AUTOMATIC WELDING METHOD USING A WELDING APPARATUS HAVING A HEAT- SOURCE AND A WIRE FEED AND WELDING APPARATUS

摘要

The present invention relates to a method of automatically controlling welding using a welding apparatus having a heat- source (28) and a wire (15) feed. The method comprises: setting at least one welding parameter; setting a stable wire (15) interaction position (36) where the wire (15) fed by the wire feed interacts with the heat generated by the heat- source (28) so as to produce an acceptable weld; and monitoring the wire interaction position (36) during welding. If the wire interaction position (36) deviates from the stable wire interaction position by more than an allowable tolerance at least one welding parameter is automatically altered to return the wire interaction position (36) to within the allowable tolerance of the stable wire interaction position. The invention also relates to an apparatus for carrying out the method.