Can seam welding wheels be dressed automatically?

Yes, seam welding wheels can be dressed automatically. On some machines the wheels are driven by knurled drive wheels that drive and also dress and maintain the shape of the wheel at the same time. The photo below shows a knurl drive system. The wheels are continually driven and dressed each revolution.

 A1 178b inclined seam weld wheels

Seam Welder with knurled drive wheels

A system with a dressing wheel similar to the one shown above could be used to dress the wheels at the proper interval between parts. The dressing wheel would no longer drive the wheels. It would only come in contact when desired. An external secondary system would move the dresser or dressers into the proper position to dress either each wheel or both at once, if place between the wheels. This would be very similar to a robot indexing to a dressing station to dress spot welding electrodes every so many welds.

Remember that with a hub driven welder as the wheel size decreases so does the linear speed. This has to be compensated for in order to maintain proper weld spacing.

Reference: RWMA – Resistance Welding Manual Section 4

 

Have a Question?

Do you have a question that is not covered in our knowledgebase? Do you have questions regarding the above article? Click here to ask the professor.

Did you find this answer helpful?