Danny Ingemann, business director marine products, WSS, said that the move represents a proactive response to market changes.
“The tasks of maintenance and repair welding onboard ship represent a huge challenge for crew, as they have to deal with less preparation time, a lack of suitable equipment, confined space and ever-increasing rules and regulations,” he said.
He added that mild steel welding is by far the most common task onboard, but stainless steel, cast iron copper and aluminum applications also require maintenance and repair and the range of jobs carried out can vary from vessel to vessel.
To this end, WSS is introducing a new line of welding machines, plasma cutters and gas welding equipment. They are all fitted with the Total Protection (TP) device, a stop-function that can work to close machines down if they reach above a certain voltage, meaning that the chance of machine damage is reduced.
The newest machine, the UWI-150 TP welding inverter is compact and weighs just 4.4kg, making it easy to use onboard in tight spaces. The UWI-150 TP offers excellent performance-to-weight ratio with full capacity for welding all normal coated electrodes up to 3.2mm, including aluminium electrodes.
A lift-Arc TIG start provides contamination free deposit and amperage remote control on the torch ensures full control during welding and downslope when finishing.
It has a remote control function developed because pipe repair welding requires change of amperage during welding which often takes place in confined spaces or a difficult positions where adjustment of the amperage on the machine is impossible.
The easy to use TIG pulse option provides excellent sheet metal welding properties which cannot be obtained with standard TIG characteristic. It has the added benefit that it can be plugged in anywhere.
By Anne-Marie Causer
