Keyhole TIG is a unique process developed in Australia that is gaining traction around the world. The advantageous material flow in keyhole welding ensures a high-quality weld and makes it possible to complete the weld in a single pass, providing huge productivity advantages.

At a water pipeline infrastructure project in San Juan, Argentina, the total K-TIG arc-on time to fabricate 40ft (12m) long, 4ft (1.2m) diameter pipes made up of 7ft (2m) sections is approximately 2.5 hrs!

Challenges

When fabricating 600mm (63 inch) diameter, 9mm (3/8 inch) thick stainless steel pipe for transporting drinking water, the operator must monitor and adjust the torch alignment to ensure accurate seam tracking of the longitudinal weld.

Another operator must monitor the single, full-penetration circumferential pass (square butt joints) during the 14 minutes of welding time.

MeltTools’ Solution

Both the Seamer and Column and Boom Manipulator welding stations are set up with DART cameras that are mounted to the welding torch and display a clear, close up image of the weld on a monitor that the operator can view from a safe, ergonomic position.

MeltTools supplies a DART camera, 10m cable, camera controller and power supply. Once set-up, the DART camera does not require any adjustment by the operator. The DART camera does not require cooling for this application.