a common issue especially with Lincolns MIG equipment. The bottom line the Delta Weld was a durable, cost affective work horse for manual MIG welding and a logical power source to put on robots for all steel welds. HOW ENGINEERS AT WELD EQUIPMENT MANUFACTURES WHO TYPICALLY KNOW LITTLE ABOUT ARC PHYSICS AND WELD REQUIREMENTS, OR OPTIMUM WELD DATA CAN SCREW UP GOOD MIG WELDING EQUIPMENT. MILLER, PLEASE TRY NOT TO screw up thAT Delta Weld. Around 1998 or 1999, some individual at Miller, possibly a new electronic engineer or an inexperienced product manager, decided some cost cutting changes could be made to this power source. The Delta Weld changes had a negative impact on the slope output effecting the weld equipment performance. I believe that the person who made the changes probably did not know what the optimum current wire feed relationship is for the common MIG wires and weld transfer modes, or what the ideal weld current, wire feed relationship is for welding a simple 14 fillet with an 0.045 wire. Anyway who ever got their hands on the Delta Weld took a weld giant and created a mundane product readily available at the competition. COKE SCREWED UP COKE amp BOEING MANAGEMENT SCRE WED UP BOEING. THE MILLER MANAGEMENT ALLOWED THEIR ENGINEERS TO REDUCE THE PERF ORMANCE OF THE WORLDS BEST MIG POWER SOURCE, THE 450 DELTA WELD. During 1999, I provided weld management consulting and training services to a company called Omniquip. This company made SkyTraks. At the time Sky Trak used Lincoln MIG equipment. I wanted to improve the welds and the equipment on the shop floor so I has Ominiquip ordered 4 Miller Delta Weld 450 power sources for the companies weld training facility. Typically the Delta Weld had an excellant slope output and would last for one to two decades without equipment or performance problems. However with these new Delta Weld units, In the next six months this Miller equipment resulted in a Numerous quotwire feedquot electronic issues with 3 of the 4 new power sources. b In contrast to the traditional Delta Weld power source, these 1999, 450 power sources, revealed that the weld voltage and current perwire feed rate (slope output) had been altered. The result was a negative influence on weld fusion potential and on the power source performance. c For low current MIG applications, the Delta Weld power source when using quota low energy argon mixquot could now no longer provide low current, consistent arc starts. Note: A primary weld concern with MIG welding equipment is attaining sufficient weld energy for the wire feed rate delivered. For example the slope output (volt amp curve) is designed to provide a specific current for a given voltage. Also the slope of the curve will determine the amount of weld current change per volt change. How important is the MIG Volt Amp Wire Feed Weld Deposition relationship For example, with a traditional, effective CV power source, when using an 0.035 wire at 210 ipm, delivering 3.3 lb hr, the CV power source would put out approximately 140 amps and require 17 welding volts. This weld parameter combination provided both optimum LOW weld voltage and current for the short circuit wire feed rate selected. If a power source designer changes the slope, lets say the required short circuit weld voltage for that wire feed position is now 19 volts. As a result of the extra voltage, the short circuit weld droplet size is now larger, more globular and the short circuit weld transfer would be more erratic with excess spatter. It seems in their quest to add electronic bells and whistles, some MIG power source designers forgot about the fundamental Arc Slope and Wire Feed relationshipnecessary for optimum MIG weld transfer. When a power source designer makes negative changes to a power source that for decades has been perfect, one has to ask what is the weld equipment manufacturers motive a Is it weld process ignorance b Is the need to reduce the weld equipment cost c Is it the need to add electronic bells and whistles to justify a future power source price increase The Miller Weld Power Source Manager told me that he quotplays around quot with the MIG weld controlsquot To address the Delta Weld issues at the Omniquip (Sky Trak) plant, I called in the Miller product manager for MIG equipment. The Miller manager came to the Wisconsin plant to review the problems with his companies revised Delta Weld equipment. I went through the problems and also went through the wire feed range, pointing out the weld parameter, current wire feed relationship issues snd the differences between this equipment and his companies superior older Delta Weld 450 equipment. While talking to the Miller MIG product manager about the slope performance and the necessary relationship between the wire feed and parameter setting, I noted the Miller manager had a glazed look. That glazed look is one I have seen many times as it was usually on my wifes face when I talked to her about welding. The Miller MIG power source product managers response to my complaints was, quothe had no problems with the revised Delta Weld 450 power source, and reference the weld parameter wire feed differences i had shown him, he could not understand my concerns, becuase when he makes welds he just quotplays aroundquot with the weld controls till he finds a weld setting he likes. Question. Did the responsible Miller power source designer who made the changes check the revised Delta Weld parameter output with the original unit Question. Did the engineers who built the new revised Delta Weld equipment check the revised performance with all the common available argon mixes before sending the equipment out to welding shops Question. Did the Miller management believe it was important to hire a MIG product manager who did not understand the MIG process, a man who had to quotplay aroundquot with the two simple controls on the MIG weld equipment. Question Did the Miller management believe that when they build products that their customers should test it. A 2003. MILLER DELTA WELD 450 452 UPDATE. Due to the poor welding performace of the KOBELCO MIG equipment thats usually found on MOTORMAN ROBOTS, in 2003, I had to get one of my clients that uses the Motoman robots to switch over from the KOBELCO 350 MIG power source to a MILLER, DELTA WELD 452. The 452 is basically a 450 power source with a built in interface that can communicate with robots. The 452 unit I tested at this company provided excellant weld performance on this application, the performance that the lt 1999 Delta Weld used to provide. SOMEONE AT MILLER MUST HAVE BEEN TAKING NOTES AT THIS SITE AND QUICKLY MADE THE CORRECTION TO GET THE DELTA WELD PERFORMANCE BACK TO WHERE IT WAS. THEY DID NOT SEND A THANK YOU CARD. MILLER INVISION 456MP From Miller. Invision 456MP. Electronics and Weld Mediocrity. If you have nearly 6000 to waste on poor performance and a poor slope out put, take a look at the Miller Invision 456MP. However If you wanted to save well over 3000 you would bring in a Miller CP 302. Then spend a few on my books and Cd process control training resources. With the lower cost Miller unit and process control expertise you will attain the weld quality and productivity you desire.. Miller AUTO AXCESS 450. I think this next e-mail tells a great story about Miller and weld equip ment B ells and Whistles: E. Mail from Greg. April 2005. Ed. The following is my experience and my frustration since owning 7 Miller Auto Axcess 450 machines for almost one year. My boss at Magna believes my job is to get the GM robot welded parts out of the door without weld quality or production issues, however with all the Miller issues I have had to put up with, I feel like less like a robot technician and more like an unpaid Miller Weld Equipment Technician. Ed what happened to the good old days when you switched the Miller DeltaWeld on and got through the shift without welding the following issues 1) We were told by Miller that their Accupulse would weld faster than traditional CV equipment and produce less spatter, (i guess this is what happens when you listen to a salesman), 2) We set most of the welds in quotAccupulse modequot initially, a few welds used Short Circuit CV where we had gaps. The Accupulse welds were on parts that had good fit. While we used optimum weld parameters and Millers recommendations for the welds, we could not keep the arc stable enough while running production. Almost half the welds coming off the cell had ropey, unstable bead appearance, while the other 50 of the welds with the same data were optimum however with small amounts of spatter. I was only traveling about 30 IPM when using Accupulse. 3) We had excessive contact tip wire burn back issues when using Accupulse. I could not get more than 2-3 hours of production without an arc fault due to a wire burn back. We had lots of evidence of micro arcing on the weld wire. 4) To try and help stabilize the process and also to reduce the tip burn backs, Miller sent us a custom Accupulse program twice. Miller attempted to limit the peak current at the arc start to prevent the micro arcing and tip burn backs. This never worked properly and I still had the burn back problems. 5) I have now updated core system software in these machines 3 times in the short time we have owned them. 6) Finally after taking your advice, I turned off the Accupulse to the CV mode. That Accupulse mode was daily costing Magna excessive production downtime and extensive weld repairs on welds that were unstable. 7) When running in the traditional CV mode we were able to get the travel speeds thirty percent faster 40 IPM than the Accupulse mode. 8) After turning off the Accupulse mode completely, we were still having what we felt were excessive robot cell stoppages due to Arc Faults and burn backs. 9) We were getting intermittent quotWire Stuck Alarmsquot when we did not have wire sticking conditions. Millers response to this was that there was a timing issue between the robot and the welder causing erroneous nuisance alarms. It may occur if the tip of the wire scrapes on the part after a weld was complete, even though the robot was not stuck and on the way to its next weld or its home position. Miller told me to disable this alarm to avoid nuisance occurrences. 10) We continued having excessive amount of quotArc Shortage Alarmsquot on the Motorman XRC robots. The Arc Shortage alarms are things coming in from the welder after getting a legitimate arc ignition. The welder was logging an excessive amount of wire feed speed errors for no apparent reason. Each time the welder felt it had a wire feed speed error it would send an alarm to the Motoman XRC causing the Arc Shortage alarms. a) Miller ended up turning off the Wire Speed Error alarms in the machine because they felt these alarms were nuisance only causing excessive faults on the robots. 11) Miller was requested for an on site visit to investigate the root cause of our problems. While on site, they cold booted all of the welders to clear out any alarm occurrences. They then verified that the most recent version of quotCodequot was in the machines. 