A welding system includes a welding torch that welds a workpiece by using a wire, a suction device that sucks shielding gas, and a sucked shielding gas supply path for allowing the sucked shielding gas to flow, wherein the welding torch includes a contact chip that guides the wire, a shielding gas supply nozzle that supplies the shielding gas to a weld zone, and a suction nozzle that surrounds a periphery of the wire protruding from the contact chip, and is opened toward a tip of the wire to suck the shielding gas.

A spool gun having a very unique look, due to its arrangement of external features. The spool gun has its wire spool compartment located below the handle and the user's hand, when the user is gripping the spool gun in an operational position. A gas/power cable is connected to the body of the spool gun forward of the handle.

Arc welding equipment for joining the objects at high speed and for reducing the strain of the objects after being joined is provided. The nozzle housing an electrode forming arc plasma is formed from a gas supply part and a gas suction part. The gas supply part has gas supply holes supplying gas outward in a radial direction of the arc plasma. The gas suction part suctions the gas supplied form the gas supply part. A pair of the gas supply holes, which are disposed so that the electrode is disposed therebetween, supply the gas of a first pressure to a position away from the electrode by a first distance. A pair of the gas supply holes, which are disposed so that the electrode is disposed therebetween other than the pair of the gas supply holes, supply the gas of a second pressure to a position away from the electrode by a second distance. The second distance is longer than the first distance. The gas of the second pressure is lower than that of the first pressure. Thereby, the arc plasma is compressed in a direction connecting the gas supply holes, and the arc plasma becomes long in a direction connecting the gas supply holes.

Granular welding flux delivery devices and strip cladding systems with granular welding flux delivery devices are disclosed. A disclosed example granular welding flux delivery device includes a hopper having: an intake opening to receive granular welding flux; a chute; and an output opening to output the granular welding flux to an electroslag strip cladding process, a submerged arc welding process, or a submerged arc strip cladding process. The example granular welding flux delivery device further includes a chute divider positioned within the chute to reduce an intake rate of granular material through the intake opening by reducing a cross-section of the chute based on a dimension of the chute divider. The disclosed example granular welding flux delivery device includes an adjustable output cover attached to the chute proximate to the output opening to extend or retract a length of the chute by adjusting a location of the output opening along the chute.

A sprocket wheel, which is an example of the machine component, includes a base made of a first metal, and an overlay disposed in contact with the base to cover at least a part of a surface of the base. The overlay includes a matrix made of a second metal, and hard particles dispersed in the matrix. The surface of the overlay is a forged surface. The hard particles located in an overlay surface region within an average particle diameter of the hard particles from the surface of the overlay are arranged side by side while being embedded in the overlay.

A sprocket wheel has an annular shape. The sprocket wheel has a plurality of projections formed on an outer peripheral surface for transmitting a driving force to a track. The sprocket wheel includes a base made of a first metal, and an overlay including a second metal that covers the base so as to constitute at least a part of the outer peripheral surface. The overlay is formed with a metallic structure that is continuous in the circumferential direction so as to connect between adjacent ones of the projections.

A spool gun having a very unique look, due to its arrangement of internal and external features. The spool gun has its wire spool compartment located below the handle and the user's hand, when the user is gripping the spool gun in an operational position, thus providing a wire path through the handle to the body of the spool gear wherein the wire feed mechanism is located. The wire feed mechanism includes a 90-degree drive system, which can include a worm gear. A gas/power cable is connected to the body of the spool gun forward of the handle.

An additive manufacturing system is disclosed including multiple conveying pipelines, a mixer and a nozzle. The multiple conveying pipelines are connected to respective material sources. The multiple conveying pipelines are connected to the mixer which is configured to mix in real time powder materials supplied via the multiple conveying pipelines during additive manufacturing. The mixer is connected via a supply pipeline to the nozzle which is configured to deliver mixed material onto a substrate to perform the additive manufacturing. Each of the multiple conveying pipelines is configured to change conveying amount or speed of the powder materials in real time. An additive manufacturing method for the above additive manufacturing system is also disclosed. The additive manufacturing system and method can adjust in real time types or proportions of the materials so as to meet different property requirements for different parts of a product.

A spool gun having a very unique look, due to its arrangement of features. The spool gun has its wire spool compartment located below the handle and the user's hand, when the user is gripping the spool gun in an operational position. Operably connected to the wire spool compartment is wire spool brake configured to engage with the wire wraps. The brake can have a lock and/or a wire spool life indicator. The wire spool compartment has a cover that is non-threadedly engaged. The feed rate of the wire from the wire spool compartment can be adjusted by a control device, such as a knob, located proximate the user's hand, when the user is gripping the spool gun in the operational position.

A processing head assembly is disclosed. In some examples, the processing head assembly comprises a fabrication energy source; a wire feedstock surrounded by a shield and one or more filler feedstocks surrounded by one or more nozzles. In some examples, the fabrication energy source includes the wire feedstock surrounded by the shield. A method of depositing material on a substrate using a processing head assembly for use with a fabrication energy source; a wire feedstock surrounded by a shield and one or more filler feedstocks surrounded by one or more nozzles is disclosed. In some examples, the method comprises projecting a fabrication energy beam from the fabrication energy source onto the substrate at a spot, projecting the wire feedstock surrounded by the shield onto the substrate at the spot and projecting the one or more filler feedstocks surrounded by the one or more nozzles onto the substrate close to the spot.