Welding Solutions

TRAC HEATON GAINS MANY BENEFITS FROM IN-HOUSE WELDING WITH MUREX TRANSTIG

Process: TIG
Product : Transtig DC 200i
Heaton Precision, a manufacturer of jigs and fixtures for the aerospace, defence and nuclear industries, previously sub-contracted all its welding requirements. Increasing costs and concerns about quality led to the company deciding to carry out its own welding in-house. To achieve this, the company has invested in a Murex Transtig DC 200i welding machine and full training was provided on all aspects of TIG welding for Heaton by Murex.

Heaton Precision manufactures from a wide range of materials including stainless steel, aluminium, EN32 and titanium. Aircraft manufacturers throughout the world use highly complex tooling supplied by the company for turbine blade production. The defence industry is supplied with special tooling for use in armaments and ammunition production, and the nuclear industry has equipment made by Heaton Precision for making pellets.

Heaton decided to purchase Murex equipment after having a demonstration of the machine following recommendation by other companies. Gary Comeford, Heaton's General Manager, says. "We get a lot of benefits from doing our own welding, but the biggest one is the money it saves us. In fact the machine paid for itself within six months. Another big benefit for our customers, as well as us, is quality. Doing our own welding, we know it will be right. We have also saved a lot of time on after-machining components by getting it right first time.

" The Transtig DC 200i offers straightforward input of precise welding parameters and on-board memory for two sets of TIG and two sets of MMA conditions if required. Remote switching of TIG parameters from the torch switch, with up to 200A/18v at a 35% duty cycle available, make the versatile DC 200i ideal for use on the wide range of materials used by the company.

Mr Comeford went on to say that because of the success gained by using the Transtig DC 200i, Heaton Precision is looking to expand its fabrication facilities in the long term. "I can see us buying another two or three Murex machines, maybe bigger versions to give us more fabricating capacity."