Best 3 Axis Positioner Manufacturer

The areas of the 3 axis positioner units exposed to exterior weather or vulnerable to friction are manufactured with stainless steel, stainless steel alloys, mild steel, and aluminum, depending upon the component.

The common materials used in manufacturing the 3 axis positioners are stainless and mild steel, depending upon the component’s function. Once you place the units in your manufacturing shed, the parts exposed to exterior weather react with the air and humidity.

This results in corrosion and damage to the component’s surface. The non-reactive feature of stainless steel protects the exterior surface against corrosion. Another essential concern is the wearing and surface erosion.

The 3 axis positioners are designed to handle heavy workpieces and undergo very rough usage in their lifetime. Due to abrupt friction, the surface area tends to wear off, losing its material property. So, the manufacturers use mild steel with thick plating in the manufacturing of positioners, supporting the unit to withstand the severe impacts.

Moreover, during your regular welding operations, the units are susceptible to weld spatters. To protect the areas highly vulnerable to weld spatters, manufacturers often use bronze details and coatings.

Stainless steel alloys ensure a durable lifetime

The weld spatters are non-reactive to the bronze surface, keeping your unit unsoiled. Apart from these, the manufacturers also use other innovative ways while making the 3 axis positioners to ensure the ultimate durability of the 3 axis positioners.

The primary function that you can expect from the 3 axis positioner is that it will assist you in handling the workpiece during the welding operations.

So how does it contribute to handling your workpiece? It can lift, rotate, tilt and overturn your weldments.

During your welding operations, you must first attach the weldment firmly with the positioner unit’s platform. Due to the built-in creative clamping techniques, the positioner unit will ensure a secure connection to hold the workpiece.

Once the clamping is complete, you can use the control to lift the unit to the desired height to get the most convenient position to work on the weldment. Additionally, you can tilt, spin and overturn the workpiece, whichever is suitable for you to gain the working position.

A 3 axis positioner used to lift, rotate and tilt the weldment

One of the concerning factors while handling the workpiece is the weight of the object. The positioner unit will ultimately carry on the object’s load and lift, tilt or spin simultaneously with so much flexibility.

In a nutshell, you can work standing from a single, convenient position. You don’t have to worry about the weight of the object!

When you are looking for the 3 axis positioner for your practical purpose, you can see that manufacturers offer various types.

They produce the varieties to perform much more efficiently in the specific kind of job. Let us know about the different available types of 3 axis positioners.

• 3 axis hydraulic welding positioner

All the control features like lifting, tilting, and rotation are hydraulically driven in this positioner unit. This ensures a robust control for heavy workpieces.

A typical 3 axis hydraulic welding positioner

• 3 axis electric welding positioner

The controlling features in this unit in electro-mechanically driven. You can efficiently and quickly position comparatively lighter objects with this positioner.

• 3 axis electro-hydraulic welding positioner

With both electric and hydraulically-driven features, you can handle both light and heavy objects efficiently.

In general, the rotational option is electro-mechanical control utilizing the power-ventilated inverter technology. The lifting and tilting features are hydraulically powered.

• L-type 3 axis welding positioner

Apart from the lift, rotate, or tilt function, you might require additional features when working on unusually shaped weldments that require a wide welding area. You can expect all these options from the single unit of an L-type positioner.

It’s pretty simple to automate the manufacturing system using a 3 axis welding positioner. You can even build up a complete manufacturing cell by integrating a 3 axis welding positioner and other supporting units.

How can you do that? Integrate manipulators and welding robotic arms. Regarding manipulators, the column and boom welding manipulator is the most commonly used unit in combination with the 3 axis positioner to automate the manufacturing system.

You can also integrate other manipulator units for specific types of operations. Now considering robotic arms, the automation is also simple enough. You can manually control the units to sync however you intend to.

While the 3 axis positioner holds the workpiece and provides the position, the robotic arm or column and boom manipulator will continue welding on a fixed part.