12) On a few machines I had the Inductance set to 60 on a 0-100 scale. Millers default inductance setting is 30. I did this on short circuit welds to get a better wetting action and better bead appearance. Miller decided to set all the welders at an inductance of 30. They felt that a 60 inductance may have been too high causing harsh arc starts. After turning the machines down to 30 inductance, we had to change the arc start conditions in the robots and reduce the start voltage. I had higher than normal starting voltages when using 60 inductance to prevent machine gun type starts. 13) Millers approach to its numerous equipment issues was to bring in a new pulsed power source, the Auto Axcess 300. My application is on 1.8mm and below down to 1.0mm. We are using 0.035 wire with a 92-8 Ar-C02 gas mixture. a) Miller told me that the Auto Axcess 450 machines have a peak short circuit starting current of around 700 amps. They felt that this was much too high for an 0.035 wire causing the micro-arcing conditions. b) The Auto Axcess 300 machines have a peak short circuit starting current of around 500 amps which they felt would be better for welds done less than 200 amps using 0.035 wire. c) Miller turned down the run-in settings to 50 IPM from the 250 IPM I had set. They wanted the wire to run-in much slower while attempting to strike the arc. I started at 100 IPM when we first bought them and tried various settings between 100 and 275 IPM with no real changes noticed. d) Miller also set the wire retracts at the end of the weld to 100 IPM for 0.2 sec. This is done at each arc off automatically by the welder to ensure the wire is not touching the part at the next arc strike. 1 4) The Miller Auto Axcess 450 has another core problem that I feel is definitely worth mentioning. If you use multiple processes on the machine as I am sure many users do, there is a software problem that causes harsh arc strikes, which will add to the tip burn back problems. Essentially the problem is this if you are doing a pulse weld, and the next weld after that is a CV weld, the machine strikes the arc in its last known process (which was pulse) and then switches to its new process (which is CV). This switching cannot be preset in any fashion currently. Miller asked me to actually try and do an Arc On in mid air during an air cut so the next weld could have the proper schedule preselected. You can imagine the problems in doing this. While the robot is moving, a quotHotquot weld wire would be enabled, and feed wire out at the run-in settings it would have to see an Arc Off prior to the timer for the Arc Fail alarms, and then you would have to retract the wire before the next weld. I told Miller this was an unacceptable situation and that I need a way to ensure the next weld is set properly without having to do this. Miller is currently working on a fix for this in their next release of quotCodequot which has not yet been released. At this time there are also no factory preset programs for 0.035 Metal Core wires for CV, Pulse, Accupulse, or RMD. I have asked them to provide me with those as soon as possible because I am using 0.035 Metal Core wires. I am currently using Accupulse on a few welds but had to select an 0.045 program and had to turn the Trim and Arc Control settings way down on the machine to get the Arc Length down to a reasonable level. Much of the development on these machines is done way after the product launch at the customers request. I feel that they should have had many of these things available, and most of the other bugs worked out prior to releasing this welder to the consumers. 15) We are going to monitor the progress of the machines and continue to compare the Auto Axcess 450 to the Auto Axcess 300. I will continue to monitor the progress and see what happens. I dont appreciate being a test facility for the Miller products . If new MIG welding power sources were designed and tested correctly, why is it that the major weld equipment manufactures such as Miller, Lincoln Panasonic etc. seem to be weekly revising the electronic circuit boards and programs in their MIG welding equipment Note From Ed. Greg has the patience of a saint. I believe his company should have replaced the MIG equipment with the 452 and taken Miller to court for the production costs invloved. Miller did not learn from this and keep in mind Magna is likely the worlds largest supplier of auto - truck parts. Scroll down to see that years later the Miller Axcess fiasco continues. Note from Ed. WANT TO CUT DOWN ON WELD SHOP FRUSTRATION DONT BUY ELECTRONIC MIG EQUIPMENT TILL YOU TEST THE HELL OUT OF IT AND MAKE SURE THAT THE MODEL YOU PURCHASE HAS BEEN AVAILABLE TO WELD SHOPS FOR AT LEAST 3 YEARS. Jan 21-2007: E-Mail to Ed Craig. Ed I am a robot technician at a plant that manufactures lawn mowers. We normally weld in the 170-230 Amp range. We had been using Miller DeltaWeld 452s on all of our robot cells. The decision was made to replace these welders with the new quothigh-techquot Miller AutoAxcess 350 which has MIG, Pulse, and Millers own quotaccupulsequot processes. Since changing to these new welders we have to change a lot of contact tips, mostly due to poor arc starts. Miller reps have been back several times but we are still not seeing the benefits from pulse welding that they promised. Any ideas. 1 First as you and I are not electronic engineers, you should consider setting your companies lawyers on Miller for selling equipment that does not function correctly. 2 Perhaps your managers and engineers could also read some of the info at this site before making important and costly MIG weld equipment and process decisions. June 2005 E-mail to Ed. Ed we have the Miller Axcess 450 in our our plant. Our latest Miller MIG equipment fiasco. The gas solenoid just quit working after welding a few parts. We could manually purge gas, weld 1-2 more parts and it would happen again. We originally thought it was in the Wire Feeder or the Feeder Cable, but swapping them out did not fix the problem. We replaced the Motor PC board inside the welder which actually turns the gas valve on and off and still had the problem. Finally in the end we exchanged the entire welder and the problem went away. We only own 7 of these welders and 1 is a spare for emergencies. Of the seven, four have required us to replace PC Boards, these units have not in service one year. From Ed. Whats that old song that has a line, quotwhen will they ever learnquot Ed having the same Miller Axcess problems in Spain 2008. Its April 2008 MILLER AXCESS PROBLEMS . A note from Ed. This month I visited the west coast of Spain to assist an auto plant that makes BMW and other car seats. The plant had great success with their ABB robots and Miller Delta Weld equipment which I had recommended to them five years ago. The plant in 2008 ordered the Miller Axcess for its robot cells. Its first problems were arc start and contact tip issues. Sometimes 13 contact tips a shift were being changed. I knew that Miller has known about this problem for at least three or four years and still has not fixed the problem. My client wants to get rid of the new Miller Axcess, however Miller adds to the problem by no longer making the Delta Weld equipment available with a robot interface. By the way what a useless toy the Miller Palm pilot is, its another tool that will ensure people waste the day quotplayingquot around with useless bells and whistles. E-mail. Aug. 2008. Ed in my Canadian company, we weld auto parts and use the Accu-Pulse, Miller Axcess, 450 amp MIG unit with Motoman robots. Too frequently we get holes in the end of the welds on the thin parts, and the weld end craters are extra long. It seems like every afternoon I play around, (yes, I play around) with the torch angles and wire. stick out, but still have not been able to solve the problem. The bottom line is I get lots of complaints from the weld reworks guys. Do you have any suggestions Regards. Zhu. Weld Tech. Canada Eds Answer Zhu, The crater and control of the weld end data has been an on going problem for years with this equipment. I have devised unique programming and process solutions for these issues. You will find them in package 4 of my robot process control resources. Rememeber Miller is one of the better MIG weld equipment manufacturers, Yet with the apathetic Miller management in this time period, it seems they need years or decades before they respond to their MIG equipment issues, and usually without recalling their faulty products and rarely informing their customers The bottom line as its always been, the weld shops pay the price for the poor weld equipement produces. Boy I hope in the next life I can keep this weld expertise and be reborn as a lawer, because I know many companies that have lost millions due to weld equipement problems. Just to show you how long this Miller BS has been going on, take note of this Auto Axcess email in 2017. E-Mail. Ed. We have had arc end weld issues with 2 Miller Auto Axcess 450 D. Is in a dual arm Motoman cell since the insallation. It seems the Auto-Axcess Sharp-Start routine is causing small explosions at the weld ends. These explosions can be heard and seen as little balls of molten metal shoot out of the cell at the arc ends and some times cause micro crater cracks little snowman looking eruptions that have to be ground off and manually repaired. We needed assistance se we called in the Miller rep. When the regional Miller rep came to our plant he first blamed the weld wire. Then he blamed the gas mix, the gas flow rate, the weld voltage, wire feed speed and the wire stick-out. He then blamed the raw materials we were welding and then followed with we should change all the weld schedules from DC Spray Mig to AccuPulse. With nothing working for this joker, he finally he decided that thee smooth drive rolls on the metal-cored wire was the problem. More to the point, I asked repeatedly if he could turn off the Sharp-Start and auto burnback features he said we would have to talk with the Miller Engineer responsible for the Auto Axcess line. Do you know what we need to do to disable these special features so I can use normal crater fill and burnback techniques By the way we weld only 34 Hot-Rolled plate and its a railroad application. All the robot welds are in the 2F position, 38 single pass fillet. The gas and voltage lets us burn through the mill scale pretty well and we have used these parameters for years in manual welding with regular CV equipment. Our weld data is as follows. Wire: Select-Arc Select 70C6 .062. WFS: 330 IPM. Voltage: 28.5. Gas: 80Ar20Co2. Flow Rate: 40 - 50 CFH. Wire Stick-Out: 34 - 78 Travel Speed: 40 cmmin Thanks In Advance. Jeff Christensen. Mfg. Eng. Progress Rail Services. THE MILLER CONTINUUM. USA 2018: Its 2018, in contrast to the lower cost, more durable Miller CV gt350 amp CV unit that will cost approx. 