Column And Boom: The Ultimate FAQ Guide

Welding is an integral element of manufacturing operations in various industries. All sorts of goods, either for personal use or commercial use, require some degree of welding in their manufacturing.

While various technical skills have enjoyed the evolution of technology in increasing their efficiency, welding equipment hasn’t been an exception.

Since the late’90s the welding industry has been revolutionized which has been the fundamental reason behind the advancement of various other industries.

Column and boom operate

Welding automation machines have improved the welding operations by a great margin. They have helped enormously in increasing the speed, accuracy, effectiveness, productivity, and efficiency of welding duties.

The three most common machines that are used for welding automation include pipe rotators/welding rotators, welding positioners, and welding manipulators.

These machines are designed and developed to assist engineers in their welding performances. These machines help in lifting, rotating, aligning, moving, shifting, and dragging heavy objects automatically to reduce the time and effort of the workers.

In this article, we’ll discuss one of these three machines which are Column and Boom, welding operators.

What are Column and Boom Welding Machines?

Column and boom are welding automation units that are used to obtain lift to a maximum height of 30 feet to deliver the welding head at unconventional spaces and locations. These machines are designed to help the welders in large and complex welding operations.

Column and boom machines are the most versatile pieces of equipment associated with sub-arc automatic welding. They offer a precision of a highly skilled welder with even greater consistency.

The manipulators can be designed or programmed to duplicate the same procedure without a variation, as well as weld sequentially different procedures on the same weldment.

They can be adapted to operate in pick and place applications as well as plate burning, heating, and arc gouging.

Column and boom are offered in different models in a variety of sizes and capacity ranges. Each can be customized for specific applications such as simple straight lines, or circumferential welding.

Custom designs for extra long reach and extra heavy loads are also available. A telescopic boom option is also used when the space is limited.

Most of the column and boom machines are available as pedestal mounted, motorized, or fixed boom machines. These can be mounted on a free-standing base or a motorized travel carriage for mobility.

What is the Composition of Column and Boom?

Machine structure – Column and boom have a heavy-duty construction design. The machine adopts bending while welding structure parts that have good rigidity. Light, medium, and heavy manipulators adopt triangular guide rails.

The super heavy model adopts plane square guide rails, which are processed by planer machines. HIgh precision and wear resistance of guide rail is ensured.

Welding Automation Production Line

Column and boom has a unique cross-section design for optimal welding, planning, and grinding. It is known for being lightweight, high strength, and extremely stable.

The structure is perfect for longitudinal and circumferential seam welding of inner and out pieces of cylindrical workpieces. These workpieces include industrial boilers and petrochemical vessels.

• Elevation Mechanism – The boom lifting adapts itself to the constant speed mode of the AC motor, It is equipped with a safety device that makes it stable and uniforms with a high-speed factor.

• Boom Expansion – The boom retraction, electric rotation, and electric trolley adjusts to the AC motor to perform various operations. These include frequency conversion, stepless speed regulation, constant torque output, fast start/stop, stable speed, and preset speed digital display.
• Trolley – The trolley adjusts to a standard railway track as a walking track with both manual and automatic options. Manual is suitable for light and short-moving range operators. Electric ones are suitable for large and heavy welding manipulators.

• Welding System – Single or tandem sub-arc welding heads are optional. These are equipped with wire feeders, control systems, flux management systems, and weld monitoring cameras along with sub-arc tractors and weld positioning equipment. Well-designed column and boom machines, equipped with a welding system accommodate deep groove and narrow gap applications.
• Electric Control – Manual control boxes or head control boxes are set for nearby or remote control modes for flexibility and convenience. Linkage interface is reserved in the electric box which synchronizes all welding equipment including welding rotators, welding positioners, and turntables.

Column and boom in the workshop

What are the Mechanical Parts of Column and Boom?

A column and boom machine are composed of 4 integral parts which include a column, boom, base, and carriage. All these parts have their sub-parts which can either be fixed or customized to fulfill different welding operations.

