Method and apparatus for welding using fillet-wire

摘要

A method of and apparatus for automatic or semi-automatic welding or brazing wherein a fillet-wire, mechanically fed to the welding position on a work piece, is heated, along with the work piece, by a flame so that the fillet-wire reaches its melting point. A heating current is supplied to the fillet-wire to flow between the wire and the work piece. In order to maintain a predetermined relationship between the rate at which the fillet-wire is fed to the work piece and the rate at which the wire melts and separates to drop onto the work piece, the feed-rate and/or current intensity is regulated such that the wire is in constant contact with the work piece with a predetermined contact pressure. In one embodiment, the mechanical feeding device comprises a torque-limiting mechanism to maintain a substantially constant predetermined contact pressure of the fillet wire against the work piece. The torque-limiting mechanism may be of the slippage-type with two friction clutch-discs driven by a motor shaft, or it may be of the iron-powder type that is electrically operated.