What sort of robot will I need to hold a welder (How expensive?)

    Hi all,

    Newbie here so please go easy.

    I am a welder by trade and was wondering how difficult it would be to get a robot to 'hold' a welder and move it in some fairly basic movements so I could teach my friend how to hold the gun steady and straight and smooth, etc.

    This video clip here shows a simple weld from left to right, this is the sort of thing I would like to programme a robot to do:

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    Or, slightly more advanced, here at 48 seconds:

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    I know they have robot welders in industry but I was looking for a sort of scaled down version.....please can I ask if anyone can offer any pointers?


    Thanks, all.

    If it is for training, it will be with a collaborative robot type universal robot.

    You can create a basic robot program whith the plane and the torch tilt you want

    And in use learn several points for the weldpath depending the exercise.

    The robot will go directly to the first point learnde with the correct inclinaison.


    The feed speed max in collaboration is 250mm/sec.


    I don t know if that what you mean.

    This is excellent, thank you!!

    Yes, that is what I meant but now the biggie - what sort of robot would help do this? It only has to 'hold' the welder to weld, say, 150mm in length so I don't need any industrial robot here.

    Any ideas, please?

    Hmmmmmm.....this is way out of my price range.

    Is there something else that I should be looking at? Even if it was something that can have a welder attached to it and simply go from right to left or vice versa?

    The type of robots used for welding are going to either be too expensive for you or too difficult for you to install due to size and power requirements.


    I don't have a good answer for you. All that is left is hobbyist or DIY type robotics. No ready made solution that I am aware off. Also safety is a concern.

    Thank you. Just to be clear, it is not a robot welder that I want, just something to hold a welding torch so wouldn't have to be big.

    Hold a welder, or move a welder? Through how complex a path?


    There are some really cheap, plasma-cutter tables out there that might work for a simple 2D motion pattern. Also some DIY kit options.


    But if you want a complex 6D path, you're stuck using a full-up 6-axis robot. And almost any robot you can find really cheap is going to:

    1. be very old, and hence very hard to find support, maintenance, or spare parts for

    2. Require all sorts of fencing and hard guarding around the robot to keep any humans out of its reach -- except on the very small scale, these robots can easily kill you, and even the small ones can maim severely.(they make up for strength with speed).

    3. Probably be in bad shape, either physically, mechanically, or both.

    This is excellent help, thank you so much!!!


    Basically, just from left to right or vice versa. And, possibly, vertically up, perhaps with a weaving motion? I am talking a maximum of 200mm in length either way?

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