African Fusion June 2016

Welding and cutting

Repair and maintenance focus at NAMPO

I n trying times Afrox acknowledges that farmers are more cost conscious, and to this end the theme of Afrox’s display at the 2016 NAMPO Harvest Day exhibi- tion was ‘Total Solutions Partner’. Afrox demonstratedcomplete solutions focus- ing on in-house fabrication, repair and maintenance, as well as hardfacing for all farming-relatedweldingapplications, aimed at assisting famers reduce their costs in the light of the current economic conditions and the severe drought crisis gripping South Africa. Afrox’s do-it-yourself approach to this year’s exhibition is not only an ac- knowledgement of the support Afrox has received from the agricultural industry over the last 89 years, but also a gesture of assistance, with an emphasis on fab- rication and products that can be used for repairing implements as opposed to the more costly replacement option. “We want to show famers how to re- pair equipment themselves so that there is no need to outsource or unnecessar- ily replace existing machinery,” says Johann Pieterse, Afrox manufacturing

industries business manager. “Experts from our manufacturing division were onhand tophysicallydemonstrate some of these applications,” he adds. “It’s all about hands-on practical ad- vice this year,” comments Pieterse. “For example, with our trailer build demon- stration, we gave a detailed explanation and a practical display of how to build your own trailer, and we provided par- ticulars on the basic products required for this project,” he says. Among Afrox’s leading brands for the sector are: Vitemax, the premium electrode for mild steel applications; Handigas, with a range of LPG products for the agricultural sector; and theMiller range of welding machines including the XPS 450 and the MigMatic 380, both recommended for maintenance, repair and fabrication. Another sought-after DIY product is the light and robust PortaPak® welding and cutting set that allows work to be performed at remote locations and in elevated areas. The Porta range of gas cylinders offers farmers the option of ac- up to 25 m/min. The speed is kept con- stant by an integrated, highly accurate rotary position encoder, while twodriven feed rollers transfer the speed to thewire electrode. In the event of a change in the overall system, the TCP accuracy of 0.5 mm is guaranteed. To deliver an even more cost-effec- tive solution, Fronius engineers have ad- opted a consistently modular approach

At Nampo, Afrox focused on repair and maintenance during the trying drought and economic conditions facing SA’s agriculture sector. quiring a cylinder without paying any rental fees. This range consists of the PortaPak oxygen and acetylene cylinders as well as the Portashield® shielding gas for MIG welding and PortaTIG® for TIG welding. www.afrox.co.za to the new welding torch’s structure, meaning that the hosepack and drive unit of the Robacta Drive TPS/i are con- nected via a standardised connection withaunionnut. As the connection to the power source is also established through a Fronius System Connector (FSC) hous- ing, all the necessary media, signal lines andhosepacks canbeexchanged rapidly. Thismodularity also allows the drive unit to be used with robot types featuring ei- ther an external hosepack or a hosepack routed inside the robot arm. Well thought-out details such as the easy way of setting the contact pressure using a tool-free adjust- ing screw and instructions on the display all help to deliver higher levels of availability. Just as impressive is the ergonomic user interface, which boasts a dot-matrix display and pre- assigned buttons for the wire feed and gas test as well as an unassigned function key that can be programmed as desired. TheRobactaDrive TPS/i universal robot welding torch ensures that users can turn to robot-assistedwelding for an ever-wider range of applications.

The world’s most compact push-pull welding torch F ronius has launched theworld’smost compact push-pull robot welding torch: the Robacta Drive TPS/i. Thanks to its compact design and refined en- gineering, the component accessibility and TCP precision of the welding torch has been improved significantly. What’s more, the dynamics of the drive unit has been increased to 33 m/s² – ten-times that of its predecessor generation. A consistent, modular structure not only eases the workload of servicing engi- neers, but also simplifies the storage of spares and replacement parts. With

all these benefits the Robacta Drive TPS/i allows more welding tasks to be economically performed with robots. Available in either gas- cooled or water-cooled ver- sions, the welding torch has an exceptionally small interference profile and its reduced weight means it can be fitted to robots with load capacities as low as 3.0 kg. Yet despite its small size, the lightweight torch packs a pow- erful punch thanks to its three-phase stepper motor: a maintenance-free unit capable of smooth wire travel speeds of

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June 2016

AFRICAN FUSION