September 2017 - A Syrian immigrant named Ernest A. Hamwi introduced Americans to the ice cream cone at the World’s Fair on the campus of Washington University in St. Louis in April 1904. Roughly two months after Hamwi unveiled his classic creation, Swedish industrialist Oscar Kjellberg founded ESAB and developed the world’s first coated welding electrode.

Over the past 113 years, Denton, Texas-based ESAB has created an extensive menu of welding and cutting consumables to advance the metal fabricating industry. This past March, Tweco, an ESAB brand, released its Classic Numbered Series MIG guns with the Velocity consumables.

Tweco’s newest consumable features gas-ported contact tips that run about 30 percent cooler than previous versions. A cooler tip encounters less abrasion and its lifespan can extend by nearly 500 percent in gas-shielded, flux-cored, spray transfer and pulsed spray transfer applications. In short- circuit MIG applications, Tweco Velocity contact tips can last two to three times longer than comparable items on the market.

“A cooler tip also reduces the ability for spatter to stick. The tip needs less cleaning, and any spatter that adheres is easier to remove,” says Jeff Henderson, global business manager at ESAB. “Further, spatter generally collects on one part, the nozzle, as opposed to three parts on conventional MIG front ends.”

Altogether, without the need for a gas diffuser, Tweco’s user-friendly goods can lower inventory costs, enhance output and minimize unnecessary stoppages.

“Extending consumables’ life keeps operators more productive while reducing cost associated with downtime,” says Henderson. “The drop-in style tip also eliminates the hassle associated with burnbacks. There’s no need to use vise grips or welpers when the electrode fuses inside the tip.”

In addition to the Classic Numbered Series, the Velocity consumables are also available on Tweco Spray Master MIG gun.

ESAB, which was acquired by the Colfax Corp. in 2012, has sales and support teams in 80 countries and 26 manufacturing plants spread across four continents. Despite having more than a century’s worth of experience, Oscar Kjellberg’s successors still hotly pursue ways to upgrade the metal fabricating industry. Like countless people enjoy Ernest A. Hamwi’s frozen dessert during sweltering summertime temperatures, welders can appreciate that ESAB invented cooler gas ported contact tips. 

ESAB
Denton, Texas
phone: 800/372-2123
www.esabna.com