50 less, we now in 2018 have the Miller Axcess evolution and its called The Continuum. With this so called advanced pulsed MIG unit, we have yet another Miller power source that could not provide me any real world weld benefits for the vast majority of steels, low alloy steels and stainless welds, Dont waste money on bells and whistles, use these process control self teaching training resources that cost 300, and instead of wasting money on that gt7000 advanced MIG power source, you can save 3000 and attain the same weld quality and productivity . Where the hell has the weld current gone Miller Invision, XMT or Accupulse. What happens when you use the regular short circuit or spray transfer MIG modes with this equipment Inverters, pulsed and multipurpose CCCV MIG equipment typically provide a steeper slope than traditional CV equipment, restricting the typical weld current output. The current reduction from this equipment can result in sluggish welds (poor weld fusion) or welders welding in the globular mode when they should be in spray transfer. If using this equipment with low energy argon - oxy or argon lt 9 CO2 mixes, these gas mixes as you know require low weld voltages and will further lower the potential weld current output. WELD EQUIPMENT COMMENTS. ESAB Aristo 450. This multipurpose pulsed inverter provides two different features worth evaluating. The power source has a built in water circulator for water cooled guns. It also has if you feel you need one, an quotarc data monitorquot The Bottom line. This MIG power source provides good weld characteristics, however for 99 of your welds you will never need most of the bells and whistles found on this costly equipment. MANUAL OR ROBOT WELD POWER SOURCES DO NOT REQUIRE quotARC DATA MONITORSquot. WELD SHOPS HOWEVER DO REQUIRE WELD PERSONNEL WHO HAVE WELD PROCESS EXPERTISE A ND WELD MANAGEMENT WHO BELIEVE IN EQUIPMENT OWNERSHIP, BEST WELD PRACTICES AND WELD PROCESS CONTROLS. ABB Robots and ESAB Arcitec Weld Issues. Robot Welds on Ford 6061 Aluminum Car Seats. During 2000, I was requested by an engineer at VAW a tier one supplier to analyze the welding performance of their ABB robot and ESAB Arcitec welding equipment. This plant produces extruded aluminum parts. The aluminum welded car seats were for Ford. The car seats and parts required small welds which were made on thin gage 6061 aluminum. Since the installation of the robot cells, continuous production of optimum weld quality parts has been impossible due to the issues documented in this report. Weld reject rates averaged sixty percent and the robot down time per hour averaged 20 to 30 minutes. To see the rest of the story, click here. From Cleveland or the land of Lincoln. The quotPower Wavequot. LINCOLN POWER WAVE ISSUES. Its only fitting that my last weld consulting job in the year 2000, would be working with Lincoln pulsed MIG equipment at a GM plant in Ohio. The job was simple. A new multi-million dollar production line set up to automatically MIG weld torque converters. The weld problems generated on the lines created, a 4 - 8 leak rate from the 1000 MIG welded parts produced daily, What I found interesting about the costly, high volume installation that had two weld production lines using six Lincoln Power Wave power sources, the lines were not yet in the full production mode, yet the plant engineers informed me that four of the six Lincoln pulsed power sources had already been replaced. Two days into my visit, after switching the erratic pulsed mode off, I used a different wire size and set the torque converters welds to spray transfer mode. The weld reject figure was reduced to quot0quot and as a bonus I gave the GM plant 25 more production. If the lower cost, traditional, more durable Lincoln CV 400 power sources had been purchased, the weld problems would not have occurred and several GM engineers would today would have more respect for Lincoln and its red welding equipment. By the way when making those changes on the converter lines, not one GM manager showed any interest. I work in the US in an automotive parts plant that manufactures components for a Japanese company. We continuously have problems with internal weld porosity. The porosity is not visible from the outside of the weld but when you grind the surface away the welds are full of it. We are MIG welding the galvanealed materials and we have exhausted all efforts to eliminate the porosity. We use a Lincoln Power Wave 450 and have had Lincoln come in and try different pulsed Wave Forms but they could not solve our problem. We have tried different wires and use 90 argon 10 CO2. I believe that the galvanealed coating is contaminating the weld, however its a customer spec and cannot be changed. Any suggestions From Ed: Galvanealed coating rarely causes weld issues. Galvanized causes extensive weld issues. You need more weld energy. Get of the pulsed. Increase the CO2 content to 20 . Use smaller weld wires 0.035, (greater current density). Use low end of Spray data when possible My training resources provide the resolutions for robot welding coated steel parts. For decades Lincoln lived on its SMAW weld equipment and consumable reputation. Lincoln MIG welding equipment was rarely sophisticated, however it was usually durable, low cost and typically always provided a few process performance irritations. From my personal perspective, the Lincoln MIG equipment of the last two decades was inferior to Miller, Linde (ESAB US) and Hobart MIG equipment. 455 STT. This power source combines surface tension transfer (STT) with the pulsed Power Wave characteristics. In other words two unique sets of bells and whistles for the price of one. I have got to admit, I am fascinated by the hype that surrounds the PowerWave, but not facinated by the performance. T his is a MIG package that along with the wire feeder can sell for more than 12.000, or the price of a small car. STT If your company MIG welds carbon steels, low alloy or stainless steels, and you dont weld a quotroot pass on a pipe, with the pipe in the fixed position, then instead of spending 12.000.00 on the Lincoln Power Wave STT you could purchase a traditional 300 amp, CV power source from Lincoln or Miller, equipment that is 25 of the cost, easier to operate and much more durable. Irrespective of what that salesman tells you, when used for welding steel p arts, the traditional lower cost, CV weld equipment in combination with a little weld process expertise can produce the same weld quality and productivity as the 12.000.00 Lincoln Power Wave unit. A t the AWS welding show, while visiting the Lincoln booth, I watched with amusement as a Lincoln rep, with his computer attached to the Power Wave told the welding crowd, (these were mostly guys who typically had not learnt how to control the fifty year old, two control, CV power source) quotthat if they do not like the quotPower Wave Waveform Outputquot then we at Lincoln can use this computer with its u nique software change the pulsed waveform features to suit your specific welding applicationquot. Note from Ed: First lets get the quotdesigner softwarequot that can change a MIG waveform put put, BS out of the way . If a weld equipment manufacturer provides you with a quotpre-programmedquot pulsed power source set to weld carbon, stainless or aluminum applications, as you will likely not be welding metals that fell of the side of a space ship, the preset pulsed weld program should therefore be set to deliver optimum pulsed parameters for a specific gas mix and electrode type and size. As all pulsed welds can be made with 4 weld settings, its logical to assume that any preprogrammed pulsed weld data from a pulsed power source manufacturer, should be close to optimum. If the preprogrammed weld programs in the pulsed MIG equipment are not optimum, the weld equipment manufacturer should replace the individuals responsible for setting the substandard pulsed weld programs. The bottom line, if welds on the worlds common steel MIG applications could be improved through playing around with computer programs, the reality is that data should be part of the preprogrammed weld data. I guess many things have changed at Lincoln during its electronic renaissance, especially when they found out that MIG equipment profits are greatly enhanced when electronic bells and whistles are added to the MIG power source and wire feeders. E-MAIL to Ed. Nov. 8 2003. Ed. I find that in you are right on the mark. I have silently read much of what you have published here without response and sometimes I bite my tongue when the quotsalesmanquot (as you would say) in me would love to send off a scalding e-mail. Yes, my company does manufacture the Lincoln Power Wave 455 and many times, I have seen first hand benefits to companies. I do not try and quotsellquot a Power Wave 455 to people that do not need a Power Wave 455, which is one way that I tend to agree with you. Many of my competitors in Detroit are pushing their quotbells and whistlesquot on to people to weld carbon steel applications that can be tackled with a traditional CV 300 - 400 amp unit quite easily. One more thing, to dispel any thought in your head about the manufacture of L-50 (and L-56) MIG wires. These wires always have and always will be manufactured in Cleveland. Yes, we make MIG wire in Taiwan, England, Mexico etc. but these wires are not branded as L-50 (L-56) nor I will admot are they manufactured to the same standard as L-50 (L-56). In order to compete with all of the foreign MIG wires out there, we created quotbudgetquot brands that cost less to manufacture and therefore, cost less. Keep it real Ed, I look forward to meeting you down the road. Name with held FROM A Technical Representative at the Lincoln Electric Company - Detroit . Mr. Craig. First allow me to say that I truly enjoy visiting your website. There are always a multitude of informative articles to view. I am writing in regard to a specific article you wrote that I just viewed today (51007) entitled quotThe Lincoln Power Wave, is Not Required For This Jobquot. But first allow me to say that I agree with your position on Pulsed Spray GMAW equipment and the common mis-application of it. As a AWS CWICWE that provides training to manufacturers throughout the region, I have run across many instances where manufacturers have been sold the most innovative technology at a stifling price only to find out after considerable cost in rework, rejects and unacceptable welds that they could have had superior quality in finished product by using conventional Spray or Short Circuit Transfer. Having welded to ASME pressure vessel code for years using conventional GMAW-Spray Transfer and conventional DCEN GTAW, I have difficulty in supporting the pulsed technology trend, and even more difficulty understanding why the blue and red suppliers alike are not doing a better job of explaining the technology. Wouldnt have anything to do with increased weld equipment prices or sales commission rates would it Name Withheld, May 2007. The Lincoln Pulsed MIG Power Wave and Ford Axle Cracks: If you want to make your weld manufacturing life more expensive, more complex and less meaningful than it needs to be, you could always have listened to a salesman and purchased the Pulsed Lincoln PowerWave for your robot welds. 