Arc products (AP automation) was recently bought by Lincoln Electric. They specialize in automated welding equipment and have a great video on YouTube showing their WEC orbital welding system. The system has a TIG torch with a wire feed and camera system. At the end of the following video you can see the image quality of their welding camera system. In this video, the camera is placed at the rear of the weld pool and the TIG torch oscillates.

Welding camera systems generally cannot see through the arc (except with specialist lighting (e.g. strobed laser) combined with specialist optical filters). Therefore, a second camera may be usefully placed in front of the torch, close to the wire-feed to ensure that the wire is fed correctly into the weld-pool.

The output from one or two cameras mounted on the weld head are fed back to a monitor so the welder can see the welding as it is being performed. Welding cameras are employed on orbital systems to

• provide constant views of the welding process
• improve monitoring and accuracy of welding in tight clearances
• improve quality assurance
• improve operator’s working conditions, especially when welding preheated materials in power plants
• reduce set-up time