Abstract: A floating liner for a container of welding wire which floating liner includes a tube having two ends and a passageway extending between the two ends. The floating liner is unsupported between the top of the container and the retaining ring. The floating liner is designed to provide structural support to the wire and added stiffness or rigidity to the wire to inhibit buckling of the wire, knot formation in the wire that can form between the retaining ring and the top of the container. The floating liner has a weight profile that causes one end of the tube to at least partially float above the top surface of a layer of welding wire or retaining ring in the container as the welding wire is paid out of the container.

Abstract: An electric arc GMAW welder is provided, which welder includes a high speed switching power supply with a controller for creating a first or second weld process across the gap between a workpiece and a welding wire advanced toward the workpiece. The first process uses a first current waveform and the second process uses a second current waveform. A circuit is provided for shifting between the first and second weld processes. The shifting circuit includes a counter for counting the waveforms in the first and second processes and a circuit to shift from the process being processed to the other weld process when the waveform count of the weld process being processed reaches a preselected number for such weld process.

Abstract: An electric arc GMAW welder is provided, which welder includes a high speed switching power supply with a controller for creating a first or second weld process across the gap between a workpiece and a welding wire advanced toward the workpiece. The first process uses a first current waveform and the second process uses a second current waveform. A circuit is provided for shifting between the first and second weld processes. The shifting circuit includes a counter for counting the waveforms in the first and second processes and a circuit to shift from the process being processed to the other weld process when the waveform count of the weld process being processed reaches a preselected number for such weld process.

Abstract: In accordance with one embodiment of the present application, provided is a welding support structure arrangement to support an elongated assembled weldment preparatory to positional welding. The arrangement includes at least one support structure having a support base and a movable platform connected to the support base by spaced-apart 2-bar linkages with center pintels and a series of length adjusting members between the pintels and the support base. A length adjusting member is located between the movable platform and the support base, wherein the lengths of the length adjusting members set the orientation of the movable platform. In accordance with another embodiment of the present application, welding support structures are arranged in a linear array, wherein each of the welding support structures include a movable platform. At least some of the movable platforms of the plurality of support structures are moved to predetermined orientations.

Abstract: In accordance with one aspect of the present exemplary embodiment, set forth is a welding system including a plurality of adjustable welding support structures positioned in relationship to each other to permit welding of a workpiece held by a plurality of adjustable welding support structures, each of the support structures having a movable platform. The control system individually controls the position of the movable platform for each of the adjustable welding structures. In another embodiment of the present application, provided is a method for increasing the accuracy at which an adjustable support structure control system positions at least one adjustable support structure. Included in the process is the generation of a model of the adjustable support structure having an initial set of parameters, including structural position parameters and corresponding control element position parameters.

Abstract: A method and apparatus for packing welding wire in a storage container to reduce the amount of shifting of the welding wire in the storage container and the number of incidence of tangles (e.g., bird nesting, etc.) occurring during the payout of the welding wire from the storage container. A turntable storage container support that supports the storage container is used to rotate the storage container in a forward and a reverse direction while the welding wire is packed into the storage container.

Abstract: An electrode position detection system for a welder having a laser that is projected in a lateral plane to laterally cross a welding wire at a location below a contact tip of a welding gun and a receiver that receive the laser bean after crossing the welding wire, and a measuring device that determines one or more parameter of the welding wire based on the received laser beam. Arc voltage measurements can also be used to determine one or more parameter of the welding wire.

Abstract: A welding wire payout drum comprising an outer cylindrical sleeve with an internal diameter and having a top opening with a central wire supporting stem in said drum. The stem has a cylindrical body generally concentric with the cylindrical sleeve of the drum and an upper guide ring near the top opening of the drum. The guide ring has an outer circular perimeter with a diameter less than the internal diameter of the sleeve wherein the upper guide ring has a downwardly decreasing contoured underside shape between the perimeter and the cylindrical body of the stem.

Abstract: A package for containing and dispensing a coil of welding wire having a coil axis parallel to a package axis, a coil top transverse to the coil axis and radially inner and outer surfaces parallel to the coil axis. The welding wire package includes a container having a bottom and an outer wall structure extending upwardly from the bottom to a top edge, and the outer wall structure has inwardly and outwardly facing surfaces. The package further includes a plurality of ribs extending parallel to the package axis and positioned between the coil outer surface and the inwardly facing surface of the outer wall structure thereby forming gaps between the coil outer surface and the inwardly facing container surface. The welding wire package further including a retainer ring for controlling the dispensing of the welding wire.

Abstract: A system for creating an actual waveform at the output of an electric arc welder and caused by a waveform generator where the welder has a display and customizing screen to design a commanded waveform for processing by the waveform generator. The system includes a program to display a target waveform on the screen, a program to display the commanded waveform on the screen, a computer terminal to manually customize the commanded waveform to generally match the target waveform controlling the waveform generator to cause the actual waveform produced by the welder to match with the target waveform.

Abstract: An arc welding apparatus (10) for performing a waveform-controlled arc welding process includes an arc welding torch (14) that interacts with an associated weld. A power supply (12) applies a selected waveform-controlled power to the welding load via the arc welding torch (14) and a grounding cable over a process interval (Tweld). The power supply (12) includes a sampling circuit (34) for sampling instantaneous current and voltage values of the power during a snip portion (Tsnip) of the process interval (Tweld). A processor (40) is designed to (i) compute a true heat over the snip portion (Tsnip) of the process interval (Tweld), and (ii) extrapolate a true heat over the process interval (Tweld) based thereon.