1999 -2000: My weld task appeared simple. American Axle a tier one manufacturer located in Michigan ordered two ABB robot systems to weld truck axles. The company I worked for supplied the robots, we were also responsible for setting up the robot cells that would provide one million axle each year. When the robot cells were complete, as part of the contract, we were required to provide a few hundred welded axles as part of the robot cell run off, little did I know about the cracking issues that were about to occur as a result of the Power Wave. For the rest of the story click here . Lincoln STT Good for some root welds and not much else: T he two pictures show part of the Lincoln STT wire feeder and power source. I could be wrong but I believe Lincolns price on the STT package with a few extras should be approx. 11,000 to 12,000. Note: Lincoln advertises that on gage applications with STT you can eliminate weld spatter and reduce smoke. The two, 300 amp traditional CV MIG equipment package as shown below that are available from Lincoln, Miller and others. These CV units sell with their wire feeders for approx 3500. Ref the Lincoln comment on STT and spatter on gage welds. With process control expertise, the majority of gage applications in the industrial world can be welded with controlled short circuit and produce SPATTER FREE welds utilizing the much lower cost, more durable CV MIG equipment (as shown in slow mo above). Also if you want pulsed on gage welds, in gt 2006 and later years, you will be able to purchase much lower cost pulsed MIG equipment than the STT. With a little MIG weld process control - best practice expertise, low cost CV equipment will get the job done to your satisfaction. Its up to you, if you have money to burn you know where the fire is. If you weld parts less than 0.080 and you simply cannot have miniscule weld spatter, then yes evaluate STT and the electronically modified short circuit weld transfer modes like RMD and CMT, with the low cost (lt 4000) pulsed MIG equipment now sold by Miller (350P). Ed we run a Lincoln CV 600. We are running an 0.035 (1 mm) wire at 650 ipm and 28 - 30 volts. We use 90 argon 10 CO2 and are drawing about 200 amps. According to your books we should go into spray at gt200 amps at gt 420 inchmin, whats happening Eds Answer. You have lost your current. If you note, on this power source you will find a process switch that can be set at three settings. 1 UPPER SETTING: Stick SMAW, 2 Middle SETTING SAW - CV, 3 LOWER SETTING. Self shield (fcaw). If you use the stick (SMAW) setting you will have selected a steeper slope which restricts the weld current. Use the SAW - CV setting and you should be drawing 240 - 250 amps, which is correct for that wire feed rate. Of course the power source could also require repair, or you may need to replace a fuse at your 3 - phase supply. When a weld equipment manufacturers rep informs you that their sophisticated MIG power source has quotunlimited weld parameter adjustment potentialquot, please remember first this is impossible and second this simply allows your workers to spend even more time quotplaying aroundquot with typically useless, unnecessary weld parameters and controlsquot. AS MIG WELD EQUIPMENT BECOMES MORE SOPHISTICATED, THE POWER SOURCE MANUFACTURERS APPARENTLY DO NOT SEEM TO CONCERNED THAT THE WELDING EQUIPMENT IS ALSO BECOMING MORE COMPLEX, MORE COSTLY TO REPAIR AND LESS DUR ABLE . Ed. We have a Lincoln PowerWave and are having what Lincoln calls a quotBirds Nestquot problem. This is an intermittent problem but when they do occur, at various locations in the weld paths, they begin with an Arc 18 arc failure alarm, followed by the wire continuing to feed momentarily, doubling over on itself inside the weld gun conduit and jamming up the guide. We checked our lost arc detect interval in our weld system setup it is set at the factory 0.25 sec. The billion dollar Lincoln Electric company with all its engineers and product managers was not sure what the problem was, so they have been having us do their work for tham and swap out components in an elimination process to isolate the cause. Of course the fact that the power source was not welding for our company was of little concern to Lincoln who never made an offer of compensation. First we replaced the wire feeder cable. Then we replaced the wire feed unit itself. Now they think we should have our Power Wave power source looked at, since the problem persists. Ed dDo you have any suggestions on what can be causing this problem and how we should best deal with it The snarls never used to happen it is a recent thing in the last couple of months. Sincerely. Brian O. Eds Answer. For a weld power source that has more weld issues than an Enron balance sheet, you know what my answer to this problem would be. By the way if those that purchase weld equipment would spend less time talking to salesmen and more time on sites like this you would not have been having these problems. The question today in 2018 Does the weld shop want a MIG power source that is electronically sensitive to many issues, or would the weld shop rather have a power source that is easily controlled and provides c onsistent weld performance . FOR THOSE THAT ARE IMPRESSED WITH BELLS AND WHISTLES, LINCOLN MAY HAVE PRODUCED WITH THE POWERWAVE, THE ULTIMATE WELD GAME , SORRY POWER SOURCE . As I write this in 2008, the Lincoln Power Wave is now one of the biggest selling robot power sources sold to the North American automotive industry. Most auto - truck plants believe that costly, sophisticated weld equipment with extensive bells and whistles will provide the solutions to their hands off management engineering welding woes. Its a pity the managers and engineers who selected this equipment, did not spend a few dollars and get a weld process control education. It will be even more of a pity the first time they see the frequent issues that the Power Wavet has generated and with the high repair costs it will require Lincoln Wave Forms: While on the subject of pulsed, let me quote from a Lincoln article on the Waveform in the Welding Journal, Jan 2000 edition. The Lincoln author states, quotthat the waveform in its equipment is the means for determining the performance characteristic of a single molten droplet of electrode. The area under the waveform determines the amount of energy applied to that single drop. The Lincoln author continues with this statement which every weld shop decision maker has been holding his breath waiting for three decades to hear, quotsuperimposed in a selective fashion over the waveform is the quotadaptivequot characteristic of synergic pulsed GMAW . This 1980 picture is a slow motion shot of regular, quotspatter freequot MIG transfer in the glob to spray transition zone. Do you really believe that all the electronic sophistication mentioned is necessary for controlled drop - stream weld metal transfer from the MIG wire tip to the weld Take any low cost MIG power source, built in the last 40 years, set it with spray parameters and watch it provide controlled, spatter free weld metal transfer. Still not convinced For gods sake, like the guy on the ri ght, I could also take two car batteries and with the 24 volts create a power source to form a decent MIG weld on some welds. Also a point that many seem to forget. Most traditional gt300 amp CV MIG power sources manufactured in the USA, from 1960 can produce a MIG or flux cored weld that would meet the most stringent weld code requirements anywhere in the industrial world. PULSED WAVES UNDER THE BRIDGE Its Feb. 2004, I just spent a few days with a bridge builder. This company had two robot cells for welding bridge decks and frames. On the one side an ABB robot was utilized with Miller Delta Weld equipment, the other robot cell utilized Fanuc robots with the Lincoln Power Waves. The robots and MIG equipment was purchased in the late 1990s. The steel, short length, 14 (6 mm) fillet welds made by the the Miller equipment required minimal weld repairs, and the weld repairs that were required were a usually a result of the part fit not from the weld process. In contrast in the robot cell containing the Lincoln Power Wave, the MIG weld rework for two years had been over fifty percent. When evaluating the weld performance of both cells , I came to the following weld conclusions. 1 FANUC ROBOT ISSUE. The Fanuc cells were supplied with through arc weld tracking. Due to the inconsistency and poor performance of this equipment the bridge company had turned the arc tracking off. To compensate they made the welds much larger and longer than the weld spec called for. 2 POWER WAVE ISSUE: When evaluating the Lincoln power source, I found the Power Wave weld current variation on a weld 2 inches long, varied from 170 amp to 300 amps, with the same welds you could also note a two volt weld variation. This parameter instability from the power source, has dramatically impacted what should have been a simple weld application. This application required through the arc weld tracking, however its not logical to try to utilize through the arc weld tracking when the MIG power source cannot provide relatively stable weld voltage or current on an application with a constant wire stick out. 3 POWER WAVE ISSUE: The crater control on this unit was very poor. The robot Power Wave data did not start to react till more than a second was added and even then the crater welds with optimum weld data, at best would be described as erratic. On bridge welds, if you cannot control the weld craters you have to compensate and make the welds longer. 4 POWER WAVE AND FANUC ROBOT ISSUE: The weld arc on time on the application in the Fanuc cell accounted for more than 85 of the total cycle time. Due to the lack of effective through arc tracking and unstable weld conditions twice the amount of weld required was used for the bridge platform welds. The bottom line this weld equipment has caused the bridge manufacturer to utilize three shifts to do work that could have been done in less than 2 shifts. To resolve the weld issue the bridge company will for its next robot installation make sure it has stable weld equipment (not from Lincoln) and the robot has an effective through the arc tracking unit. E. Mail April 2005: From. D. H. at GM Pontiac MI. Ed we are a GM plant in MI. I have about 50 Fanuc Robots all using Lincoln Power Waves pulsed MIG equipment. We weld using an 0.045 (1.2 mm) silicon bronze wire and argon gas. The 0.045 wire feed rate is 240 inchmin with 24V. The robot welds are made on galvanealed thin gage parts. The robots were purchased around 2001 and 2002. In the last 6 months some of the Power Waves have extensive burnt backs to the contact tip for no logical reason. The burn backs occur any where in the welds. We have changed liners, the guns and tips. We even changed the power source. The good Lincoln Power Wave power source we have would also start to do the same thing when placed in the cell where the burn backs occur. We have had all the experts in and got no help including Lincoln, what do you think Dave Eds Answer. Dave. As you are using short circuit wire feed rate for the silicon bronze 045 wire its a pity your organization did not purchase the much lower cost Lincoln CV 400, you would have saved around 250,000.00 and avoided these power source electronic problems. Also this problem is already delt with at thi s site. I am amazed that Lincoln or Fanuc did not help you as this appears to be a power source issue, however I guess your 36 month