Column

• Column & Elevation Gearbox
• Column Safety and Elevation Rack
• Limit Switches
• Brackets
• Column Strikers
• Elevation Pinion

Boom

• Motor
• Shaft
• Limit Switch
• Cable Chains
• Adjuster Plate (Gearbox)
• Feet (Gearbox)
• Boom Pinion
• Rack

What are the Electrical Parts of the Column and boom?

Column & boom welding machines have a lot of electrical parts. But, here are parts that are the most used and sought after:

• Boom Motor Inverter
• Relay
• Terminals
• Transformer
• 1, 2, and 3 Pole Circuit Breakers
• Emergency Stop Button
• Earth Terminals
• Contactor
• Fuse Holders

When Do You Need A Column and Boom?

• When welding large plate sections or long seems
• When the piece or part is of a thickness that would require multiple passes with hand-held methods.
• When penetration is b shaped must be uniformed throughout the entire weld lengths
• When extreme close tolerance of arc gap or speed of travel is required.
• When the ability to increase profit through the use of an automatic welding head becomes practical

Why Should You Use Column and Boom?

Automatic welding systems are designed to be mounted on a rigid structure and move from seam to seam providing a higher degree of accuracy and consistent repeatability over manual methods. True automatic welding requires the use of a manipulating device that brings the welding head to the work.

What are the Custom Options of Column & Boom?

• Control platform (Joystick or fully integrated touchscreen options)
• SAW or GMAW welding systems (Single, Twin, or Tandem wire)
• Cold Wire TIG Systems
• Powered cross slides (1 or 2 axes)
• Weld Camera systems (SAW or Open Arc)
• Seam Tracking (Vision/Laser or Tactile/Mechanical)
• Travel Car (Powered or Manual),
• Pre-heating system (Rolling Induction Heater)
• Flux Recovery and delivery systems Dual SAW or MIG/SAW set-ups

What are the Standard Features of Column & Boom?

• 480Volt, 3Phase input power (Other voltages available)
• Boom Traverse, Mast Traverse, and Travel Car Speed: 5-120 in/min
• Adjustable Rotation Stops (up to 355º)
• Variable speed boom and column controls (in/out, up/down)

Column and boom welding center

What are the Tools of Column & Boom?

Camera Systems

Subarc or open arc options; allows for easier set up of weld torch and safer viewing for operators throughout the welding process.

Seam Tracking

Seam tracking for fully automated welding processes complete with a simple user interface. Laser (vision) or tactile (mechanical probe) style options are available.

Controller

Powered Cross Slides & Joystick Controller Standard 6” x 6” travel range and 200lb payload. Available with a regular joystick, oscillation, or servo controls.

Touch Screens

Optional user-friendly HMI touch screens to control all functions, and integrate any of LJ’s material handling solutions (rolls, positioners, etc)

How Do Column and Boom Operate?

• Both the column and the boom adopt a V-type rail and possess a high loading capacity.
• To make the positioning of the boom stable and smooth, the column is equipped with a brake motor.
• The guide holder has a safety pin, and the column has a row of security holes. The safety pin will enter into a security hole when the chain breaks down. In this way, serious accidents are successfully avoided.
• Pivoting support is used to connect the lower part of this manipulator with its foundation, thus smooth and stable rotation is obtained. Besides, it can also facilitate the work of welding many workpieces at the same time.
• The guide holder connects the boom with the column, thus making the vertical adjustment and horizontal extension possible.
• The boom is also equipped with a cross electrical regulator.
• A step-less speed regulating converter, with stable and reliable performance, is used to control the extension of the boom. And the converter has a failure testing mechanism, which will give an alarm when something wrong happens.
• The guide holder is box-shaped. And its upper part is connected with the lifting chain; its rear part is linked with the column through the chain wheel, and its front part is connected to the boom.
• Its speed reducer is mainly composed of a professional cycloidal pinwheel and a worm-gear speed reducer.
• This column boom manipulator adopts a total-sealing oil immersion lubricating mode to help keep off dust, slag, and many other impurities.

