most definitely the welds won't have to withstand a lot of stress, the bends in the first image i posted are very extreme and no guitar neck will have to be bowed that much. at the most the deflection in the middle of the rod will be one or two millimeters and also be encased from all sides in hardwood so definitely no risk of injury. I might also shrinkwrap them in plastic to prevent rattling and deformation at the looser points like this which might minimize the stress on the welds a bit:closer to ornamental work (even though it does seem the assembly will take a bit of stress, it is in no way critical, and there is zero chance of a person getting hurt because of it)
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i was kinda hoping to do the threading and tapping myself but haven't looked into if that's even possible to do by hand in titanium. I do a fair bit of threading and tapping in brass and aluminium but haven't tried steel yet, but at least i got the technique down alreadyyou might find that the majority of the cost in that titanium Gizmo is in the cutting, Drilling and tapping of the parts. Be prepared for some sticker shock when you see what Taps cost for doing that stuff. And you need those in both right-hand and left-hand.
I have little info on the composition of the titanium/steel trussrod in my picture, it only says titanium/steel but i'm not sure if it's the threaded rod that's titanium or the square bar and tapped blocks, or if they both are and only the adjustment screw is steel.I don't know if it would work in this application, but I'm not sure he has to do any welding of titanium to carbon steel here anyway. The only part there that's titanium is the truss and the threaded blocks. Looks to me like they are both titanium. Then somebody just did a fusion weld on those two parts after they assembled them on the threaded rod.
I don’t think you can weld Ti to carbon steel.
so that probably means that the square bar and tapped blocks are either both Ti or both steelNot possible using "normal", commercially available methods. They can be bonded together using other means, just not welding.
sure i'm fully prepared for this taking some time until i'm able to do finished usable truss rods, i'm a patient manthe catch is it takes a whole lot longer than having someone teach you.
a small dc tig machine is all you need. the plus is they have stick mode.
learn to weld with stick. then onto tig steel, then to titanium. start with the basics first.
ha, i knew it .. and you haven't seen the half of it. i had some which had such bulky welds on them that they wouldn't even fit into the slot and when i tried to file them down a bit they came apart. all these are are sold under a variety of brands/suppliers with huge markups but like many guitar parts most come out of china, probably the same factory.On your first day I could have you making welds that look nicer than any except that first one on the Ti. That was actually a nice job. The others I'd be embarrassed to say I did.
hey everyone, many thanks for all your replies, it's really great to be able to rely on all your experiencegreat to hear that i'm not completely delusional and getting pretty excited now to be able to take this project on. ALso wanted to say that i am still a bit paranoid muckin about with high voltage and molten metal and while i certainly don't have the budget to go for state of the art equipment i'll go about this as carefully as possible and that adequate protective gear and anything else i need to make this as safe as possible will be at the top of my shopping list.a couple of thoughts from your comments:most definitely the welds won't have to withstand a lot of stress, the bends in the first image i posted are very extreme and no guitar neck will have to be bowed that much. at the most the deflection in the middle of the rod will be one or two millimeters and also be encased from all sides in hardwood so definitely no risk of injury. I might also shrinkwrap them in plastic to prevent rattling and deformation at the looser points like this which might minimize the stress on the welds a bit:It's rare to see a trussrod fail and the most common failure point is the weld where the adjustment nut/screw/spokewheel is welded to the threaded rod. And that is mostly due to user manipulation error: overtightening.i was kinda hoping to do the threading and tapping myself but haven't looked into if that's even possible to do by hand in titanium. I do a fair bit of threading and tapping in brass and aluminium but haven't tried steel yet, but at least i got the technique down alreadyI have little info on the composition of the titanium/steel trussrod in my picture, it only says titanium/steel but i'm not sure if it's the threaded rod that's titanium or the square bar and tapped blocks, or if they both are and only the adjustment screw is steel.so that probably means that the square bar and tapped blocks are either both Ti or both steelsure i'm fully prepared for this taking some time until i'm able to do finished usable truss rods, i'm a patient manha, i knew it .. and you haven't seen the half of it. i had some which had such bulky welds on them that they wouldn't even fit into the slot and when i tried to file them down a bit they came apart. all these are are sold under a variety of brands/suppliers with huge markups but like many guitar parts most come out of china, probably the same factory.
