This assembly was made by a competitor using a custom welding machine. They originally did an acceptable job but, as continuous improvement, our customer sought increased product life and determined that holding tighter assembly tolerances would achieve their objective. The supplier’s dedicated machine / production process was incapable of achieving it. Although the part is simple in appearance, we also learned that weld repair is not allowed. In addition to tolerance issues, any weld defect scraps out the assembly resulting in a back charge from the customer. A highly controllable, defect free process was critical. Our solution utilized a dual arm robot cell, creatively designed-in-house weld tooling, and advanced weld parameters to control weld distortion.
This assembly begins with customer supplied raw tubing and a couple of closed die machined forgings. We provide tube cutting, robotic welding, and powder coating. We also designed and produced a custom machine for in-house hydraulic bushing insertion prior to painting.
Product Description – Upper Control Arm assembly used in single and tandem Class-8 Semi trailer suspensions.
Market – Truck, Truck Trailer, Military
Materials – A-519 seamless tube and closed die forgings.
Processes – Dual Arm Robotic MIG Welding of customer supplied components, powder coating, and light assembly.
Overall Size – 6.1” x 17.25” x 48.75”
Total Weld Length – 91”
Tightest Tolerances – +/- .015″, without post weld machining.
Assembly Weight – 92.5 lbs
Quantities – Production lot sizes of 200 pc to 6,000 pcs.
Inspection – Welds to AWS D1.1 and numerous customer specs – Check gauges, AWS Certified visual ND and Macro-Etch weld inspection; Dimensional – CMM