Column and boom for wind tower

How Column and Boom Manipulators Automate Your Welding Operation?

Welding automation is the integration of various welding machines that individually and collectively integrate into an organization’s welding operations to increase productivity, accuracy, and speed. These machines perform different welding operations.

As welding rotators are used in aligning, moving, placing, and rotating cylindrical objects, while the welding positioner holds, lifts, and moves objects to enhance welding operations.

While other welding machines improve the overall welding operations, column and boom are no exception. This machine works individually as well as combines with other machinery to improve efficiency and effectiveness.

Column and boom are so versatile that they can combine with any other welding machine. The following example demonstrates how column and boom assist in welding automation services.

One of the most common machines that are sold in the welding segment is the circumferential welding machines for welding round steel objects to each other. The circumferential welding operation is a process where the parts are clamped in a chuck that rotates during the welding process.

This circumferential welding machine can be combined with a boom welding module to for example create a pipe spool welding machine. The circumferential welding machine has the workpiece mounted on the rotating chuck during the welding.

When the spool is rotating the column and boom welding segment of the machine moves up and down on the column and changes position on the boom.

Also, various column and boom welding machines are equipped with operating software and also sell the column and boom welding machines as stand-alone welding machines.

What are the Benefits of Using the Column and Boom?

Overall, a welding manipulator improves work productivity, provides more flexibility, and lessens fatigue for your welders, all while ensuring the consistent quality of your welding operations.

• Mobility

Manual manipulators are made to move faster with built-in swivel casters, while the mechanized ones can both be manually and computer operated. Switching from one workstation to another won’t be as time-consuming and strenuous as it was before. Even a single welder can transfer the manipulator everywhere in the shop on his own.

• Safe Working Environment

With its adjustable features and safety straps, you can safely move the weld head closer or more distant to the workpiece, which allows you to weld away from the heat zone. It also comes with safety bumpers to assure the gun, the boom, and the manipulator itself stay secured during the welding process.

• Flexibility and Versatility

Column and boom are the most flexible piece of machinery that is designed to be integrated with other welding equipment. Welding operators can access uneasy locations and perform complex and difficult welding tasks.

With this machinery, they don’t have to worry about the size and structures of the underlying object. The welding head reaches any critical spot with the help of a remote controller.

• Improved quality

One of the most integral advantages of welding automation is the accuracy that is immensely improved. Just like other welding machinery, column and boom increase the welding accuracy by a great margin. It helps welders in performing welding operations in difficult spots, where it is extremely difficult to reach the welding object.

Also, many operations are continuous and require to be performed again and again. Accuracy is drastically improved as column and boom can be adjusted to save similarly repeating welding operations.

• Increased Productivity

As we discussed earlier, various welding operations require a lot of similar and continuous operations. Traditional welding forces you to start these operations all over again, every time. This means that welders have to adjust their equipment every time to achieve similar or improved accuracy with manual equipment.

This procedure is time-consuming and doesn’t help in improving the efficiency of production operations in a business. Column and boom solve this problem as they can save the repeating operations so that they can be continuously performed without the need for adjustment again and again.

This process widely helps in improving the production capacity of any business that involves a ton of welding operations.

• Better User Experience

Welding can be improved if the welder is not comfortable doing its job with ease. Traditionally welders have to reach awkward spaces to perform difficult welds and have to deal with heavy objects. Handling such objects manually is not only dangerous but is extremely tidy as well.

Welders cannot work effectively for continuous periods. Traditional welding also doesn’t offer much in terms of learning new skills and thus, the learning curve remains straight. Column and boom improve the welder’s effectiveness as well.

It allows the chance to integrate human intelligence with mechanical strength. Thus welders can focus more on the technical aspects of the welding operations while column and boom take care of the heavy lifting and accessibility.

