Coldwater Machine builds laser welding line for powertrain components

Coldwater Machine Co., Coldwater, Ohio, has manufactured and delivered an automated laser welding line, developed for the production of differentials and ring gears. The machine features a palletized conveyor system to transfer parts through the cell using RFID traceability throughout the assembly and welding process, and a material handling robot to transfer the parts between operations.

The first process is an ablation station where the ring gears and differential cases are cleaned with a fiber laser before laser welding. The robot transfers cleaned parts from the palletized conveyor system to the individual operations, including a servo-controlled press station, and then to the laser welding station. The parts are oriented, clamped under force, and tack welded by a 6-kW CO2 laser with filler wire in the presence of a shielding gas.

When the laser welding process is completed, the robot moves the assembly to an ultrasonic inspection station for a quality check of the weld to identify failures along the 360-degree joint.