REPLACEMENT OF MIG(CO2)

WELDING IN BIW
FABRICATION OF 709 AND II09
LPT
Project by
Vishwarath Taduru,
GET-CVBU(PUNE).
Under the guidance of
Mr. Ishwar Babar (Senior Manager-Production),
E-BLOCK.

PROLOGUE

Strive for perfection and you will reach excellence

Seek the best,

ask for it, work
for it zealously
and you will get
it.

My experiences in TATA motors-E-Block

What I liked and desired:

a. The brand name enabling loyaltyIt is engraving, exercising and energizing
b. Close co-ordination between various
functional departments
c. Co-operative people
d. Availability of resources
e. Core subject project-Manufacturing
f. Freedom to move around absorbing
knowledge.

INTRODUCTION

As technology advances there is more stress on replacing

conventional welding processes with more economical, aesthetically
superior and environment friendly technologies.
Taking this into consideration Tata Motors has provided me the
opportunity to undertake a project for replacing of CO2 welding with
spot welding or other alternate processes.
The area of operation is cab-cowl line(E-6) where cabs and cowls of
MCV vehicles like 707 LPT are fabricated.
I am ably guided in my work by Shri. Ishwar Babar (Sr.Manager)
who provided me with many valuable inputs during the course of the
work.
The objective of the project is to ensure that the BIW has the least
application of CO2 welding. The fabrication process done in-house
and components obtained from outside should be free from the CO2
welding.

ROADMAP TO IMPLEMENTATION
Familiarization with processes

Weld data acquisition esp. of CO2 weld

Advanced
Developments
study

Observations and suggestions

Alternatives

Feasibility study

Validation from ERC

Implementation
Implementation

Prototype

yes

change
no

Details of CO2 welding in the fabrication process for single cab

LEGEND
F-Feasible
NF-Not
feasible
R-Reduce

In-house improvements
1) MANUFACTURE STAGE

2) DESIGN IMPROVEMENTS

ALTERNATE WELDING PROCESSES

Figure 1- Trends for welding processes in BIW assembly across the world

WELD BONDING

Adhesive application is followed by spot welding to position and fixture the

parts together accurately before the heat-curing adhesives harden to full
strength during the paint process.

Advantages:
1)The adhesive enables an evenly stressed, fully sealed joint to be formed
2) The number of spots are reduced and the potential for localized high
stresses is minimized through the action of the adhesive, which is the
primary load carrier.
3) Adhesive bonding is a well-known complement to help resolve problems with
cracks around spot welds occurring as a result of fatigue loads.
BUT
Weld bonding requires special preparation of surfaces before the process is
applied. The joint characteristics also depend on the room conditions which
affect the curing properties of the joint by as much as 50%.

CLINCH WELDING

Clinching, also known as press-joining, is a joining technique for sheet metal

in which plates undergo plastic deformation.

When clinching, the connection is established using simple tools: a punch, a

die and possibly a stripper.

Clinching provides advantages such as low consumption of power and also

joining dissimilar metals. But it also suffers from following draw backs:

a) Special equipment(dimensions)
b) Initial capital expenditure is high (about 20% more than spot welding
equipment)
c) High pressing force

Failure
limit (N)

The strength of clinch joint is comparable with spot welded joints. Active
research is going on in this area.
Small equipment can be hand held or suspended. Pedestal stand alone
machines may be used, or complex robotic cells can be assembled,
sometimes with multiple working heads.

DETAILS OF EACH
PROCESS
WELD DATA
DESIGN REQUIREMENT
SUGGESTION
FEASIBILITY ANALYSIS
ACTION TAKEN
IMPLEMENTATION

FRONT GUSSET CO2 WELD

The current front gusset weld is done at the bottom as well as on the front
flange of sub-structure.

(a)

(b)

Spotting may be done between the front edge and substructure as shown in (a)
The welding done at the bottom face of (b) is not feasible to replace with spotting as
the face of substructure is curved.
It may not be feasible to replace weld run of (a) with spot welding at present as it
requires the design of top down rotating fixture and spot weld machine of
appropriate reach.

2
1

(a)

(b)

(c)

The weld run between C-channel(1) and gusset bracket(2) is done on the gusset
assembly.
An alternate C-channel post which has a rear face with tug (dimple) is as shown in
(b).
This face may be used to spot this bracket with gusset. The tug provides additional
strength to the member.
This will lead to elimination of CO2 welding at this juncture which is further reinforced
in cab full welding.
The alternate arrangement is as shown in Fig .

