Posts by Ironoxide

Call your robot tech.

Someone else with more experience can verify this but you have a

WAIT DI()

If it's important that the robot wait until this is completed you could put the

WAIT signal later in the program when it's really important and change the current

WAIT lines to just DI commands.

Can you restore the old backup up and fix your problem and then restore just the newer programs you're concerned about? I think I can be selective in what I want restored from a backup.

I think I can explain what's going on. It's a very good thing you have welding experience.

You're starting out your weld right over the side wall of the square tube so there is essentially a backup bar behind the gap. Also that side wall is absorbing some of the input heat. Once you get to the middle of the weld, you have no side wall and also nothing except a very thin tube and the edge of your square tube to absorb the heat. Essentially, the weld is falling in and it's almost melting through.

You are welding quite hot and fast. Slow both WFS and travel speed down. Start slow and once you have a weld schedule that works consistently then you can speed up from there.

Try shortening your Trim which is essentially your voltage setting and arc width.

You might need a small weave to fill that gap but that will also increase your heat input. So you'll need to manage that.

If the weld is only welding on one side, then you'll probably need a weave as that gap is considerable. Better coping like tbasque suggested would probably do the trick. Your square tube looks to be laser cut so coping it better shouldn't be an issue.

Another possible issue with only welding on one side is that the positions of the pieces could vary slightly. How securely do the pieces fit in the jig?

Just because you can weld with certain setting by hand doesn't mean you can use those same setting with a robot, at least not until you understand how a robot works. I'm almost sure that if you were to weld that setup by hand you would make small adjustments to weaving and speed without realizing it and the weld would turn out perfect. Your first photo of a weld is pretty good.

Just my humble opinion. Good luck.

Find the ethernet configuration data and discover where the backups are being saved to from the robot and then go to that folder and verify that there is a folder by that name or make one with the correct name.

Can you save a backup to a disc or jump drive? When you process a backup, does it ask you where you want to save the backup? You could do this just to verify that it can actually do a AOA.

If you have an account with FANUC I'm sure it's on their documentation site.

Maybe this is another way of saying what was already said. If you're programming designated or convenient stop positions then you could use IN/Outs mapped to a register and then use IF statements that monitor the register.

IF R(...)=1 then PAUSE or something like that. If you need a light to come on to say it's ready then you could add that too.

Like gpunkt said, the robot's safety fence will need reset.

Are you asking about welding in general or specifically robotic welding. There are plenty of videos online that give the basics of MIG welding, search Youtube for example. Hands-on experience is the best, however. You'll do a better job of robotic welding if you know how to MIG weld by hand especially when it comes to sleuthing out weld issues.

The Complete MIG Welding Guide | Be a King of MIG Welding!

The complete FREE MIG welding guide. Learn how to MIG weld. from setting up your equipment to welding a range of joints and techniques.

www.kingsofwelding.com

MIG Welding Tips and Techniques for Beginners | MillerWelds

www.millerwelds.com

These are just a couple I found really quickly. I shouldn't have to do your research for you.

For setting up welding schedules you can refer to welding charts put out by welding companies. That's the best place to start and you can customize from there. Lincoln Electric puts out some really good books.

Of course, keep asking questions when you unsure but don't be afraid to try.

Happy Welding.

Is one of the axes close to its limit of reach? I'm not familiar with that particular error code but sometimes mine will throw a "position not reachable" error if one of the axes is close the limit of its reach while doing a weave weld.

Quote from Mateczek

When I tried to move it forward, ARC Mate is still waving and returning the same error.

How do you know it's still weaving?

Can you do that weld without weaving if weaving is the issue?

If the robot is waiting for the machine to fulfill various tasks doesn't that indicate there are WAIT commands in the code?

It might be helpful if you'd post some of your program code.

Do you have a back up teach pendant you can swap with or swap one off another machine?

It looks like that one should be refurbished.

It looks the same as ours and is #A05B-2490-C172

If it's happening to the same weld every time that could indicate the connection issues Skooter mentioned.

Is the weld starting in the crater of the previous weld and hitting a bit of slag? But that probably wouldn't happen with every weld.

Is the shielding gas post flow long enough to allow the wire to cool until oxides don't form?

Did you try a different weld schedule?

Is the torch at a funny angle and the whip a bit kinked where the wire drive might be slipping for that particular weld? Does your robot do a little forward/backward move to initiate a weld before it throws the arc failed error?

