A welding or additive manufacturing wire drive system includes a spindle. First and second welding wire spools are mounted on the spindle. The spools include a flange, a mounting hub, a barrel, and a wire electrode wound on the barrel. At least two drive rolls simultaneously draw first and second wire electrodes from the spools. A clutch disk is mounted on the spindle and has respective frictional surfaces in contact with one or both of the flange and mounting hub on the spools to frictionally engage the spools. The clutch disk allows the spools to slip relative to each other during an operation of the at least two drive rolls such that the spools rotate at different speeds while the wire electrodes are drawn from the spools.

A wire container has a bottom plate, a top plate, and a plurality of vertically extending posts. The posts are releasably connected to both the bottom plate and the top plate. The bottom plate, the top plate and the posts are formed from metal.

A wire container has a bottom plate, a top plate, and a plurality of vertically extending posts. The posts are releasably connected to both the bottom plate and the top plate. The bottom plate, the top plate and the posts are formed from metal.

A robotic electric arc welding system includes a welding torch, a welding robot configured to manipulate the welding torch during a welding operation, a robot controller operatively connected to the welding robot to control weaving movements of the welding torch along a weld seam and at a weave frequency and weave period, and a welding power supply operatively connected to the welding torch to control a welding waveform, and operatively connected to the robot controller for communication therewith. The welding power supply is configured to sample a plurality of weld parameters during a sampling period of the welding operation and form an analysis packet, and process the analysis packet to generate a weld quality score, wherein the welding power supply obtains the weave frequency or the weave period and automatically adjusts the sampling period for forming the analysis packet based on the weave frequency or the weave period.

A robotic electric arc welding system includes a welding torch, a welding robot configured to manipulate the welding torch during a welding operation, a robot controller operatively connected to the welding robot to control weaving movements of the welding torch along a weld seam and at a weave frequency and weave period, and a welding power supply operatively connected to the welding torch to control a welding waveform, and operatively connected to the robot controller for communication therewith. The welding power supply is configured to sample a plurality of weld parameters during a sampling period of the welding operation and form an analysis packet, and process the analysis packet to generate a weld quality score, wherein the welding power supply obtains the weave frequency or the weave period and automatically adjusts the sampling period for forming the analysis packet based on the weave frequency or the weave period.

A wire shaping device for shaping a welding wire stored in a bulked storage container shapes the welding wire by flexing of the welding wire as it is drawn around sheaves. The wire shaping device can be located immediately adjacent to a wire feeding device of the welder. In use, the wire shaping device may include an inlet port for receiving the wire, a first rotatable sheave for receiving the wire from the inlet port, the first rotatable sheave being rotatable in a first direction; a second rotatable sheave for receiving the wire from the first rotatable sheave, the second rotatable sheave being rotatable in a second direction opposite of the first direction; and an outlet port for receiving the wire from the second rotatable sheave. The wire shaping device may also include a mounting plate and first and second rollers operatively associated with the first and second sheaves, respectively.

An orientation and guide mechanism for a welding system includes a pair of opposed guide members. A weld wire having a non-round cross-section is fed through a guide passageway formed between the guide members, each of which have recessed channels that combine to define the guide passageway. The guide passageway has a non-round shape corresponding to the non-round shape of the wire. The orientation mechanism and the guide members thereof is adjustable relative to a welding device of the weld system, such that the orientation of the wire can be controlled and maintained by adjusting the orientation mechanism. The wide side of the wire may be adjusted to be presented to a radiant energy source, and/or the non-round wire may be adjusted relative to the desired weld seam.

A kit or set of components, which can be assembled, in a mix-and-match manner, to provide multiple, different despoolers, for different wire spool sizes. One particular kit or set has components to provide three unique despoolers; the kit has a shaft, a tension spring, a first shaft body, a second shaft body having a length different than the length of the first shaft body, and a tension lock. The components provide despoolers that are easy to install and easy to set-up, having a limited number of components, and that are easy to use.

A modular direct current power source is provided. One welding power supply system includes a plurality of hysteretic buck converters coupled in parallel. The hysteretic buck converters are configured to receive a common input and to provide combined output power to a common load based upon the common input.

A modular direct current power source is provided. One welding power supply system includes a plurality of hysteretic buck converters coupled in parallel. The hysteretic buck converters are configured to receive a common input and to provide combined output power to a common load based upon the common input.