FRONT GRILL WELDING

Four tacks of 40 mm are done on front grill and sub-structure. At present 20mm
tack weld is done between front grill and substructure at the middle for support.

It is not feasible to eliminate this process or replace it with spotting at this stage
as there is no approach for the spot welding gun.

IDEA

The procedure of tack welding may be eliminated by providing for High

Pressure auto clamps which may be used directly at Stn-4 and do spotting
between step panel inner and front grill (OR) between fire wall and front
panel

TACK WELD OF FIRE WALL WITH SIDE WALL

At present 210 mm of CO2 welding is done between the side wall and substructure on LH and RH side.

It is not feasible to replace this with spot welding but the extent of welding as per
drawing is 15mm+60mm on both inner and outer side. This may be reduced.
Clearly defined process flow is to be mentioned in place of availability based
process plans.
In the modified cab design only 2 tacks of 20 mm each are done for the outer
flange and one tack on the inside.

ROOF PANEL TACK

The welding between roof panel and side wall takes place at four places of 60
mm length.

It is feasible to replace this with spot welding and it requires fixtures like
aperture gauge fixture at the initial stations to hold these components in place
and do only spotting.
We may also opt to go for keyways and slots between the roof panel and the
side wall. Thus we may fix the component in place and go for only spotting.
As the welding is done only for tacking and is negligible modification is not
done at this stage for the sample cab.

IDEA

To eliminate tacking it is feasible to provide for alternate joining

arrangements like key and slot between the side door and roof panel.

After insertion into the slot of roof panel the operator turns the key to lock it in
position.
One consideration is whether the key will have sufficient strength to withstand
the weight of the entire structure when lifted by hoist-tackle.
To ensure the success it is advisable to have a conveyor belt type of system
which may not be a feasible idea.

FRONT PANEL TACK

The front panel is mounted on the sub-structure and 15 mm of tacking is

done at three places

To avoid tack welding at this stage it is necessary to use grip clamps that
hold the front panel and only spotting is done at the subsequent station.

The aperture gauge is used it also does the same function.

As the weld length is negligible it may not be feasible to incur expenditure

for bringing in very minor changes

REAR WALL AND REINFORCEMENT

The rear wall is tack welded with the side wall at four places of 60 mm length.
The tack between roof reinforcement and rear wall is of 20 mm length.

It is feasible to replace the roof bow tack with spot welding if we use hand grip
fixture to hold the components together.
Then there is approach for the spot gun from inside the rear wall window and top.
It requires use of specially designed spotting machine.

REAR WALL TACK WELDING TO SIDE WALL

The rear wall tack to side wall is of 60 mm length (LH/RH).

It can be avoided in if we use keys and slots to hold the components
together and send directly for spotting at subsequent stations.

This process is left untouched as the weld length is very small.

DASH BOARD WELDING

The dash board tack of 40 mm is done at Stn-3 followed by full welding at
conveyor line of length 150 mm. Three runs are made for the entire assembly.

It is not possible to replace this with spot or other processes as the metal CS
area is high.

It may be feasible to have a bolted dash board as for HCV in tilt body format.

 For dash board bolting the factors to be kept in mind are:

i) Time consideration-effect on productivity
ii) Strength and durability-limitation on ruggedness.
iii) Alternate design of dashboard featuring nut

Fig .NUT welded onto dashboard

Figure showing nut and weld run for cab

Figure showing bolting as is done for HCV
For the trial cab the approach of bolting and then performing two weld runs was
implemented.

UNDERBODY WELD

The under body weld length is of 360 mm. The current practice is to tack
weld at 6 places with 30-35 mm length on both sides.

Fig-Spotting may be increased.

Underbody CO2 weld
The CO2 weld length may be decreased by increasing the no. of spots between
the side panel inner and sub-structure at Stn-1.

The underbody CO2 weld according to drawing is 6 tacks of 20 mm length. This

sums up to 240 mm of CO2 weld length compared to 360 mm followed currently.

20

Figure showing less amount of welding

Fig-Drawing portion of underbody weld
One way to reduce this excessive welding is to provide checking gauges with slot
of 20 mm so that the workman gets the perception of what should be approximate
weld size.
The operator was clearly explained what the weld length should be before
performing the operation and the outcome was reduced weld length to required
standards.

FRONT PANEL TACK

The front panel tack of 30 mm on conveyor belt may be avoided

a)

b)

Figures showing the front panels of the cabs with and without the unnecessary
CO2 tack weld.

SIDE WALL WELDING TO FIREWALL.

As per design requirement 100 mm of CO2 tack welding is sufficient on the

conveyor belt. This contrasts with approximately 170 mm of CO2 welding
done presently on both LH/RH side.