Undercut can be a challenge to manage.

I don't have experience with Fronius welding machines but I'm assuming you've based your welding program/procedure off a parameters chart they supplied.

Did you try turning the tracking off for this weld? Tracking works the best with 90 degree fillet welds and is often used when there's a bit of variability in the positions of the weld. I don't have much experience with it though I do have a few welds that use it. In fact I've removed it from some welds that weren't good fillet welds because it would track off to the side.

Try changing your torch angle. Angle it a bit toward the side with the undercut.

Edit: I should qualify this last sentence a bit. Angling the torch toward the side that's undercut might increase the undercut because the undercut might be a result of the heat already focused on that side. Move the torch away from the undercut side first. Even better, if you can watch the weld in process you might be able to notice something. Is your tip worn?

Try moving the focus of the wire. Instead of pointing it directly into the root of the weld, assuming it's a fillet weld, move it a bit toward the side that is not undercut.

Angle your torch with a stronger push angle.

Could you provide more history, has it run before, what did you change?

Error logs?

Is it waiting on any I/Os?

Is the speed set correctly?

I'll mark this as resolved for now. Thanks everyone for their suggestions. We retaught the TCP with a new welder neck exactly as the manual describes and we also tightened up the robot mounting anchors. The robot is running well for now. If there are any other issues I'll reach out to this wonderful group of people.

Quote from RobcadSim

What is "returned it to the original mastering from FANUC" ? If you remaster the robot ,the "$MATER_COUN" data will change. It can not be the same numbers when the robot bought from FANUC.

You're correct, mastering changes those values.

We ran the robot to its witness lines and remastered it. I did this while on the phone with a tech from the company that helped set our robots up. But we had problems with J4 returning to the witness lines. We remastered it on the other side of the witness line but it wouldn't improve. Remastering also did not seem to improve the TCP tracking around a point. So we went in and manually entered the mastering data from FANUC and now the witness lines all match.

3 mm could be consistent across the jig. Sometimes it's not.

Here's a pic of the orient origin point of my tool frame. I started over the point and rotated it around the +z axis 90 degrees. This was before I mastered it again so it's not that bad now. I'd have to check it again.

Could you explain what you mean by a "bad tcp".

I do have a "zero" program that I run to check the witness marks.

Quote from saberdud

Jog each axis individually and see if there is a noise out of the ordinary on any one joint, or if there is a weird motion in any joint. The jog should be smooth through the whole motion. If there is a mechanical issue, this could help find it and tell you what joint it is. I've seen this work, but I know sometimes noises are hard to rely on in a plant environment.

The robot runs pretty quietly but I can check this.

Thanks for the suggestions everyone.

Thanks for the suggestion hermann, I'll try it.

No. It's bolted.

Are you thinking that perhaps something is shifting? I can't prove, yet, that something isn't but that would be dependent on a crash and then it would be off in a certain direction. Potentially, a person could do a program shift in the direction it's off and then the program would run again. However, for me, this program I'm touching up right now, I probably could've done a program shift since I'm touching most things up about 2-3 mm in the -Y direction. Other, times however, one end of the jig is off in the -X direction and the other end in the -Y and +Z direction, for example.

Unless he's needing to conform to a certified welding procedure I think calculating the deposition rate it getting too technical.

If you want to change the size of the weld, change the travel speed; the penetration, change the voltage or trim level in this case. It's a bit more complicated with using pulse welding because of the trim level. Basically, you'll get a wider weld with less spatter if you set the trim level higher. If you have problems with melt through but need the speed, then lower the trim level. Some welders might use the label "arc length". The wave control can change arc characteristic some too. In pulse welding the operator sets his trim level or arch length and his wire feed speed and travel speed and the welding powersource controls the voltage.

Here is a weld schedule for pulse welding that I use with a Lincoln powersource. The delay time is your crater fill but I like to make another weld schedule for crater fill that is lower wire feed speed, say 200 IPM. and lower trim say 0 or .5.

Here's an example of how it's used though the schedule number is different, the number in brackets after the "arc start" command it the weld schedule number. Here the "WELD_SPEED" means it's using the weld speed set in the schedule. If I don't like the size of the weld I can change it to whatever speed I want. It's really quite simple.

Your CO2 percentage is high for spray welding but it should work for short circuit and pulse welding. An alternative blend would be 10% or less of CO2.

Could someone respond to my first post that was actually about the TCP wandering around?

Thank you.