Investing in welding automation for the first time may seem daunting. How do manufacturers know if automation in the welding process is a good fit, and how do they choose which type of automation system best suits their needs?
The right fit is important to optimize an automation system. It often comes down to how complex the parts are and how much part manipulation the application requires.
A robotic welding system can help manufacturers improve efficiency, reduce waste and generate higher quality welds. A general rule of thumb is that an optimized automated welding system can produce a three-to-one output improvement over a human operator.
Also, more companies are turning to automated welding as an answer to the skilled labor shortage in the industry.
For manufacturers new to automation, there are many options to consider. Focusing on the answers to a few key questions can help operations choose the right system.
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Simple, repeatable parts — high part volume with low part sophistication — work well for welding automation. Conversely, large, complex parts are often more difficult to weld robotically. Working with a robot integrator or robot OEM can help operations determine what options are best for their specific production needs.
A repeatable upstream fabrication process is crucial to welding automation success. In fact, a manufacturer that fails to look at upstream processes to ensure they are in good shape isn't maximizing the automation investment. Part preparation and fit-up need to be consistent for the robot to produce quality welds each time. While robots can adapt to part fit-up or weld inconsistency, this may require more expensive options and complicate the process. Therefore, it's key to load repeatable parts into the fixturing to produce quality parts. Upstream efficiency is also important since these processes may need to move faster to catch up to the performance of the robot.
Operations must understand their goals to choose a welding automation system. For example, do they need to improve productivity, reduce rework and scrap, or make it easier to train new welders? With the right welding automation system, a company can significantly improve first-pass weld quality and reduce the need for scrapping or reworking parts. These systems also offer advanced welding processes designed to minimize or eliminate spatter. As a result, the need to apply anti-spatter or perform post-weld cleanup is reduced — both of which are labor-intensive processes.
Part of the investment in welding automation includes having or hiring employees who will oversee the process. Operations must employ the right people and provide them with the necessary training so they can operate the system properly. Robots can reduce the bottleneck of the welding process to free up hand welders, who can then focus on parts of the process or operation that cannot be automated. Resource these personnel to sections of the line that will become new bottlenecks if other areas cannot keep up because of the high throughput of the robot.
Robotic welding solutions are not one size fits all, and there are numerous options to consider.
More advanced robotic welding systems — those that use two robots welding in tandem, for example — are more complicated to program and operate, which increases the risk of the investment.
Some traditional automation solutions, such as Miller® PerformArc™ robotic welding systems, are available as pre-engineered, ready-to-weld cells. This makes adding an automated welding cell quick and simple. Benefits of these systems include:
Cobots (short for collaborative robots) are an emerging technology in the automation space with still-developing solutions. These systems are still industrial robots, but they feature intuitive user interfaces that can be less intimidating and less costly for operations to adopt as a first step into automation, especially for operations producing simple parts.
The main differences between cobots and traditional automated welding systems involve safety standards and expectations. Cobots are designed to work in close proximity to human operators. In order to do this safely, cobots reduce pinch points (any point at which it’s possible for a person or part of a person's body to be caught between moving parts of the robot), are limited in how fast they can move in auto mode, and are more sensitive to collisions. This sensitivity with lower speeds makes them safer to work alongside humans. Cobots can be programmed to move faster when they are not working alongside a human.
Compared to cobots, traditional industrial robots will have much higher rates of speed and therefore more safety guards in place. This typically results in much greater productivity gains with traditional robots; they can do more complex parts and more part manipulation when required. The faster speeds can also help operations meet goals for productivity and throughput.
There are different types of welding automation systems to meet a range of needs. An operation’s journey toward implementing welding automation might be a multi-step, multi-purchase process. It’s OK to start out slowly and match automation solutions to growth needs.
No matter the solution chosen, robotic welding solutions deliver significant benefits for many manufacturers — from improved productivity and reduced costs to faster operator training. Learn more about welding automation solutions from Miller.
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