20

The correct weld positions and dimensions were marked on the cab before performing
welding operation resulting in reduction of weld length.

SUBSTRUCTURE FULL WELD

The substructure to the fire wall full CO2 weld is currently 420 mm comprising
14 tacks of 30 mm length.

It is feasible to reduce this much CO2 welding by increasing number of spots between
sub-structure and fire wall in Stn-1 by allowing access to the spot welding machine.
The substructure full weld may be decreased if reinforcement plate is used.

It is found that the same design criteria for 709 vehicle is extended to the
higher load bearing vehicles like 1109 and 1112.
Thus it is sought to reduce the amount of substructure weld.

40
50
150

35

b)
a)

Figure showing the welding done for the substructure with fire wall for a)
side flap and b) central floor.

In the proto cab the weld run was marked as 4*35*150 for the side flaps
and 2*40*180 for the central floor assy. of substructure. This resulted in
saving of approximately 120 mm( 420-300) of CO2 weld run.

SUBSTRUCTURE REINFORCEMENT

At present 220 mm of CO2 weld is done for welding one reinforcement plate
between substructure and fire wall.

Fig-Reinforcement may be
placed here.
It may be feasible to reduce this welding if the substructure and fire wall
assembly is properly sealed with reinforcement plates of lesser dimensions.
This is not feasible because the corners are sharp and the plate will be of
complex surface.

As can be seen, to avoid more welding than necessary we incorporate

special features in the reinforcement plate like holes for plug welding
rectangular notches at the edges so that the welding is done to the accurate
dimensions and not exceeds the limit specified

a)

b)

Figure showing a) reinforcement plate preparation for weld at given places and
b) the plate welded and arrow marks showing zigzag design for more strength.

For the cab under prototype stage the weld run was given as under 5*25*100 for
bottom side and 6*25*100(80) for the top portion. This sums up to 250mm of welding
for entire plate.
It is feasible to eliminate the weld run pointed with red color and end tacks for
reduction of weld length.

An alternate design where the reinforcement plate is itself spot welded to

the substructure before the full CO2 weld for heavy duty vehicles may be
thought of.
This idea is not feasible to be implemented in plant because there is no
approach for spot gun in Stn-1.

Though it may be done at the vendors end it is not recommended to go ahead

because the fire wall assembly at Stn-2 may get affected in the present setup.

BACK WALL REINFORCEMENT

At present 80 mm of CO2 weld is done to place the back wall reinforcement

in place.

a)

b)

The back reinforcement is meant to be plug-welded through holes of 6mm diameter.

After tacking the operator enlarges the weld size to around 10mm in diameter. This
may be avoided.
It is also observed that a run is also made on the edge of the reinforcement due to
mismatching of plates.

SUPPORT WELDING

Front gusset welding full welding is done to ensure longer period durability.

The weld runs are done in as many as 5 places leading to overall length of 184mm
on both LH/RH sides.
The welding shown at the front portion of the C-channel and front grill may be
avoided if we provide for flange and then spot welding can be done between it and
the top portion of front grill.

FRONT MTG BRACKET AND FRONTGRILL

As per current setup around 54 mm of CO2 welding is done between the MTG bracket
and front grill

(a)

(b)

It may be feasible to have a bolted butt joint plate in between the two components
which adds to the overall strength and also decrease in weld length (b).
Snap head Blind rivets may also be used for joining along with a reinforcement tack of
CO2 welding at corners.
It is not feasible to implement idea at present because there is no approach for the spot
gun to reach this.

As per drawing the weld between front grill member and mtgbracket is to be done on the top and bottom edges. The current
practice is to do so on the inclined edge. This may lead to decrease
in strength of the joint.

OUTER WALL REINFORCEMENT

Reinforcement of fire wall to side panel can be minimized in conveyor belt.

The present weld length is 40 mm in four places.
The replacement can be done by increasing the number of spots done in Stn-4.

20

40

a)

b)

c)

Figures showing a) design criteria b) present practice and c) smaller weld for proto cab
As per drawing the outer wall reinforcement is 20 mm weld at four places which is
80 mm compared to 160 mm done presently.

Front grill to side wall

The front grill to the side wall weld run is currently 70 mm on each side.

a) Welding on front grill

b) Without welding

This may be reduced to a considerable extent by increasing number of spots

between front grill and side wall in Stn-4 which are irregularly placed because the of
welding done already for side wall assy. (frame, post etc) .
As per design requirement there is no provision of weld to be done here.

