Best Welding Robot?

if talking about side ... what kind of welding? friction, friction stir, spot and laser welding use larger robots... from top of my head only arc welding needs small robots but - that is probably the most common type of welding anyway.

i work with KUKA and colleague that is welding specialist used to work for Motoman was always positive about arc welding on Motoman and ease of setup.

The best robot is the one you can obtain, program, and get service&parts for, as long as the robot can handle the task you're trying to do.

Old used robots can be easy to obtain, but hard to get training, service, and parts for. Avoid the temptation to buy grab bags of random used robots, it'll be a nightmare mish-mash -- try to pick a brand and stick to it. Try to avoid buying a robot that's no longer in production, or been "end of life'd" -- that'll make getting support, parts, and service progressively harder over time.

Some robots are easier to program, but offer less flexibility if you go outside their "walled garden." Some brands offer some nice "integrated packages," with a bundled robot and welding system that just need some options configured in order to use. Be careful about 3rd-party bundles, though -- some are very good and well-known, but there are small-timer operators who can't, or won't, provide support (or just go out of business and no one knows how to maintain their equipment).

Different brands have different levels of presence in different parts of the world -- not just manufacturer branches, but also installed user/integrator base -- the regional availability of people familiar with the robot should be a factor in your selection. If you can get an idea of what robots are popular for welding jobs similar to yours, in other factories in your vicinity, that'll mean that there should be integrators experienced with those robots in your locale -- try to make contacts with these integrators and get a feel for what they're like to work with. Because you will end up needing to call on them at some point.

I've been working with a YASKAWA for 8 months now. Didn't get the chance to choose the robot so I sticked to it.

But to be honest, i've had really bad experiences with their support. Takes load of time to get a clear answer, they often try to make you pay for about anything.

On the other hand I also worked with FANUC for a while and whenever I had problems, their support was fast and reliable. Even some colleagues in other companies had the same experience as me with FANUC. They are really great tbh.

In the future, I'll try to work as much as I can with FANUC as for my experience.

I can't speak to Yaskawa. I've heard bad things about Fanuc support if you bought the robot second-hand, but I've never been in that situation myself, so that's rumor, not fact. ABB I've generally had good luck with.

i heard the same...

therefore, years ago, i really did not expect much on couple of projects where clients wanted to reuse couple of existing robots as part of the new production line.

but, i was mistaken... they did treat paying clients like dirt too...

we bought couple of robot systems with external axes etc. each costing 6-figures. that was decent $$$ that anyone else would love to take but again there was absolutely no support. and i wish things ended there, but - it got worse...

Fanuc never answered even the simplest questions. Robots arrived several months later than expected. Deadline slipped so we paid to get one of their techs help us with commissioning just to get things done faster. well... the guy walked in, powered one of the robots, and in 30 seconds he destroyed it by driving it with high speed into a steel structure. one of joints was literally bent like banana. that was fast but not what we had in mind. then i was told by our project manager that Fanuc did not want to take responsibility for it or even help get this fixed. well, they did but after major grief and delayed project for another couple of months...

next time Fanuc joined our meeting to help select robots, our expectations were much lower. everything was still cool until they started they marketing BS, praising their stellar and unmatched service and support etc. they still would not be honest with us so they were reminded of our past experiences and - they were shown the door... so we started using other brands.

don't get me wrong, i find Fanuc products are quite nice, robust and capable but the people we dealt with were the problem. from what i still hear, they continue treating clients the same way. oh well...