Welders are shifting their preferences for the way bulk electrodes are packaged and used and are leading a move toward larger bulk electrode packages that reduce downtime and changeovers.

Bulk packaging for electrodes has been around since the 1920s, when automated welding was introduced. Bulk packages of electrodes are used in automated welding settings to maintain consistent feeds for the automated process and feed wire continuously to the welder.

Valgene E. Raloff, conduit systems product manager for Electron Beam Technologies, said the adoption of the larger sized drums for automated applications and for shop floor applications is increasing.

“It’s a time savings as well as a cost savings – they don’t have to stop the welder every hour or so to change out the 60-lb. spool,” Raloff said.

There are a number of advantages to bulk electrodes, including fewer wire changes and threadings.

Typically, bulk electrodes are delivered in drums that weigh 500 lb to 1,000 lb. Some manufacturers offer bulk electrodes in boxes of 250 lb for lower volume applications, while others provide drums that can weigh as much as 1,200 lb. Lincoln Electric’s bulk electrode products for MIG welding is an example of the latter.

There are various types of packaging for bulk electrodes, including drums, boxes and reels, and each has its advantages.

Art Papineau, product manager for GMAW-C and aluminum consumables for Lincoln Electric, said many customers want “green” packaging that can be easily recycled.

His company’s recyclable box is delivered on a pallet, and is in high demand.

“The problem with most drums is that you have metal chimes on them,” Papineau said.

“A box crushes down more easily, so a lot of customers are going to the boxes just for that reason,” Papineau added.

Hobart Brothers has just introduced a new, 900-lb recyclable drum that the company said minimizes downtime and costs for welding wire changeover.

The X-Pak for metal-cored welding wire measures 35-in. tall, 23 in. in diameter and is comprised of 100 percent recyclable fiber. The company offers five types of metal-cored wire in that new 900-lb. X-Pak, including its Tri-Mark Metalloy Vantage and Metalloy 76 Hobart Fabcor 86R; and Corex Metalcor Maxim and Metal-Cor 6 in .045 in. and .052-in. diameters.

Compared with standard 600-lb drums, the new 900-lb X-Pak minimizes the number of changeovers necessary per month/year by approximately 33 percent. And, it also reduced the amount of downtime and associated labor costs for handling by a similar amount, Hobart Brothers said.

The company packages and ships its X-Pak products on individual skids to further simplify handling, compared with traditional drums that must be maneuvered off of larger skids. Separately, it offers an optional overhead lifting device from Wire Wizard that works on cam action to stabilize the drum during transport and to expedite handling of the drum.

Other features incorporated into the new X-Pak include an available 23-in. chime-less cone that also is supplied by Wire Wizard to allow the entire X-Pak package to be recycled. The company said the chimeless cone reduces costs for chime removal and overall drum disposal.

Lincoln Electric introduced its newest bulk electrode packaging at Fabtech in November.

The company’s trademarked Infinity-Pak is designed to have two ends extending from the box, a start end and a finish end. The packaging and packing of the electrode wire was designed in that way to allow the finish end to be connected to the start end of a replacement box to allow for continuous welding.

“This is beneficial for customers doing very long welds, and who don’t want a start or stop, or for multiple arcs on a part, so that both arms can keep running on a part rather than having to shut the automation down. It’s a niche package for those applications,” Papineau said.

Lincoln Electric offers MIG welding packages for bulk electrodes for high-productivity, automated system applications and for welding very large parts or high-volume parts at manual welding stations.

Lincoln Electric plans to launch a new bulk package for its UltraCore flux-cored wires in 2008 to provide a product with a moisture barrier that will ensure the electrode is delivered to customers as a low hydrogen product.

Many of the domes that are used to cover drums and facilitate electrode feeding, such as the Dura- Domes Electrode Payout Systems from Electron Beam Technologies, also are reusable and recyclable. The company also manufactures electrode conduit systems that are designed for easy, consistent feeding of the wire.

Bulk electrodes operate in a “push/pull” fashion, with a feeder or conduit system that pulls the electrode from the bulk back and pushes it through the torch cable to the welding head and arc.

That makes the feeder a critical piece of equipment.

Electron Beam Technologies has developed a new wire feeder – named the Fast ‘N Easy – that is designed to make bulk electrode installation or changeover faster and easier.

The company said its Fast ‘N Easy feeder is designed to load and feed continuous welding electrode from the build distribution pack to the welding wire feeder at 3,000 in. per min. The combination of the bulk loading system and continuous feed are expected to reduce loading and set-up times.

Electron Beam Technologies said its new unit is portable, has no cords, and handles most electrode systems without requiring additional changes in equipment.

Raloff said that Electron Beam Technologies has seen a greater demand for its bulk electrode payout systems in recent years, particularly because automation in welding has seen wider use.

“In the United States, the trend toward bulk electrodes began probably five to six years ago, and that trend is still increasing. Now we’re also seeing most of the foreign markets increasing in demand, a trend which began about a year ago,” Raloff said.