Integrated electrode maintenance for robotic welding cell including cap extractor

A cap extractor for a welding gun comprising:

• a housing;
• a pair of springs;
• and
• first and second arms arranged between the springs, each of the first and second arms having teeth configured to engage a welding cap, the first and second arms configured to move relative to the housing by deflecting the springs, wherein the first and second arms are mounted to spaced apart disks, the first and second arms pivotally connected to one another by a spacer pin that rotationally affixes the disks to one another.

A cap extractor for a welding gun comprising:

• a housing;
• a pair of springs;
• and
• first and second arms arranged between the springs, each of the first and second arms having teeth configured to engage a welding cap, the first and second arms configured to move relative to the housing by deflecting the springs, wherein a biasing spring is interconnected to the first and second arms to urge the teeth of the first and second arms toward one another.

A method of removing a cap from a welding gun comprising the steps of:

• receiving a welding cap having a centerline between teeth of first and second arms, wherein the first and second arms are supported between spaced apart disks, the disks are supported by springs;
• floating the arms along the centerline and laterally relative to the centerline during the receiving step to permit alignment between the teeth and the welding cap, and the floating step includes deflecting at least one of the springs along the centerline;
• and
• twisting the welding cap from a welding gun.

A method of removing a cap from a welding gun comprising the steps of:

• receiving a welding cap having a centerline between teeth of first and second arms, wherein one of the first and second arms abuts a stop preceding the receiving step;
• floating the arms along the centerline and laterally relative to the centerline during the receiving step to permit alignment between the teeth and the welding cap;
• and
• twisting the welding cap from a welding gun, and the one of the first and second arms is spaced from the stop during the twisting step.

A method of removing a cap from a welding gun comprising the steps of:

• receiving a welding cap having a centerline between teeth of first and second arms;
• floating the arms along the centerline and laterally relative to the centerline during the receiving step to permit alignment between the teeth and the welding cap;
• and
• twisting the welding cap from a welding gun, wherein an actuator is pivotally mounted to a housing containing the first and second arms, and the twisting step includes articulating the actuator relative to the housing and rotating the first and second arms relative to the welding gun.

A cap extractor for a welding gun comprising:

• a housing;
• spaced apart disks arranged in the housing;
• first and second arms arranged between and mounted to the disks, the first and second arms are pivotably secured with respect to one another by a spacer pin and carried by the disks for rotation about a circular path, each of the first and second arms having teeth configured to engage a welding cap;
• a spring arranged between each of the disks and the housing, wherein each spring received in a recess of one of the disks, wherein the springs are configured to enable the discs to float laterally and vertically with respect to the housing enabling the first and second arms to float laterally and vertically relative to the housing, thereby ensuring alignment with the teeth and a weld cap;
• and
• an actuator is pivotally attached to the housing, the actuator operatively connected to the first arm to rotate the first and second arms along with the disks, the actuator configured to articulate relative to the housing during rotation of the first arm in the housing.