SIDE PANEL REINFORCEMENT

The weld run on inside of the side panel to outer step board may be
reduced.
If the number of spots are increased then the structure would sustain the
load.
Outer front grill

Step panel

This weld contains no reference in the drawing hence it may be feasible to

reduce or eliminate this.

For the cab under preposition this weld run is completely eliminated
resulting in saving of 60*2=120mm of CO2 weld per cab.

a) before

b) after

VENDOR IMPROVEMENTS
At Autoline Industries Ltd.Chakan
FOR-SUBSTRUCTURE

ASSEMBLY BRACKET

The assembly bracket top(2 no.s) are presently welded by using CO2 weld
runs of 40*2=80mm for each component summing up to total 160 mm on
LH/RH side.

There is approach for the spot gun on both sides.

Thus it is feasible to replace this process by spot welding if fixture is used.
The thickness of the bracket is a consideration to incorporate the spot weld design.

To weld the front insert 3+3 CO2 weld runs of 40 mm along with 8
no. of plug hole welding is done on the component.

There is approach for the spot welded gun on both sides where the CO2 weld is
done
Thus with the use of proper fixture to hold the bracket it is possible to eliminate this
weld.

MUDFLAP MTG.

60mm of CO2 welding is done to weld the mudflap mtg onto the long
member and reinforcement side.

As per the present design it is difficult for the spot gun to reach the box-type
structure on one end.
Spotting may be possible if the under part of the bkt end is properly fixed in
position using appropriate fixture.

CROSSMEMBER

The present welding length is 120mm on both the members. It is not

possible to replace this process with spot welding

REAR MOUNTING BRACKET

The present weld length between cross member and Bkt cannot be avoided.

But the weld between the cover plate and mounting bracket may be avoided as
shown in the figure

SUB-ASSY LONG MEMBER TO MOUNTING BKT

The present practice is of doing welding of 4 CO2 weld runs of 20mm each
summing up to 160 mm on both sides. This exceeds the design requirement
of 2 tacks of 20 mm each.

Figure showing excess weld run being made

In the modified setup the changes were made and this resulted in a decrease of
90 mm for both sides (LH/RH).

LONG MEMBER REINFORCEMENT

As per requirement 4 CO2 weld runs of 25 mm each are to be done for

welding floor with sub-structure. This may be reduced to considerable extent
by improving quality of spotting.
This is done at four sides of the long members.

This revision in drawing was carried out recently owing to the mismatch between the
floor and the long member assy. Thus if the components are checked at source it may
be feasible to eliminate this welding completely.

CLUTCH PEDAL STOPPER BKT.

The present welding of Bkt is done in the assembly line of floor panel with
sub-structure.

If this component can be spot welded with floor in the initial stages CO2

welding may be eliminated

REAR CORNER PANEL

The assy. Substructure is CO2 welded with rear corner panel with four tacks
of 25 mm each.

It is feasible to replace this with spot welding if we provide scissor-like fixture

but access of spot gun may be difficult owing to the rear panel.

Rear wall improvements

The weld runs of total length between the ASSY.BKT.-HINGE BODY

SIDE TOP and rear wall comprising of length 45mm may be
avoided. It is not mentioned in the drawing.

 In the proposed design this is eliminated

and only spotting is done.

 The center panel is welded to the rear wall

at 10 places of total length 200 mm. This
is not mentioned in the drawing.

 This is modified in the subsequent process.

But a problem of black spots was found to be occurring

especially at the bottom portion.

 A possible reason for this is the mismatching of the skin

components-the operator has to press them together. Thus there is
possibility of air gaps.

Another problem was the spill over while spotting especially at the
edges. This is caused due to the big length of arms of spot gun. This
may be overcome by increasing length of flange which is in-fact
sufficient now.

 Tack welding of M-10 NUT can be

avoided.
In BOM for this component M-5 nut is
mentioned but the manager says that the
projection welding equipment is not
capable for welding M-10 nut.

 The major concerns highlighted in minutes

of meeting were:
a) supply of copper plates to avoid deep
burrs
b) drawing modifications
c) improved spot guns for welding coated
material

Improvements in Autoline.
The CO2 welding may be replaced by
spotting in a number of ways. The gun has
to be re-oriented to do spotting.

 The appropriate flange may be provided to

incorporate spotting.

 With improved process parameters it is

possible to spot weld even thick metal
components to thin ones.

 One side of connecting bracket may be

spot welded using gun which has reach.

At Anasuya
Instead of doing CO2 welding through holes
on door inner panel it may be possible to
provide outer flange and do spotting.

The component may be spot welded.