Welding, Brazing & Soldering

Welding, brazing and soldering tools have evolved so much since the days of blacksmiths tending their forges and hammering pieces of metal together. The technological advancement means welding can take place in most environments from indoors, outdoors, underwater or even in outer space. There is no barrier to what can be achieved, and to help you, we have a dedicated choice of welding equipment that ranges from TIG welders, arc welders, soldering irons, torches, brazing equipment to welding accessories including welding helmets, welding cushions, curtains and dedicated safety equipment from top brand names such as SIP, Kennedy, Murex and 3M.

What is Welding, Brazing & Soldering?

Welding is a technique used to permanently fuse together two or more pieces of metal, glass or other thermoplastic materials that have a similar composition and melting points, using specially designed welding equipment.
Brazing is also a welding technique, although uses much lower temperatures to melt metallic filler that into the joint when fusing two pieces of metal together. Often used excellent strength joints in cast iron, steel, in cast iron and copper. The main difference is how the heat is applied, usually with a furnace, torch, induction, or dipped.
Soldering is a method used for joining metal parts to form an electrical or mechanical bond. A low melting point material, metal alloy (solder)is melted, which does not melt the base metals and once cooled it will harden it will form a strong join.

Why Welding, Brazing and Soldering equipment?

Welders are designed to create extremely high heat energy and pressure that melts both base materials that allows metals to be united as the parts cool, unlike blazing & soldering tools that use a lower temperature to heat both materials but add another material to bind together.
All types of welding fundamentally take two or more pieces of material and join them into one by inducing fusion using an energy source causing the base metal to melt in some way. There are several ways of welding, which use different methods, equipment and tools. Each method designed for use with different metals.

When are Welding, Brazing and Soldering tools used?

• Fabrication
• Automotive
• Engineering
• Construction
• Workshop
• Home
• Hobbyist

Welding, Brazing and Soldering types

Arc welding - is a welding process that uses an electric arc or electrode to create sufficient heat to melt metal, as the metal cools it fuses the workpieces together. Arc welders can be manual, semi-automatic, or fully automatic and able to use either alternating current (AC) or direct current (DC).
Welding electrodes, commonly known as rods or sticks can be either non-consumable or consumable electrodes. Non-consumable electrode is made from a material that has an extremely high melting point, such as tungsten therefore will not melt during the welding process.
In contrast a consumable electrode is made from a type of metal that melts alongside the metals being welded together, acting as a filler metal to the joint and conducts the current and are predominantly used for joining metals such as stainless steel, cobalt, titanium, nickel, and copper alloys aluminium.

Many techniques are used within arc welding processes, these include:
• TIG   -   Tungsten Inert Gas
• MIG   -   Metal Inert Gas
• MAG   -   Metal Active Gas
• FCAW   -   Flux Corded Arc Welding
• GMAW   -   Gas Metal Arc Welding
• SAW   -   Submerged Arc Welding
• SMAW   -   Shielded Metal Arc Welding
• Plasma Arc Cutting   -   this uses high heat to gouge or cut materials.

Resistance welding - also known as electric resistance welding (ERW) has various processes for specific forms & applications such as Resistance spot welding, Resistance butt welding, Resistance seam welding. The process involves applying pressure and conducting a strong electrical current through the metals that heats and melts the metal joint, forging them together. No other materials are required making it highly cost-effective method.

Laser welding - also known as Laser Beam welding (LBW) joins metals or thermoplastics together using a laser beam to form a weld. Considered a non-contact welding process as it does not need pressure. The beam provided a concentrated source of heat that can perform high welding rates on deep and narrow welds.

Electron Beam welding (EB) - is an extremely precise welding technique able to create sure and pure joins that can be used in high-end applications across a wide range of industries. Performed in a vacuum environment ensuring no impurities left by the process. The fusion of the material is created a beam of high-velocity electrons, it's kinetic energy when impacting on the workpiece, transforms into heat causing the materials to melt together.
Friction welding - is a solid-state technique that uses mechanical friction to generate heat which softens the material and fuses the materials together as it cools. There four main types of friction welding: linear friction welding (LFW), rotary friction welding (RFW). stir welding (FSW) and friction stir spot welding (FSSW) each used depending on the material.
Welding accessories we have a vast range of welding accessories and consumables selected help improve productivity and make welding, brazing and soldering safer and more efficient whatever the type of process used these include welding tables, drying ovens, mobile welder generator power sources to welding safety equipment from welding cushion, welding curtains and blankets to clean air welding helmets, filter units and fume extractors.

FAQ

What are the most common types of welds?
In the industry that are five basic types of welding joints
• Butt joint weld
• Lap joint weld
• Tee joint weld
• Corner joint weld
• Edge joint weld

What type of weld is the strongest?
TIG welding is considered the strongest type of weld this is due to the of the process
Where it produces extreme heat that cools at a slow rate that results in high ductility and tensile strength.