When switching products being manufactured, one major issue that needs to be considered is whether the welding process needs to be changed. If a product is being welded with in a MIG style, will the new product be able to be welded the same way? Maybe a TIG or another style weld would be more appropriate.
When welding using industrial robot arms, converting a MIG to a TIG welder is easy. The robot arm simply maneuvers the welding components. The MIG and TIG components are simply attached to the robot arm. In order to complete a MIG to TIG conversion, the user would need to exchange components such as the welding power supply, welding torch, wire feeder, and safety clutch. The type of wire and electrode used in MIG and TIG welding vary. Depending on the type of metal being welded and other properties of the welding system, such as shielding gas, different wires made of different metals will be used to conduct the electricity and melt into the metal part. Like the wires, depending on the part and the type of welding process, the type of shielding gas and proportions of gas will need to be adjusted to fit the application.
To put it simply, to convert an industrial robot arm, such as a FANUC ArcMate 120iC/10L or a Motoman E1400N, from a MIG to a TIG welder, the user generally only needs to replace the welding accessories, not the industrial robot arm itself. A manufacturer might want to convert MIG to TIG for several reasons. If the part being manufactured changes and a new type of metal is being welded, conversion from MIG to TIG or TIG to MIG might be appropriate. Weld splatter and precision are also something to consider. TIG welding processes typically are more precise and create less splatter than MIG welding processes. These and other MIG and TIG welding characteristics should be taken into consideration when deciding which welding process to use and when decided if converting MIG to TIG would be appropriate.