warranty is up. Yes burn backs can occur frequently if wire restriction issues occur, as you changed the guns and tips and checked the weld wire feed ability, that should rule that out. Are you using an external volt sensing (VS) lead if so check continuity. If the volt sense lead is OK, its likely the power source is causing the issues. Disable the VS lead. I have found that artificial intelligence (looped electronic feed back of the weld data) with pulsed equipment can be unstable even with new pulsed equipment and that the instability can increase with the aging electronics, (especially once the 36 month warranty is up). This problem in my simple mind, is the power source technology is beyond the capability of the power source mfg. I believe to disable the VS, a jumper lead has to be moved in the power source, this is supposed to only take 10 minutes. If disabling the VS did not work, then in the robot pendant disable both the arc start and wire burn back functions as these functions have been known to influence weld performance and produce erratic results. To displace this preset power source weld data use separate weld schedules at the arc starts ends. Arc start. Use one to two volts higher than weld volts. Arc end. Use one to two volts less than weld volts. Your 24 weld volts for this application also sounds too high. For short circuit an actual weld voltage (indicated on the power source volt meter of 16 to 19 volts would be typical. For pulsed around 22 volts. If using a laptop provided weld schedule program, change to a standard power source program. Try the 045 standard short circuit mode for steel stainless. Its a pity your 36 month warranty is just up, whats that song quotwhen will they ever learnquot See Lincoln issues above, and thanks to Greg Smith at Marada for his contribution. Greg also had to go through many frustrating issues with his Lincoln Power Wave equipment. THE NEXT TIME YOU WANT TO SPEND MONEY ON quotWAVE FORMSquot I WOULD MAKE SURE ITS AT THE POOL OR BEACH. I have had extensive experience with the Lincoln Power Wave on many robot applications. I would rather not repeat the experiences. My advice to anyone looking at a Power Wave, consider instead the 2000 to 4000 traditional Lincoln CV units and use the thousands of dollars saved for a cool vacation. If you need a power sou rce to hook up to a robot unfortunately I believe that Lincoln does not offer a low cost CV unit with a seperate Interface panel, so you then have to take that leap into the Lincoln waves, A PULSED WELD PICTURE IS WORTH AT LEAST A THOUSAND WORDS. The next two picture are are two 316 (5mm) fillet welds I made on 14 (6mm) stainless steel. The welds were made with a Lincoln 300 Power MIG. This power source is single phase, pulsed MIG power source that retails around 3,700. The Lincoln 300 power source has pre-scheduled pulsed programs for specific wire diameters. This MIG power source was purchased by a company that welds steel and stainless parts. The MIG wire is an 0.035 - 308L stainless wire. I set the 0.035 (1mm) wire feed at 550 ipm which should be an optimum pulsed wire feed rate. The power source provided the preset pulsed parameters. I simply had to set the trim weld voltage to attain the optimum arc length. The welds were untouched after welding. Take note of the pulsed weld appearance and also the heat affected zone. Lincoln pulsed power source with pulsed mode switched on. Switch off the pulsed mode and this 316 stainless, traditional spray transfer fillet weld was made with the same power source, consumables and wire feed rate as the pulsed weld. As you can see the HAZ is similar, this weld had similar spatter and similar surface. My point is simple, there is nothing special about either of these two welds, however, why pay an additional 15,00.00 for something you dont need to weld steel or stainless parts Why pay for something that adds to the weld complexity, something that is less durable and more costly to repair E-MAIL. Oct 2008. Ed I recently bought a new Lincoln 350MP, for pulse welding 18 ga aluminum. At first my new unit performed OK then the problem started, while welding 18 gage, my weld would flare up the wire back into the nozzle. The machine is rated to weld 19 ga. I got the supplier to exchange my machine for another one, which has the same problem, it flares just as bad on 18th alum. I have a push-pull gun, and the wire feeds fine. Im running the machine on 50ft multi-strand cable, two 50 amp breakers. My friend is going to help me check out the electricity. Lincoln and the supplier have been no help, I dont have a clue, and I dont know what to do. Adam Eds Reply: Adam as you are using a push pull gun with this multi-purpose, Lincoln pulsed on pulsed, chopper technology I rule out wire feed issues. The fact that you purchased a multi-purpose power source and, these units are rarely noted for optimum MIG performance especially at low end or high end parameter ranges. You are welding very thin gage that requiries low, stable pulsed parameters and Imn sure the 50 foot cable does not help. Your weld problem sounds like you dont have enough voltage and current available to sustain a consistent pulsed arc. Low, erratic pulsed parameters would cause the pulsed arc plasma to collapse causing the arc to wonder or occasionally flare. I have said many times at this site, that instead of being impressed with bells and whistles and the wave forms, chopper and pulsed on pulsed marketing verbage, check out the equipment, especially the recommended low and high end welding range. The bottom Line when the same problem occurs in two new power sources, you have an equipment design or part problem. This is Lincolns problem, not yours. As they are not likely to recall the equipment, and you have wasted enough of your time on this issue, send the power source back. The Miller 350P appears to have a good pulsed low end, give it a try. Ed WHEN YOU PURCHASE MIG EQUIPMENT BELLS AND WHISTLES, DONT EXPECT REAL WORLD RESULTS: Lets face it the biggest attribute about some of the Lincoln equipment, may be the marketing names applied to the specific options and weld transfer modes. Chopper, pulsed on pulse, wave forms, all sound impressive and I am sure help in the sale of the in the equipment. The real question is does the technology in question perform in a consistent stable manner and do the resulting weld transfer modes provide real world benefit for the application. . For a pulsed equipment manufacturer to show his pulsed technology is superior, we are going to hear some wonderful pulsed equipment gibberish presented in the next decade. In 2009, expect a tremendous amount of new marketing induced bovine fecal matter to be presented on how advanced electronics will further influence the pulsed weld droplet size, shape and energy etc. Unfortunately in an industry that too frequently has to rely on sales brochures and weld sales expertise to resolve its weld issues, there are many welding customers that are ready to believe the pulsed MIG equipment sales hype. Also lets face weld reality. Weld distributors have never made much profit selling Lincoln equipment, a product line which now appears to be available in just about every hardware store in North America. I believe the high price of the Power Wave is its greatest feature, and that feature benefits Lincoln and its weld distributors more than it will benefit most weld applications. 2003. Be very wary of the JAPANESE Motoman 350 MIG Power Source, its a sad excuse for a a welding piece of equipment If you use Motoman robots, its unfortunate that you may have purchased the Japanese built 350 MIG equipment. If you want a poor to mediocre, inconsistent, w elds this quipment will provide it. At two separate locations during 2003 I have had issues with t he Motoman equipment. In Aug. 2003 it was my unfortunate task to optimize a large welding cell that utilized Moto Man UP6 robots with the 350 welding equipment. One of the new power sources was so erratic it had to be replaced. On the remaining equipment I found inferior arc starting characteristics, inconsistent weld transfer and the required voltage range was excessive resulting in globular type transfer. Later in 2003 I assisted one auto supplier of thin parts with his numerous robot weld issues. The parts were 1.2 mm thick, the weld wire was 035 - 1 mm. The weld mode selected was short circuit. I noted again with the Motor Man MIG equipment that at the required low wire feed short circuit settings that the minimum stable weld voltage required from this equipment was 1 to 3 volts higher than that which would have been required with the traditional North American CV equipment. The required, higher weld volts from this inferior Japanese MIG equipment caused ERRATIC quotglobular transferquot and the additional voltage provided higher weld energy which added to the quotweld burn through potentialquot on the thin parts. LETS CHAT FOR A MOME NT ABOUT Controlled weld droplets or a stream of weld metal cascading into the molte n metal we like to call a weld . I have a question for thos of you that dont have a life and still reading. Do you believe that when you water your lawn the grass will be greener if the water is pulsed when it leaves the hose What is an issue for most welds is the weld energy delivered. The bottom line, pulsed can produce in some instances a lower energy open arc weld mode. Therefore to justify purchasing pulsed equipment look for a weld application that requires the heat concerns, such as clad welding or welding aluminum a Pulsed provides lower weld energy than traditional spray transfer. However if you are aware of all the wire feed and voltage settings that can produce spray transfer with the different wire diameters, you can often replicate the pulsed weld energy with spray transfer and a smaller diameter MIG wire. b Pulsed can provide weld spatter levels to an absolute minimum. If spray transfer is set correctly the weld spatter amount will be minuscule. c Pulsed is beneficial on alloy electrodes that typically provide poor weld transfer, electrodes such as alum bronze. A real pulsed benefit. MIG equipment I Would Not Recommend. If you have a robot purchase in mind the following power sources are what I personally would not recommend in 2008. 1 The Lincoln Power Wave. This welding unit quotwill often take you where you dont need to go, restrict you where you should not be restricted, and make you pay a price you dont need to pay. With this power source in your robot cell it would be wise to make sure you have a spare. For optimum manual or robot carbon stainless MIG welds stick with the Lincoln CV 400 amp power source. 2 The Lincoln Ideal Arc This multi-purpose unit provides mediocre MIG performance. 3 The Panasonic HM Units. lt2004 units. If Panasonic thinks this is a solution to North American welding problems they should fire their so called Japanese welding experts. If you purchased Panasonic pulsed equipment before 2004 god help bless you. 4 The ABBESAB Arcitec . Sold as a built in with ABB robots. This erratic, poor performance power source introduced in the nineties must have put Swedish weld manufacturing technology back two decades. For more information on this quotuniquequot welding equipment you know where to find me, and I wont be in Stockholm. 