Maintenance

[dennis101]

Morning all,

Looking at maintaning some MIG sets.
Question: apart from basic maintenance, would a service contract be a good idea and what would the checklist involve?

We have a large number of MIG sets on site which are not maintained regular i.e. only when they breakdown.

Any advice welcome

 

[Robotstar5]

I was responsible for maintaining about 15 weldsets and would service them every 3 months (interval would depend on your usage) which was,
Remove all covers
Blow out dust
Clean filter
Check electrical connections for security/signs of heat damage
Check mechanical fixings/connections
Remove & clean feed rolls
Replace any worn/damaged parts.

Usually booked about an hour to each set

Might be worth contacting you local weld supplier to get a service contract? if you have enough sets, an engineer would probably come on site to do them.

...and welcome to the forum.

 

[dennis101]

Thanks Robotstar5

That seems to me all I can find regarding the maintenance.
Did contact the local suppier and he was not helpfull i.e. said there was no maintenance work that the user could do, he didnt even offer a service contract.

 

[Jim Davey]

Where in the UK are you? I'm sure there will be somebody capable not too far away.

 

[PTvor]

Is there that much maintenance to do? As Robotstar says, regularly clean things, check things and carry a supply of likely spares. If you had a contract with a local supplier they very likely wouldn't be repairing machines themselves.

Or is it a question of you'd rather pay and have it sorted by someone else than become involved yourself with doing this?

 

[Jim Davey]

There's a fair bit involved, and the benefits of planned maintenance are as considerable.

Productivity for starters.

Lots of firms don't want welders doing anything other than welding, I've had lots of occurrences of half a day lost because a bloke tried to repair his own cross threaded contact tip, or a burned out earth clamp or any number of things a trained service guy would fix in five minutes flat.

Then there's liability.

Non electrically trained staff working on machines with the covers off to blow them out, this is risky for a number of reasons. The most obvious danger is that somebody plugs the machine back in while it's being serviced, then there's the dust cloud of nasty particles caused by blowing it out, this is a health hazard for eyes and lungs and needs doing responsibly outside away from the other employees. Then there is the fact that untrained guys are less likey to pick up on things like bad earths, unsecure cable clamps, cracked mains plugs, damaged insulators on dinze sockets, all need checking and fifty other little things that can bite you if you don't know what to look for. So again, not something you could expect the average welder to spot or to resolve safely.
With an outside contractor doing the work your paper trail of invoices for servicing/repairs demonstrates you carry out repairs as necessary and are doing your bit to provide safe equipment for your staff to use (needs backing up with evidence of periodic PAT testing of course)

Then the last and probably most undervalued aspect of planned maintenance.

Lower breakdown and downtime rates, because all the 'stitch in time' stuff gets taken care of before it becomes an issue.

 

[Robotstar5]

Noooo! don't let welders near the weldset, once you've seen their attempts at increasing productivity (finishing earlier) such as work returns plugged into high AND low inductances and anti spatter sprayed onto feed rolls (to make them turn faster) you soon realise to restrict them to the torch end

 

[Jim Davey]

Lmao, that's a good one I've seen your hall of shame photos, I'll have to take a few myself when I next get a 'classic' one in, I always seem to forget at the time.