But it would help if you never forgot that it is best to leave this ‘syncing’ function on the expert’s hand to obtain the most professional outcome compared to manual operation.

To reach automation, the manufacturing companies can help you with a built-in combined system with a central unit to control both units. Controlling the unit from a central unit will give all the integrated units a synced motion, resulting in the best professional result.

Whether you should choose the 3 axis or 2 axis welding positioner depends on what type of weldment you want to work. A 3 axis positioner offers you more versatile and adapting features in handling the workpiece than a 2 axis welding positioner.

If you are working on weldment with irregular shapes or have additional pieces attached to the main body, you must adjust the object to work on all surfaces.

For example, you are performing a welding operation on one side of the workpiece. Now you want to perform the welding on the additional attached part. But with rotating or tilting, the irregular-shaped workpiece will get stuck on the ground.

If you have a 2 axis positioner, you have to unclamp the object and again clamp, holding on a suitable position to rotate.

But what if you have a 3 axis positioner? You can easily lift the workpiece and then rotate it to the desired position. So, whether you should choose the 3 axis or 2 axis positioner depends upon the type of job and workpiece you are working with.

You can integrate the column and boom welding manipulator with the 3 axis welding positioner to automate the manufacturing process. These two units can act as supporting units for each other.

For spot welding operations, you can use the 3 axis positioner to handle the workpiece and hold it at a fixed position while the column and book perform the weld in that position.

A typical column and boom manipulator can be integrated with 3 axis positioner for automation

While for continuous welding, you can use the regulated rotational spin of the 3 axis positioner, synced with the column and boom welding positioner.

The 3 axis positioners undergo heavy usage during the production cycle, handling heavy units. So, the attachment of the workpiece with the positioner must be rigid enough to sustain the load and ensure safety.

In the standard 3 axis positioners, attachment is done by the gripper sets. The gripper sets are designed to hold the workpiece delicately to protect it from damage.

Additionally, the gripper sets are created from highly durable steel that is efficient against wearing and tearing.

Another system used for the clamping of weldments with the positioner unit is the self-centering scroll chucks with reversible top jaws.

But these are only used if the positioners are designed to handle cylindrical-shaped workpieces rather than irregular-shaped object.

The 3-axis welding positioner is a ground-breaking piece of technology that has made enormous changes on how easily you can deal with the workpiece. In the traditional lifting method, you have to depend on an individual set of machinery for particular degrees of movement.

Traditionally, the crane system is used to hold and lift the workpiece, which is an inefficient and unsafe route to handle the weldment. Moreover, for rotation and tilting of the workpiece, individual appliances are required.

But now, thanks to the 3-axis welding positioner, you can handle the workpiece in every possible direction by using a single machine. You can perform all the lift, tilt, and rotation of the workpiece with the 3 axis positioner, the ultimate solution for every movement.

While performing welding operations, it is normal for you to be concerned about welding spatter on the working units.

Weld spatter

But you can relax as the manufacturers implement their creative ideas to provide assurances against weld spatters. Most manufacturing companies coat the exterior surface of the vulnerable parts with bronze coatings in the current world.

The bronze coating makes the surface non-reactive to some degree so that weld spatters do not become fixed after reacting with it.

The three axes of the three-axis welding positioner are:

Lifting: You can lift up or down the workpiece to any desired height until you get a convenient position to work on the weldment.

Rotating: There is a horizontal platform on which the workpiece is attached to the positioner unit. You can rotate the platform about its axis to rotate the weldment.

Tilting and Overturn: To obtain the most suitable position for working, you can tilt the workpiece. Although some of the 3-axis positioner units provide only a tilting function limited to some degrees, some models can both tilt and overturn the workpiece.

The 3 axis positioner units are designed to offer the ultimate levels of satisfaction in your welding operations.

If you are performing spot welding or electric resistance welding, you can use the 3 axis positioner to handle your workpiece to obtain the working position.