5 Miller Maxtron. Its hard to understand how a company with Millers reputation would want to place this machine into any welding shop. 6 Miller Invision. I nco nsistent performance, sold before it was ready for weld shops. . 7 Thermal Arc MIG equipment. Erratic electronics and poor pulsed spray arc characteristics at high low data. 8 Kemppi. I do not like the performance or durability of their MIG equipment. BACK TO WELDING REALITY. Spray Transfer can be so simple. With traditional CV MIG equipment, an argon mix and two simple weld parameter settings, you can produce weld droplets as shown in this video, or turn the wire feed rate up and create a weld stream at higher current and voltages. Its true that with spray transfer, the weld droplets are not quotindividually controlledquot but who cares, as long as they transfer into the weld in a stable manner, inside a suitable plasma. And if you want more or less MIG energy from CV equipment, a change the wire feed rate, b change the welding voltage, c change the wire size or type, d use a different gas mix. e change the wire stick out. With open arc transfer such as pulsed MIG and spray transfer, its not that important on how the weld wire converts to molten metal, what is important is that the molten metal transfers in a consistent, stable manner. A CV MIG power source has had this capability since the nineteen sixties. MOST MIG WELDS ON PARTS gt 3 mm WILL PROVIDE MARGINAL WELD FUSION: With correct spray weld parameters, the traditional spray transfer is stable and almost completely spatter free. Yes traditional spray transfer is hot, but as most MIG welds have marginal weld fusion this is a weld benefit not a weld detriment. The primary issue with most spray welds is insufficient side wall fusion, there fore there is little logic to utilize pulsed and reduce the potential weld energy. At the end of the day, the following may be the best justification why pulsed MIG will one day soon be the worlds number one MIG welding process. A welding distributor if lucky may make 10 to 20 on a traditional 3000, CV. MIG power source wire feed equipment package. In contrast on that 6000 to 12,000 pulsed equipment package which produces no more weld productivity and no better weld quality on most steel welds, that additional profit will certainly be an incentive for both the weld equipment manufacturer and distributors. And lets face it, with the short pulsed equipment life, well thats just a bonus to the MIG equipment manufactures who repair and sell this equipment. BEST MIG WIRES FOR ALUMINUM WELDS. Alcoa. BEST MIG WIRES FOR STAINLESS. Sanvik. BEST STAINLESS FLUX CORED WIRES. Kobelco Alloy Rods (ESAB) BEST CARBON STEEL FLUX CORED WIRES, (ALL POSITION) ARGON CO2 MIXES. For the best gas shielded, flux cored wires, I have always recommended Alloy Rods, quotUltra sold by ESABquot Tri Mark products sold by Hobart and Kobelco products. I have never recommended Lincoln Electric gas shielded flux cored products as I found the ones I tested had many issues. In contrast to the Alloy rod or Tri Mark wires, the Lincoln E71T-1 gas shielded wires I tested provide a smaller optimum weld parameter range, instability with the arc, and too many worm tracks. The bottom line the Lincoln wires were provided less weld deposition rate potential and the last time I tried these wires, the vertical up welds had so much porosity and worm tracks in the weld it looked like a cheese grate. BEST CARBON STEEL FLUX CORED WIRES (ALL POSITION) USING STRAIGHT CO2. My first choice, Kobelco. Self shielded flux cored wires. These products do not belong indoors and so far only the inexperienced auto truck industry has pushed their use. Any company that uses these products for indoor weld applications is not concerned about weld quality, productivity or the health of their workers. BEST STEEL MIG WIRE. My first choice of carbon steel MIG wire is still the Lincoln L - 50 wire manufactured in Cleveland. However it seems today that some Lincoln MIG wires are produced in strange places like China or Timbuctoo. If you purchase Lincoln products that are not Cleveland manufactured, for robot SPRAY OR PULSED applications you may find the arc sounds change every few seconds. My second choice of MIG wire is ESAB 70S-3 THE WORST MIG WIRES: While providing process improvements across the USA and Canada, the carbon steel MIG wires I had the most robot weld issues with were made by Hobart, (inconsistent chemistry). I also had extensive problems with National Standard MIG wires which had too many cast or helix, and silicon issues, and their E70S-6 wire provided too much weld fluidity (excess silicon) leading to undercut on some applications and burn through on thin gage welds. 2004 National Standard MIG wires and the PULSED MIG weld BOVINE FECAL matter was really flowing. I was amazed to read an advertisement in the Nov. 2003 Weld Journal from National Standard for the new N-S Pulse PLUS steel weld wire. NS claims that with their MIG wire and the pulsed process you will get less spatter. less fumes and reduce the need for grinding. NS claims that there pulsed wire is supposed to have a wider operating range. I guess that 12000, useless pulsed power source you just purchased thats loaded down with electronic bells and whistles to control the arc now has nothing to do with the pulsed weld ability. This type of ridiculous product advertising is what adds to the mountains of Bovine fecal matter that has helped destroy the technical credibility of toadys welding industry. Its a shame a reputable magazine like the Weld Journal, a magazine that represents the American Weld Society allowed this form of advertising. ED MADE THIS SPRAY 516 FILLET WELD WITH A E70S-3 MIG WIRE, A TWO PART GAS MIX, AND A MIG POWER SOURCE AND WIRE FEED UNIT THAT SOLD FOR LESS THAN 3000 E Mail Nov 04. Ed. I spent 33 years with Esab India Ltd, selling MIG, TIG and Plasma equipment. Your web site is a wonderful observation of the global weld industry and how the pulsed MIG weld equipment manufacturers have for decades fooled the so called weld industry experts. T. K.Bandyopadhyay. FroniusTwin Wire a waste of time and money in 2004: While the twin MIG wire process claims unique real world benefits from pipe welding to high speed automotive. Keep in mind two torches and two robots can also do what the twin wire process can achieve. The Fronius Twin process shown above is a quottandemquot welding process. This is one of the most sophisticated twin wire systems available. With the Fronius equipment there are two digital pulsed power sources working together. The Fronius Twin Digital machines produces a separate arc. A synchronization unit regulates the interplay of the two arcs. Too see the Fronius Tandem process on pipe, click. Please note nine years later this process which I criticized for its poor performance in 2004 is today in 2017 almost none existent. Thatrsquos less useless bells and whistles for this sad industry. MANAGERS BEFORE YOU CONSIDER COMPLEX AND SOPHISTICATED WELD EQUIPMENT LIKE THE TWIN WIRE PROCESS, ITS FIRST LOGICAL TO OPTIMIZE THE EXISTING PROCESSES YOU ALREADY OWN. When using the quotsingle wirequot MIG process, how many managers encourage their weld team members to evaluate the robot weld program, the process, the consumables, the parts, the design or the weld fixture to ensure they have done everything possible to attained the highest potential weld efficiency and deposition rate from their existing robots Irrespective of the weld equipment purchased, you cannot optimize robot welds without weld best practice and weld process control expertise. For those managers, engineers and technicians that are prepared to read and involve themselves in the MIG process, please note, there are many things that can be done to greatly increase the traditional, single MIG wire, robot weld travel rates. This unique information along with robot weld process control information is available in my quotManagement Engineers MIG Bookquot. ELECTRONIC, WELD DATA MONITORING EQUIPMENT CAN ONLY REPORT WHAT IT READS. THE FOLLOWING IS A WELD PARAMETER GRAPH TAKEN FROM A MONITORING DEVICE USED ON A PANASONIC PULSED POWER SOURCE WHILE WELDING. THE CURRENT LINE IS BLACK THE VOLTAGE LINE IS RED. THE WIRE FEED AND WIRE STICKOUT WAS CONSTANT. NOTE THE LARGE CURRENT HIGH AND LOW SPIKES. NOTE HOW THE VOLTAGE DROPS TO ALMOST ZERO NUMEROUS TIMES. THIS ERRATIC WELD RESULT WAS ALSO TYPICAL FROM THE PULSED MODES WITH THE LINCOLN POWER WAVE AND MILLER INVISION. THE LOWER GRAPH SHOWS THE SAME WELD WIRE AND WIRE FEED RATE AS USED WITH THE PANASONIC EQUIPMENT SET AT THE SAME WIRE FEED RATE. THIS WELD PARAMETER GRAPH IS FROM AN quotUNSOPHISTICATEDquot MILLER DELTA WELD WHICH COSTS CONSIDERABLY LESS. NOTE THE FAR GREATER ARC STABILITY WITH BOTH THE WELD CURRENT (BLACK) AND VOLTAGE (RED). THIS STABILITY AND SUPERIOR OUT PUT FOR CONTROL OVER WELD FUSION COMES FROM THE MUCH LOWER COST, TRADITIONAL NORTH AMERICAN CV POWER SOURCE. FOR THOSE OF YOU THAT GET FRUSTRATED WITH THE WELD PERFORMANCE FROM YOUR SOPHISTICATED ELECTRONIC MIG EQUIPMENT, ESPECIALLY ON HIGH WELD SPEED APPLICATIONS. NOW YOU KNOW WHY. WELD REALITY: FOR MIG AND FLUX CORED WELD STEEL AND STAINLESS WELDS MADE IN THE FLAT AND HORIZONTAL POSITIONS, A MILLER OR LINCOLN TRADITIONAL, 300 - 450 AMP CV MIG POWER SOURCE CAN OUT PERFORM ANY ELECTRONIC POWER SOURCE TODAY SOLD IN NORTH AMERICA. With the Lincoln power source I found that the best way to attain stable, high speed steel welds was to switch the pulsed mode off. The Weld Journal reports on Lincoln Electric F355i Lincoln Electrics F355i pulsed power source communicates directly to the robot controller through an quotEthernet systemquot. This eliminates some of the intermediary hardware and software usually required between the power source and controller and according to Lincoln, makes the entire system operate faster. What the Weld Journal does not report is when I used this equipment I found that the Lincoln pulsed power source provided high speed pulsed welds that were extremely arc length sensitive. This sensitivity made the equipments pulsed mode unsuitable for many high speed robot weld applications. A few years ago, you could purchase a Miller quotelectrical interfacequot for the robot and power source. With correct consumables and weld data communication speed was not an issue. When something went wrong with this electrical equipment any electrician could quickly identify where the problem was and then repair it. I could duplicate any weld made today by the state of the art, Lincoln quotEthernet systemquot with equipment developed two decades ago. I know I cannot hold back the tide of fecal matter that is now flowing through weld shops however I can point out what is BS, and products that provide no real world weld benefits. If you have to ask a salesman or weld equipment rep about MIG equipment, be prepared for product bias and a great amount of exaggeration. If you dont see through the bovine fecal matter that has surrounded the pulsed equipment, you may want to start to teach your weld personnel Latin so they can