CLEVELAND (January 10, 2024) -- Lincoln Electric’s newest pipe solution, Mechanized Pipeliner® AutoShield®, offers an innovative approach to pipeline welding. Designed to weld fill and cap passes without shielding gas on a mechanized orbital system, AutoShield maximizes efficiency and performance. By giving contractors an easier and more cost-effective way to mechanize, this solution enables consistent welds and gives operators a new tool to do something different.

The process consists of three main components: a power source, like a Frontier® 400X Pipe engine drive or the Power Wave® S500; an orbital welder or “bug” (including the APEX® controller and M85 HELIX® weld head); and the Pipeliner AutoShield HW FCAW-S wire.

AutoShield is ideal where the terrain is rugged or for tie-in applications where a contractor still wants to mechanize even when getting a shack to a weld is challenging. The process is also well-suited to jobs that are not long enough to justify GMAW but which require increased productivity compared to SMAW. Ultimately, AutoShield is capable of reliable welds at a higher level of efficiency and a lower cost. Other benefits include:

• Up to 50% reduced heat input compared to FCAW-G
• Up to 30% reduced weld time compared to SMAW
• Up to 80% decrease in weld start / stops compared to SMAW

“We made a self-shielded flux-cored wire that’s designed specifically for mechanized welding on pipelines,” says Sam Phillips, director of Lincoln Electric’s pipeline and pipe mill industry segments. “We put it on an orbital bug, which improves efficiency in two ways—first, you’re not relying on a human arm from sunup until sundown and, second, you’re also going to get a more consistent weld each time, because that bug is going to do what it’s specifically programmed to do. This results in consistent productivity and predictable heat inputs.”

Phillips adds, “If contractors want to mechanize, or if they have to mechanize, AutoShield delivers a cost-effective solution to make it happen. Right now, if you want to mechanize, you have to use a gas-shielded process, which means you have to run shacks, you have to have heavier equipment to move those shacks, and you have to have the gas. AutoShield gives operators or contractors a tool to do something different now.”

Lincoln Electric is the world leader in the engineering, design, and manufacturing of advanced arc welding solutions, automated joining, assembly and cutting systems, plasma and oxy-fuel cutting equipment, and has a leading global position in brazing and soldering alloys. Lincoln is recognized as the Welding Expert™ for its leading materials science, software development, automation engineering, and application expertise, which advance customers’ fabrication capabilities to help them build a better world. Headquartered in Cleveland, Ohio, Lincoln has 71 manufacturing locations in 20 countries and a worldwide network of distributors and sales offices serving customers in over 160 countries. For more information about Lincoln Electric and its products and services, visit the Company’s website at https://www.lincolnelectric.com.