Heavy-duty Column and Boom

• Reduced Floor Space

Handling heavy objects with traditional equipment used to be a nightmare for welders but equally disturbing for business owners as well. Such equipment covered a lot of areas in a factory and everything in the factories looked like a mess.

Not only the floor area, but these tools also require a lot of maintenance as well. Also, these were difficult to handle and less safe for workers. All these difficulties that were attached with traditional lifting equipment have been resolved by column and boom.

It is a highly reliable piece of machinery and extremely effective at delivering the welding head at tricky spots. Also, it covers a smaller area than traditional equipment.

• Reduced Welding Costs

An increment in effectiveness and efficiency of a welding operation always indicates to decrease in the expenses that are attached to traditional operations. There is always a lot of residual that is left after an unsuccessful welding attempt.

Through column and boom, the chances of failure and inaccuracy reduce by a great margin. A reduction in welding costs is inevitable once columns and boom are installed to assist wheelers.

It is a capital investment that is designed to reduce the operating expenses of any involved business.

• Welding Automation

Welding manipulators work exactly like a skilled extra hand on your shop and allow repetitive, quality operations without needing as much manpower.

The ArcBoss Oscillating Unit, for instance, perfectly mimics the movement of the human hand, providing consistent quality without putting too much physical stress on the operator. The operator can even control the manipulator while welding using a remote control.

• Strength And Durability

Most welding manipulators can handle heavy weights. Just take the ArcBoss for example. The fully extended boom is tested to handle up to 50 pounds of weight. You won’t have to worry about the weld head loosening unexpectedly, or doing welding operations little by little just because the manipulator can’t handle that much weight or pressure.

Pressure Vessel Welding With Column and Boom

What are the Common Applications of Column and Boom?

The most common applications for our column & boom welding machines include:

• Pressure vessels and pressure tanks
• Boilers
• Water tanks and storages
• Automotive industry
• Petrochemical industry
• Mineral and coal mining industry
• Oil & generation industry

Common Welding Operations Performed by Column and Boom

Column and boom can operate all types of welding operations including:

• Submerged Arc Welding (SAW)
• Gas Tungsten Arc Welding (GTAW) or TIG Welding
• Gas Metal Arc Welding (GMAW) or MIG Welding
• Flux-Cored Arc Welding (FCAW)
• Plasma Arc Welding (PAW)

Integration Of Column & Boom Welding Machines With Pipe Rotators And Welding Positioners

All welding equipment is designed to operate individually. But their true potential is only unlocked when you use them all together. Only then you can achieve true welding automation.

Column and boom are also designed to become a part of the overall welding automation. While welding rotators and welding positioners are involved in handling the heavyweight equipment, column and boom take care of the welding head and deliver it to tough spots.

Handling the machinery is only half the job, performing the actual weld is the other half. This other half is performed with the help of column and boom manipulators.

Fixed Column and Boom

Column and boom manipulators fill a different need than rollers and rotary welding positioners in automated facilities, holding the welding torch instead of the weldment.

They often weld parts that are supported either by rotary positioners or by rollers and primarily have two degrees of freedom, moving vertically and in one direction horizontally, with some also able to rotate about their base.

They can also control the angle of the torch and the distance from the welding surface.

They can vary in size from a few feet tall and wide to several stories tall depending on the application. Generally, when working with a rotary welding positioner, smaller column and boom units are required, while when working with rollers.

It is usually on very large diameter pipes and tanks, calling for a very large column and boom unit.

What are the Prices And Availability Of Column & Boom?

Column and boom are standalone machinery that can be operated with integration with other welding equipment. However, the true potential is only fully optimized when you integrate your welding operations with other welding machinery to achieve full welding automation.

Buying all these machines in a package will be much more viable for your business. Prices of all welding machinery vary because almost all buyers in this industry want a custom application of these products for their unique purposes.

Therefore, if you are looking to buy welding machinery including a column and boom you have to contact a supplier that understands your requirements and delivers the right product for your business.

He’ll also provide you a price quote after you mention your custom specifications.