pronounce the marketing names that will be describing the future weld equipment bells and whistles. The weld process fecal matter continues. The Weld Journal reports. quotThe Panasonic Factory Automations soon-to-be introduced B1 power source features a quot32-bit RISC microcomputerquot that gives it a level of intelligence more sophisticated than most welding robots and its data will run 125 times faster. The result is the use of inverter technology for waveform control of short-circuit GMAW. Eds comments. The graph on the RIGHT is taken from a Panasonic power source made in 2003. This oscilloscope volt amp graph was taken by a frustrated engineer at a Canadian automotive weld facility. He wondered why his costly, electronic MIG equipment provided inconsistent weld results. The electronic pulsed MIG equipment may be advertised as quotintelligentquot, however someone needs to show the MIG equipment manufactures that weld parameter, (volt-amp) stability is one of the most important functions of a MIG power source. After evaluating the so called intelligent power sources for almost two decades, I have yet to see one that can provide practical, cost effective, measurable welding benefits. One could ask why make a power source more intelligent than the robot The robot pendant should clearly spell out the weld data and time commands and the power source should simply respond. We dont need MIG weld equipment that quotthinksquot we need equipment that responds. The bottom line is weld equipment manufacturers have yet to figure out the necessary electronic communication relationship between a robot and a power source. The weld equipment manufacturers seem do their thing and the robots manufacturers do theirs. It often all adds up to unnecessary electronics in the robot cells. Weld Journal reports. Thermal Arc is shifting from the use of teach pendants to controlling the power source using a personal computer as with the Power Master 500P. quotWe see this as something well be doing more of, quot Wiseman said. quotYou can do more with a PC than with a pendant. quot To make it easy for the customer to use, the company made sure there was quotnothing unfamiliar about the softwarequot he said. quotIt looks like a normal Windows screen. quot Eds comments. Are these people REAL, for five decades this industry has struggled with two simple MIG controls, now they are talking about using a computer. Give a weld decision maker a conventional MIG power source and with three simple parameter settings per wire diameter, as shown in my books and training CDs, and that person will instantly set optimum MIG weld quality and productivity on any application in North America. The last thing any weld shop needs is a computer. Weld Journal reports. ESAB has begun introducing machines with a special quotswitching technologyquot a technology that produces efficiencies similar to inverters but at a cost more like conventional power supplies, Fernicola said. In addition, the companys new Aristo MIG 400 model power source utilizes a quotBUS systemquot that enables the power source and wire feeder to communicate in much the same way as an automobiles computer communicates with the rest of the cars systems. Eds comments. Does this mean we can drive it You hopefully are now getting the big BS picture about MIG weld equipment. In the weld equipment game of one up-manship. Each of these weld equipment manufacturing companies looks like its dedicated to adding unnecessary costs and complexity to the welding industry. E Mail to Ed 02 05. Ed. I absolutely love the website, itrsquos fantastic and has a lot of advanced information that a professional welder like me loves to read. I have been working at Bobcat for the last seven years making the excavators and attachments for the skid steers. My plant in located in Bismark, North Dakota. This is a multimillion dollar plant that invests heavily in Fanuc robots, lasers, and anything else that is the latest craze. I really took note on your section about pulsed MIG. Six years ago, I was working in the cabcanopy cell. We had three shifts, four jigs and could always stay ahead of the weld production schedule. There were approximately 10 people that worked in that cell on all shifts. For a few years we used the CV Miller Deltaweld 451 machines. One day I came in and found that half of our Miller power sources were replaced with small Panasonic Inverter pulsed machines. The sales rep who bought in the Panasonic equipment told everybody just starting my shift that these were demo machines and go ahead and use them and tell him how they worked out a week later. The first problem was nobody knew how to set them up to weld. After playing around we figured them out. Even when set right they would spit and sputter during the welds, then they would go from a controllable weld to a weld that was way too hot. My weld production went from one canopy per hour to 6 in 8 hrs. Try like hell I just could not get back up to the weld production I had attained with the CV miller equipment. At the end of the week we had 9 people out of 10 saying take these S. O.B. s out. they SUCK The sales rep response quotwe need to train you guys how to set them so we will all have a classquot. They never provided the class and we got stuck with equipment. Six months later we get another visit from the Panasonic salesman, you would think this guy was running the weld shop. This time the sale rep was pushing the new Panasonic HM 500. At this time I started to get into the robot side of Bobcat. I was working in a cell that had a fanuc RJ2 and Miller 451 power source. It was nice MIG weld operation, STRAIGHTFORWARD AND LOGICAL with minimum weld issues, however but it wasnt meant to last. The engineers in our plant replaced all the robot cell weld equipment with the Panasonic HM 500s. Because of the way our robot cells were setup, we had 1000 pound spools of wire on the outside of the cell and the wire would have to be fed through 60 feet of conduit to get to the wire feeder. With the miller equipment in the robot cells there was no problems, because of how their drive roll setup was designed. (four interlocking gear meshed rollers). The first thing that happened with the new Panasonic equipment was extensive burn back to the tips because of the how their feeder was designed. (one drive roller and then an idler). Again the problems generated was quotour faultquot, yet we were told we need to learn how to use the Panasonic equipment. To get the Panasonic equipment feeding the wire in a more controlled manner, we had to reconfigure the cells so the weld wire was closer to the robots. Once closer to the robots the weld heat must have affected the Panasonic equipment as on average they seemed to burn up every 4 months We actually had one power source that burnt up within 30 minutes after it was installed. About the time that Bobcat was ready to pull out, somebody leaked to our friendly sales rep that we were going testing both Lincoln and a new Miller model. The rep came back and told us that we should wait on changing over because Panasonic was releasing their HM 500 II machine and that they were much better machines. The salesroom gave the usual BS and demonstrate a machine to management that had more had more control than the cock pit in an airplane. There was of course an extra price to pay for the extra knobs but our gullible management again bought into the sales pitch. Bobcat used to like to keep its weld equipment for at least 15 years before they changed them out. We had the Panasonic equipment for less than 48 months when the management decided it had to go. I am back to welding with the Miller 451 and making some pretty sweet weld beads. I absolutely love welding but when you get people that come in and they dont know what they are talking about, it makes a McDs job start to look pretty good. Ed your website is great and I look forward to soaking up more knowledge from it. Best regards and thanks for your time to read this novel. Note from Ed. This e-mail had it all. Lack of process expertise from both management and engineers. Lack of equipment ownership from management. The consequences from weld sales influence. Frustrated weld personnel. Overpriced pulsed MIG equipment and an industry that looks to useless bells and whistles as a crutch for its lack of weld process expertise. MIG Contact Tip MIG weld Question. Ed MIG contact tip issues is a prime cause of robot down time at our plant. We make steel auto truck shock components. I figure we are losing over one hour of robot production per - robot due to the contact tip issues. I have read about special alloy tips and their influence on tip longevity and seen different tip profiles. My question is should we be doing more work on tip evaluation Signed. Frustrated robot weld tech. Thanks to different alloy additions to copper of course some contact tips will offer different properties that can affect wear or conductivity. The shape of the tip is rarely relevant, thicker is typically just a little better than thinner. The real issue in most weld shops that utilize arc welding robots is to first recognize the process root cause of the contact tip failures. The vast majority of contact tips require replacement due to the following a Wire burn back due to poor robot weld start end data. b Use of oversized MIG wires causing the use of globular weld transfer. The large globular droplets quickly block the contact tip bore. c Spatter caused by poor weld parameters. d Wire cast or helix issues. e Tip in wrong position or nozzle to close to weld. f Pulsed or spray parameters that create a short wire stick out. The resolutions to eliminating all major contact tip problems are spelled out in my robot process control training resources, click here Contact Tip Facts. Copper has been the material of choice for many decades, primarily because, after silver, it displays the second best electrical conductivity amongst all metals. Due to its face centered cube crystalline structure, pure copper is naturally ductile. Copper for contact tips is strengthened by a number of strengthening mechanisms including cold work, solid solution, precipitation hardening and dispersion strengthening. The most popular and inexpensive copper alloy used in North America for contact tips is CDA C12200 P deoxidized copper). Precipitation hardening alloys such as C18100 (Cu-Cr-Zr), C18200 (Cu-Cr), C17510 (Cu-Be) have been common for high performing tips since generally they tend to have higher physical wear performance than C12200. Unfortunately, as most strengthening mechanisms, precipitation-hardening can compromise the electrical conductivity of copper. Plant experience with these alloys has been mixed however keep in mind most plants do not correctly analyze the root cause of the tip problems and even fewer plants will take the logical process corrective actions. I found good tip data at finn-tipscopper-alloy-tips. htm. The bottom line if you are having contact tip problems the problems are typically not with the tips. Dec 2009: E-Mail: Dear Ed. I read your article on pulsed MIG and multi - process power sources about 12 months ago and agree with you entirely that they are far