Moreover, you can also perform Tungsten Inert Gas (TIG) welding using the 3 axis positioner for handling the weldment.

The difference between the 2-axis and 3-axis welding positioner is simple but significantly impacts your welding jobs. The 3 axis positioner offers one degree of movement more than the 2 axis positioner.

With the two-axis positioner, you can only rotate and tilt the workpiece in the desired position.

A two-axis positioner doesn’t have the lifting feature

But with the 3 axis positioner, you can gain an additional movement dimension to lift the workpiece. You can lift up or down the workpiece to any required height within the range of the equipment.

This comes exceptionally handy in workpieces with varying heights or additional pieces attached to the main segment. This also gives a convenient handling opportunity, reducing repositioning scopes every time you need to change your work position.

The manufacturers provide a convenient and flexible control system to get the best experience while handling the weldments.

The most basic control system that comes with the positioner unit is the hand pendants. The pendants are typically cabled systems but are even available with the wireless model if you request on order.

Cabled Hand Pendant for unit control

With bidirectional suitability, digital readout text is included so that it is easily understandable for you. The positioner unit also comes with a footswitch. You can switch both forward and reverse directions with adjustment to the speed of rotation with the footswitches.

Footswitches to control the positioner unit

You can even install elbow jig fixtures, and outboard pipe roller stands for specific types of applications. Before we discussed the creative clamping system. You can add chucks and grippers of more than 5 feet of outer diameter to hold the weldment firmly.

Leave off your fatigue and exhaustion with the superior handling opportunities with the 3 axis welding positioner. If you are involved inwelding operations, you know it’s all about handling the heavy loads of the workpiece now and then.

Moreover, it’s hard to find a suitable position to work on complicated areas of the workpiece. The positioner will hold the heavy workpiece for you. It will lift the workpiece for you at any convenient height.

The positioner will tilt the workpiece to offer the most suitable position. It will even rotate the workpiece if you want to perform continuous welding operations. So, forget everything about the workpiece!

Stand in a fixed position, control the 3 axis positioner unit, and continue your work from the most convenient position.

The L-type 3 axis positioner functions the same as a standard 3 axis positioner. The horizontal platform on which you can attach the workpiece rests on a flexible horizontal plane.

The horizontal plane creates an L shape with the central unit, which is why it is named an L-type positioner. This additional feature will help you to get a wide-angled position to perform the welding operations.

Other than that, the L-type positioner can also lift up and down, overturn, tilt and rotate the workpiece the same as a regular 3 axis positioner.

L-type 3 axis welding positioner

There is no difference between the L-type and the standard 3 axis positioner in terms of functionality. The only difference is in terms of the shape of how the positioner is designed for your specific type of job.

Since the attaching platform of the positioner unit creates an L shape with the appliance, you can get a wide-angled area to work, which is different from standard 3 axis positioners.

Other than that, the L-type positioner can also lift up and down, overturn, tilt and rotate the workpiece the same as a regular 3 axis positioner.

All the movement features of an electric 3 axis positioner are electro-mechanically controlled. So, you can handle the workpiece much more quickly than you could with a hydraulic system.

But one of the drawbacks of the electro-mechanic control system is the ability to handle extreme loads.

The hydraulic principle will enable you to carry on an excessive number of loads, the electro-mechanic system limits the loading opportunity for you.

Using the 3 axis welding positioner is now a convenient technique for how easily you can handle the irregular-shaped workpiece.

After ensuring the proper clamping with the top base, using the positioner unit you can easily handle lift, tilt or rotate the workpiece in any way until you get the desired working position.

Using 3 axis positioner to handle irregularly shaped workpiece

It’s imperative to keep the CG factor into consideration while loading the workpiece on the positioner unit.

The manufacturers build the positioner units with the counter-balance feature, but that can range up to limits.

So, always keep in mind how heavy or in what offset position you can attach the weldment to maintain the balance during your welding operations.