SpotMeld from Coldwater Machine joins aluminum sheet materials

Coldwater Machine Co. offers the SpotMeld™ refill friction stir spot welding system. It can weld lightweight materials such as aluminum (1000 to 7000 series), magnesium, nonferrous, and dissimilar sheet material. It provides an alternative to single-point joining processes like resistance spot welding, laser welding, and riveting without adding weight to the structure, and it produces a weld that is near original material strength, the company reports.

The system can join a stack-up of materials from 0.03 to 0.31 in., weld dissimilar aluminums in one stack, and join multiple sheets across the edge of a panel. It can be configured to application specifics and mounted on any industrial robot. A variety of weld recipes can be used on demand by the robot controller.

The tool doesn’t fully penetrate through the bottom sheet, leaving a smooth surface with potential for use on exterior body panels.