Ceramic wire feed rollers
AssigneeCeramic Engineering Consulting, Inc.
InventorGary L. Boyd
Life of this patent
Estimating the term…
Abstract
Wire feed rollers made of ceramic material which virtually eliminate wire feed roller wear enabling continuous wire feed to the welding tip without discernable weld wire slippage. Adjacent ceramic wire feed rollers are used in sets where one roller includes a groove on a side surface while the second roller has no grooves. The ceramic wire feed rollers require relatively light clamping (contact) loads to effectively feed the wire to the weld tip enabling decreased wire feed roller drive torque requirements and reduced wear to drive gears and support bearings.
Claims14
A wire feed system for use with a welding apparatus to assist in feeding welding wire in the welding apparatus, the system comprising:
- a first wire feed roller completely formed from a ceramic material, having a circular top and circular bottom of same diameter and a cylindrical wall with an outer surface, wherein said cylindrical side wall is disposed perpendicular to said top and bottom at the outer edges of said top and said bottom and having a groove imbedded in said outer surface of said cylindrical wall;
- a second wire feed roller completely formed from a ceramic material, having a circular top and circular bottom of same diameter and a cylindrical side wall with an outer surface, wherein said cylindrical wall is disposed perpendicular to said top and bottom at the outer edges of said top and said bottom and having an un-grooved outer surface in said cylindrical side wall.
A wire feed system for use in welding, the system comprising:
- a welding gun having a main housing unit;
- first and second wire feed rollers positioned adjacent one another within the main housing unit of the gun, the first and second feed rollers for use in contacting and transporting a length of wire, the first and second feed rollers having circular top and bottom surfaces and a cylindrical side wall that is disposed perpendicular to the top and bottom surfaces, each of the feed rollers being completely formed from a ceramic material.
Dependencies are inferred from the claim text.