The adhesive acts as an insulator between the two pieces of metal being welded. It should be noted that we used a pair of vise grips to provide for a shunt. Again, all the welders met the required diameter on the peel test. We added spot welds and then completed a peel test. WELD BOND TEST: We applied adhesive to a 22-gauge panel and allowed it to dry 12 hours. All six machines (the rep from Compu-Spot came down with the flu and couldn’t attend as planned) produced welds that passed the peel test. He performed the 51st weld on 22-gauge mild steel coupons and then performed a peel test. While we were getting set up the day before we began ourĭUTY CYCLE TEST: March performed 50 spot welds as fast as the machine would allow. Third test: a multiple panel weld - spot welding four pieces of 18-gauge steel together. We positioned the panels between two of my welding stands in order to simulate their position on a vehicle.įirst test: We spot welded two 3-inch by 4-foot strips together for a duty cycle test. These panels were high-strength steel and advanced steel with boron. Ole Vandborg, owner of Scandinavian Coachcraft in West Los Angeles, furnished us with two new complete rear body panels and bumper reinforcements from Volvo. Welders were shipped in from Europe and both the East and West Coasts.
SAITEK STUD PRO
The machines we tested, left to right: Compu-Spot, Elektron, Celette, Weidland & Shill, Car-O-Liner, two from Saitek and two from Pro Spot.Īl Estorga, owner of Estorga’s Collision Center in Los Angeles, opened up his facility for the four days of preparation and testing. Seven companies responded that they’d attend. We contacted manufacturers of inverter resistance spot welders and invited them to attend two days of testing during the last week of July 2006. Important: If you’re not well-versed on spot welding, you might want to read the sidebar, “Resistance Spot Welding: What You Need to Know,” before reading about our welding challenge.