Month: June 2022

Heavy-Duty Construction Equipment Built with Arc Stud Welding

Posted on by norfas by norfas

Stud welding is used to build ships, infrastructure, commercial, residential, and industrial buildings, electrical equipment, food production equipment, and much more. Another industry where drawn arc and capacitor discharge stud welding operations are used extensively is vehicle manufacturing. Personal cars, commercial vehicles, and many types of industrial vehicles are all built with stud welding at multiple points on production lines. No matter what type of vehicle or other equipment you’re manufacturing, Northland Fastening Systems has the tools, studs, accessories, and any other equipment you may need. We also offer a repair and service program for most tool models and the advice of our own expert technicians. Both capacitor discharge (CD) and drawn arc stud welding operations have their use in vehicle production, and we offer a comprehensive range of supplies for both.

Arc Stud Welding

Heavy-duty vehicles for the construction industry in particular utilize arc stud welding more prevalently than any other stud operation. Drawn arc studs have larger dimensions, use stronger materials, and are, overall, more powerful than the lightweight applications of CD welding. For the high-stress loads that construction equipment and vehicles handle, drawn arc fastening systems are ideal.

Main Categories

Some main categories of heavy-duty construction vehicles that are built with drawn arc welding operations include:

Excavation:

There are many kinds of excavators built with stud welding connections. For the construction industry, excavator vehicles are critical. Trenchers, dredgers, power shovels, reclaimers, dragline excavators, long-reach excavators, and even mini excavators like backhoes and front loaders all have stud-welded connection points on multiple areas of their bodies, booms, housing, and other components.

Loaders:

Similar to excavators, construction loaders are key in the removal of demolition debris, earth, and other building materials. Generally, loaders are smaller vehicles than excavators, built with stud welding to move materials quickly between construction sites and secondary removal systems.

Paving:

For infrastructure purposes, paving vehicles are very important systems. They build roads, expressways, parking lots, driveways, and even bridges. Some pavers that are made with arc studs include asphalt layers and pavers, compactors, rollers, milling and planing equipment, curing rigs, and more.

Handlers:

Lifting, reaching, moving, and controlling heavy materials in various ways is done with construction handlers. These vehicles range in format, but some common types include cranes, forklifts, truck-mounted boom loaders, cherry pickers, lifts, and straddle carriers.

Trucks:

Trucks are ubiquitous in the construction world, from pickups to dump trucks. All modern trucks of any size are built with drawn arc stud fastening systems, and many also use CD fasteners in computer systems and other electronics.

While there are many high-powered, earth-moving vehicles used in the construction industry, these are just a few of the industrial tools built with arc stud welding operations. To learn more about stud welding for construction equipment, contact Northland Fastening Systems today at (651) 730-7770 or request a quote online

Why the Stud Welding Process Speeds Up Production

Posted on by norfas by norfas

Welding operations of all kinds are used across industries in many capacities, from forge welding to plastic welding. While there are four to seven main types of metal welding, depending on the application and industry, within those groups there are many more variations. In the category of stud welding, there are at least three main types of operations: drawn arc, capacitor discharge (CD), and short cycle. Stud welding is a highly valuable operation for many manufacturers because it provides several benefits in addition to the powerful connections it can form. Not only is stud welding used in multiple industries to connect studs for fastening systems and support structures; it’s also used in composite construction to attach concrete and steel or provide shear strength in infrastructure. No matter what industry you work in, you can find the supplies you need at Northland Fastening Systems. We provide a comprehensive range of studs, tools, accessories, and anything else needed for your stud welding process.

Fastening Systems

Drawn arc, short cycle, and CD stud welding each offer a unique solution for fastening systems. Short cycle and CD stud welding are generally used in automated or quick welds for smaller stud diameters or pins. These operations are ideal for clean, strong connection points. Drawn arc stud welding is used for larger diameter studs, bar anchors, and shear connectors.

Stud Welding Process

All of these operations are part of a stud welding process that can speed up your production line much better than any other fastening system. The main reasons why stud welding can increase manufacturing speeds include:

No secondary operations:

Stud welding can often be performed without grinding or polishing surfaces. Some stud welds can even be attached over paint and other surface treatments. There is no need to drill or tap holes or use rivets, bolts, nuts, or washers. This also eliminates the cost of secondary equipment needed to perform all of these operations.

Rapid weld time:

In many cases, welds can be performed up to 30 times a minute. In the most rapid cases on automated production lines, up to 1,800 studs can be installed per hour.

Single-person task:

Handheld stud welding tools and automated stud welding machines can often be operated successfully by just one worker. The equipment needed to stud weld is also typically lightweight, portable, and easy to operate when following manual directions.

Adaptable to many metals:

While the main materials used for studs and welding surfaces are different kinds of steel, most kinds of metal can be adapted to the stud welding process. Stud welders use metals of all kinds in various applications, including aluminum, mild and stainless steel, brass, copper, titanium, and even Inconel.

In addition to the speed benefits that stud welding provides, these operations also offer precision, uniformity, reliability, and a generally failsafe connection point. To learn more about the stud welding process and the supplies and services we provide, contact Northland Fastening Systems today at (651) 730-7770 or request a quote online

Building Complex Sanitary Conveyor Systems with Food Grade Welding

Posted on by norfas by norfas

The global food industry is one of the largest economic systems in the world. Its success relies on intricate webs of distribution lines. With a world population of almost 8 billion people, the demands on the food industry to support access to everything from safe, nutritious foods to international delicacies are immense. When it comes to the industrial equipment used throughout the food industry, reliability and hygiene are some of the most important factors that engineers and fabricators should build into any design. For many kinds of automated food production equipment used in factory settings, stud welding provides strong, clean fastening systems without risk of harborage or corrosion. If you are working with food grade welding studs to build your food production equipment designs, Northland Fastening Systems has the tools and supplies you need. We provide a complete range of welding tools, studs, and accessories, as well as repair services and the advice of our own welding technicians.

Food Production Equipment

There are many different purposes that various types of food production equipment serve. One of the most essential systems in an automated facility is the conveyor belt operations. To prevent the risk of contamination in the complex parts of a conveyor belt, food grade welding with stainless-steel studs is used to build many components on an automated production line.

Conveyor Belt Systems

Conveyor belt systems meet a wide range of automated food production needs. In the process of moving goods from one operation to the next, most facilities need to maintain precise control over the product quality and load. Some aspects of a conveyor system built with sanitary stud welding include:

Laning and sorting:

Products moving downstream from operation to operation need to be accurately sorted into lanes or sections of a conveyor system. This keeps the production line running smoothly and prevents cross contamination, damage, or unnecessary loss of goods.

Stacking:

In many parts of processing in the food industry, products need to be handled in multiples. For the packaging industry in particular, food items often need to be stacked on top of each other while they move seamlessly through a factory. With sanitary automated stackers, production lines can reduce human error and contamination.

Transfers:

Like sorting systems, transfers also need to occur as products are moved on a conveyor system between different stages. Transfers built into an automated conveyor system keep the process running quickly through lateral or multi-level moves.

Rejection:

Most factories today are incorporating intelligent rejection systems to remove damaged or misshapen goods. These reject systems use laser measurements, weight, imaging, and other smart technologies to determine if goods meet the correct specifications and remove flawed products from the production line. With a reject system on a conveyor, automation can continue through that stage of processing.

Food grade welding contributes to the sanitation and quality of many operations that can be incorporated into a conveyor belt system and an automated production line in general. To learn more, contact Northland Fastening Systems today at (651) 730-7770 or request a quote online.