too complex and the advantages ( if any ) are minimal, The sophisticated electronics with their inbuilt sensitivities have no place in a welding shop environment. The company I work for recently fell for the old sales trick and bought a Kempii Synergic Mig with all the bells and whistles to go with it ( tractor, tracks etc. ) all costing about Au 30,000.00. The Kempii power source is rated at 100 at 400 amps with a water-cooled gun. As far as Im concerned this weld equipment is the most cantankerous, unreliable bucket of crap that ever had electrons shoveled through it. Although the gun is water - cooled the tips are prone to overheat and jam. The only way Ive been able to overcome this is to use a 1.2 mm tips with 1 mm wire. The pulse parameters are so useless they border on farcical, maybe they were designed by an electronic committee at Kemmpi, certainly not by anybody with a bit of basic process knowledg about welding. This machine will do nothing that I cannot achieve with 400 amp CV machine and Standard Tweco gun and tips. I ve been the the game for 35 years and been doing coded welding for 30 of those years, but I have never seen such a complete waste of money or resources . P. S We have a minor political party over here called the Democrat (no relation to the US guys ) and their motto is quot Keep the bastards honest quot. Ed I hope you continue to do what you do to keep the weld industry honest Craig Fourro Brisbane. Australia. Make sure your hunting dog a member of the NRA Click here for Eds weld process control self teaching - training materials. Security, mobility and reliance. Those are the three pillars that the Dell Latitude E6400 is built on. Even if a thoroughly efficient graphic solution for the E6400 with a Quadro NVS 160M graphic card would be available, the notebook concentrates on these core competences in order to offer a good starter price. How good the Dell Latitude E6400 cuts of in exactly these points you can read in the following test. Following its 15.4quot colleague, the Dell Latitude E6500, the slightly more compact Latitude E6400 with a 14quot display is now on our test bench. Due to the shape factor the notebook already finds many interested parties primarily amongst mobile users and traveling business people. Except for the graphic performance the E6400 barely ranks behind the bigger E6500. The Latitude pallet, however, offers even more models which are trimmed particularly in the direction of mobility. For instance the Latitude E6300 with a 13.3quot display and last, but not least, the E6200 with a 12.1quot screen. Both models have an increased mobility factor due to their measurements and weight. Initial cutbacks become apparent in the offered performance reserves, however. Recently we were permitted to take a closer look at the Dell Precision M2400. This is the efficient brother of the E6400 which, having almost the same case, is rather more equipped for performance. A major difference between the two families is the design of the display lid . The Precision has a silver-colored wave structure . whereas the Latitude shows itself with a solid, lightly structured, black metal lid . Basically, the lid of the Latitude shows as good a stability as the Precision models. When changing the opening angle . though, considerable image changes in the area of the right edge and in the lower left display corner were noticed. Nevertheless, the metal display lid put away higher selective pressure without any problems. The base unit itself offers a good stability but gives away inconsiderably when selective pressure is applied but not representing a problem for the usage of the notebook, though. We were surprised that the large service lid on the bottom side of the case did not sit very tight, but even clattered somewhat. After removing the lid, for which only a single screw had to be undone, it turned out that obviously a fastener of the principally extremely robust metal lid had broken off. This must have happened during the preceding tests of our press model und couldnt be observed on any of the other previously tested, similarly built Latitude and Precision notebooks. Connectivity The Dell E6400 offers identical options as in the Precision M2400 . Besides 3 USB 2.0 connections . there is a digital display port and an analog monitor port, Firewire and an eSATA port for connecting an external hard disk. The arrangement of the single ports can be described, as in is the Dell E6400, as very user friendly . the single connections being on the side edges in the back area, and therefore hardly impairs the left and right working area beside the notebook even when fully occupied. Also included in the Latitude E6500 is the built in SmartCard Reader . which replaces the PC Card slot. Accordingly, for various extensions merely the offered ExpressCard shaft is left over, in the E6400. Therefore, the only average achievement in regard to the maximum offered contrast wasnt a surprise. The display built into the Dell E6400 reached a minimum brightness value of 2.18 cdm 2 . In connection with the maximum brightness of almost 300 cdm2 the notebook provides a maximum contrast of only 136:1 accordingly. For outdoor use . this is not particularly relevant. Display brightness as well as a non-glare display count primarily here. The Dell Latitude E6400 fills both acquirements, certifying the laptop a good outdoor suitability in the end. The offered viewing angle stability of the WGXA LED screen can be described as satisfactory . While the screen acts almost generously in the horizontal area, first changes which demand a readjusting of the inclination angle especially in the mobile mode often occur in the vertical area relatively soon after moving away from the ideal, perpendicular viewing angle. Performance The Latitude E6400 also can, when required, be equipped with a power boost thanks to numerous upgrade possibilities . but the primary qualities of the notebook lies in other areas. Because the E6400 with its moderate equipment in regard to CPU and GPU stays interesting in price . the configuration of our test sample on hand could also prove to be of interest for many Office users. Our test device was accordingly equipped with an Intel Core 2 Duo P8400 CPU with 2.26 GHz. It is the smallest available processor for the Dell E6400. Alternately, more efficient chips can be ordered out of the current Intel Centrino 2 product range, in which the T9600 CPU with 2.8 GHz and 6MB L2 cache marks the top configuration . Here a surcharge of, at the moment, 330.00 Euro for the smallest CPU takes effect. More information about the latest Intel Centrino 2 pallet you can find in this report. In regard to the graphic two different equipment variations for the Dell Latitude E6400 are offered. On the one side with an integrated Intel GMA 4500M HD graphic and on the other a standalone Quadro NVS 160M graphic card from nVIDIA. While the integrated graphic chip from Intel primarily supports the basic applications like Office, Internet and playing DVDs, biding enough performance to do these without scruples, the Quadro NVS 160M graphic card is proficient for an extended use in visualization and 3D graphic areas . as well. One shouldnt await too much in view of performance here, either. The Quadro NVS graphic, for occasional 3D applications, is superior to the integrated Intel chip, though. After a few of our own benchmark tests, an only average achievement of the notebook during loaded CPU tests was noticed. Responsible for this was probably a process in the graphic driver, which burdened the CPU constantly with about 50. Manually ending the responsible process improved the benchmark results quite remarkably. During the following tests this phenomenon couldnt be observed any more. The Dell Latitude E6400 reached in the PC Mark 2005 Benchmark test with 5125 points quite a satisfactory result. In comparison with other, partly with for even higher performance equipped, business notebooks, the Latitude E6400 took its place in the middle field. In the 3D Mark 2006 Benchmark comparison . the Latitude E6400 notebook showed itself, in the tested configuration with the integrated graphic card, as an office orientated notebook . Even comparably equipped devices with starter graphic solutions provide considerably better results. With the alternate Quadro NVS 160M graphic card, the Latitude E6400 could push itself forward into the regions of the Precision M2400, in consideration of performance. In the Cinebench R10 Benchmark test . the Dell Latitude E6400 achieved an above average result in the rendering throughput. The Dell E6400 positioned itself at about the same level as the Dell Precision M2400 with the more efficient T9400 CPU. Only in the OpenGL Shading test the E6400 with the built in graphic couldnt reach the results of devices with a standalone graphic, which wasnt much of a surprise. This confirms once again the classification of the E6400 notebook as an office notebook for standard applications . The business book has sufficient performance reserves in which the user additionally profits from the low emissions and a good battery runtime, as well. Our test device had a main memory with a total of 2 gigabytes RAM at disposal. Divided into two modules with 1024MB memory chips of the type DDR2 PC2-6400 with 800MHz were at use. At the moment Dell indicates a maximum memory development of 4096MB, although the Montevina platform from Intel could be equipped with up to 8GB RAM (also DDR3). Concerning the hard disk in our test model a data carrier from Hitachi was used. The hard disk achieved an average result with a rate of 7200 rpm and a gross capacity of 160GB in the HDTune test. Besides the built in 160GB disk there are, of course, a range of other models alternately available. The Dell Latitude E6400 presents itself in the test as a very compact and mobile office notebook . which could especially score through its outdoor suitability . The stable magnesium chassis can display its strengths in mobile use. In this aspect the offered communication modules also appear as particularly helpful. With the WLAN and UTMS broadband internet one is always online and can pursue ones work regardless of location. One shouldnt demand to much from this office notebook, because the hardware equipment with a built in graphic and an Intel Centrino 2 starter CPU is rather designed for office basics like mail, internet, Office etc. Alternately the notebook can be equipped, if required, with a more efficient CPU and an nVIDIA NVS 160M graphic card with which the device then can be used for visualization applications, too. Nevertheless, for a professional CAD use the Precision M2400 is predestined, being tested and certified for this purpose from numerous CAD software manufacturers. In the tested configuration the Latitude E6400 comes in question for especially very mobile office users who are dependent on circumferential communication equipment and expect an unproblematic outdoor use thanks to the optional battery solutions even for a whole day. Due to the justifiable price and the warranty time with a minimum of 3 years the notebook comes in question for private as well as business clients. Price Comparison