Orbital Welders

An orbital welding machine is an automatic solution for pipe and tube welding. Particularly in industries where precision and consistency are critical. Compatible with either TIG/GTAW (most common), or MIG/GMAW processes. A system consists of a power supply and a welding head that rotates, or "orbits", through 360° around a stationary workpiece.

Industries that need high-quality, repeatable welds for pipe and tube will benefit from using an orbital welder. Some examples include:

• Aerospace
• Pharmaceuticals
• Nuclear and power generation
• Semiconductor manufacturing
• Sanitary Piping (food & beverage, utilities etc.)

Read our orbital welding applications blog post for a deeper look into industry examples and the role orbital welders play.

Orbital welders ensure clean, consistent welds of the highest quality using welding automation. This reduces the risk of human error to near zero, whilst reducing defects and re-work. Using an orbital machine also increases productivity for repetitive jobs. They're ideal for using in tight spaces, or applications where high purity is critical. For example hygienic stainless steel piping. For an insight into using orbital welding over manual welding, read our guide.

The most common shielding gas when orbital TIG welding is 100% argon. It offers the most protection of the weld puddle, as well as it's ability to be easily ionised.

Helium is common in the USA. Offering hotter arc temperature, it enables quicker welding speeds. As well as a reduction in porosity and greater penetration than argon. However it is expensive in Europe, and can't easily be ionised.

Using a hydrogen mix of either of the above gases for building a binary "pre-gas" can also offer benefits. Improve welding speeds with increased arc voltage and heat input. As well as experiencing better weld penetration. Take care when welding steels subject to cold cracking, like aluminium, martensitic or ferritic steel. Using hydrogen can cause defects like blow holes in these materials.

More combinations are available, Axxair have a great breakdown of them here.

You can weld a large number of materials using an orbital welder. Most often, stainless steels like 304L and 316L are used in the field. Preferred for their corrosion resistance and low sulphur content. Other weldable materials include carbon steel, aluminium, titanium and other ferrous alloys.

Orbital welders are suitable for use in both thin-wall and thick-wall pipe welding. Thin-wall pipe and tube welding applications are undertaken using fusion welding with an orbital tig welder. For wall thicknesses ranging from 0.25mm (0.01") to 4mm (0.16").

You can also use TIG/GTAW for thick-wall pipe welding applications. This would be with wire and not the fusion welding process. Using a weld head like the AMI 79 series with built in wire feed, wall thicknesses up to 0.75"/19mm are achievable. For heavy-wall pipes, the MIG welding process would be the best solution. Using an automatic pipe welding machine with MIG is more beneficial economically. As well as being a lot quicker using multiple passes.

Read our informative Q&A style guide to orbital welding to learn more about the process.

Although orbital welding is a specialised technique, orbital welders are easy to operate when set up correctly. The automated nature of the machines allows you to input job parameters and it well perform the job for you. These include things like material, wall thickness, tube/pipe OD etc. 

We would always recommend initial orbital welding training. This will cover how to set up your equipment and give you a good foundation to build from. See our article on orbital welder training for more information.

A range of World renowned brands manufacture orbital welding machines and associated equipment. Our best sellers are AMI (Arc Machines Inc.) and Swagelok. We also sell Orbitalum, Polysoude, Magnatech, and Axxair tube welding machines. As well as Gullco and Fronius pipe welding machines for MIG applications.

We do offer orbital welder hire and rental. This depends on your location, how long you're looking to hire for, and what your job specifications are. This will determine whether we have anything suitable available. To find out more, see our hire fleet of orbital welding machines.