Abstract: An electric arc GMAW welder is provided, which welder includes a high speed switching power supply with a controller for creating a first or second weld process across the gap between a workpiece and a welding wire advanced toward the workpiece. The first process uses a first current waveform and the second process uses a second current waveform. A circuit is provided for shifting between the first and second weld processes. The shifting circuit includes a counter for counting the waveforms in the first and second processes and a circuit to shift from the process being processed to the other weld process when the waveform count of the weld process being processed reaches a preselected number for such weld process.

Abstract: A method of designing a series of waveforms for current cycles generated by a waveform generator to control the waveforms of a welding process performed by an electric arc welder, where the waveforms are stored in a memory stack by work points. The method comprises: integrating the arc current of the waveform designed for each of the many work points to obtain an integrated amount; plotting the integrated amounts for each of the work points; creating a regression curve statistically matching the plotted amounts to reveal outlier amounts; selecting an outlier amount; and, changing the waveform corresponding to the selected outlier amount to decrease the deviation of the integrated amount of the changed waveform from the regression curve.

Abstract: An electric arc GMAW welder is provided, which welder includes a high speed switching power supply with a controller for creating a first or second weld process across the gap between a workpiece and a welding wire advanced toward the workpiece. The first process uses a first current waveform and the second process uses a second current waveform. A circuit is provided for shifting between the first and second weld processes. The shifting circuit includes a counter for counting the waveforms in the first and second processes and a circuit to shift from the process being processed to the other weld process when the waveform count of the weld process being processed reaches a preselected number for such weld process.

Abstract: Information pertaining to characteristics of metal welding electrode wire and which characteristics are useful in connection with adjusting welding parameters in an arc welding process and/or selecting between operating modes in a welding system are encoded on welding wire and/or on other memory components such as bar code labels and tags, RFID cards and tags, IC cards, and Touch Memory buttons, and the memory device is scanned prior to and/or at the point of use of the welding wire for enabling tracking of product distribution, manual and/or automatic selection of an operating mode for the welding system, manual and/or automatic adjustment of welding parameters in a given operating mode, consumables inventory, and the like.

Abstract: An electric arc welder for creating a welding cycle with a real time current waveform constituting several control parameters by a microprocessor that controls a power supply by a signal so the output of the power supply traces a desired waveform and dynamic reaction behavior to arc conditions defined by the control parameters. The welder has a controller for creating the signal and reading the parameters, a graphic user interface program controlled by input from a graphic user interface computer, a system with a first interface for an interactive display for displaying the desired waveform and dynamic behavior and at least one manipulative control parameter, a second interface for a manual data entry device to change the waveform and/or the parameters and a digital communication link from the graphic user interface to the welder microprocessor controller for causing the welder to perform the desired waveform by controlling the signal.

Abstract: A system and method provides a distributed welding architecture in accordance with the present invention. The system includes a welder operatively coupled to a server and a network interface to enable a network architecture, the network architecture serving a network that communicates with at least one remote system. The remote system includes at least one remote interface to communicate with the network architecture, wherein the remote system accesses at least one HTTP socket to establish web communications with the welder and loads at least one application from the welder. The remote system accesses at least one Welding Application socket via the at least one application to exchange information between the welder and the remote system, wherein the at least one application includes at least one of a weld configuration component, a weld monitoring component, and a weld control component to interact with the distributed welding system.

Abstract: A method of determining the impedance, inductance, and resistance of the network connecting an electrical power supply to an electric arc welding station including an electrode and a workpiece, wherein the method comprises: shorting the electrode to the workpiece; creating at least one waveform including a first state operating the power supply at constant current of a selected value and a second state operating the power supply at a low value of current or open circuit voltage whereby the current decays from the selected value along a decay path indicative of di/dt; obtaining the average current Iavg and average resistance Ravg during the first state; selecting a portion of the decay path; sampling the instantaneous current for a number of times on the path during the second state to read the rate of the decay; and, using the average current and the average resistance with the rate of decay to obtain the inductance of the network.

Abstract: Information pertaining to characteristics of metal welding electrode wire and which characteristics are useful in connection with adjusting welding parameters in an arc welding process and/or selecting between operating modes in a welding system are encoded on welding wire and/or on other memory components such as bar code labels and tags, RFID cards and tags, IC cards, and Touch Memory buttons, and the memory device is scanned prior to and/or at the point of use of the welding wire for enabling tracking of product distribution, manual and/or automatic selection of an operating mode for the welding system, manual and/or automatic adjustment of welding parameters in a given operating mode, consumables inventory, and the like.

Abstract: A method of designing a series of waveforms for current cycles generated by a waveform generator to control the waveforms of a welding process performed by an electric arc welder, where the waveforms are stored in a memory stack by work points. The method comprises: integrating the arc current of the waveform designed for each of the many work points to obtain an integrated amount; plotting the integrated amounts for each of the work points; creating a regression curve statistically matching the plotted amounts to reveal outlier amounts; selecting an outlier amount; and, changing the waveform corresponding to the selected outlier amount to decrease the deviation of the integrated amount of the changed waveform from the regression curve.