Patent ID: 9649714
Date: 2017-05-16
CPC Classifications: B23K,B23P,Y10T

Claim:
1. A modular welding system for feeding a welding wire to a welding tip, the modular welding system comprising: at least one controller module, each of said at least one controller modules comprising at least one user interface module having a housing operatively connected to said housing of said at least one controller module, said at least one user interface module receiving input from a user and sending commands to said at least one controller module based on said input from said user; at least one separable wire drive module having a housing connectable to said at least one controller module and said at least one user interface module, said at least one separable wire drive module positionable between a first position and a second position relative to said at least one controller module, each of said separable wire drive modules comprising a feed module therein that includes a plurality of drive rolls for feeding welding wire, the wire drive module connected to and in operative communication with said at least one controller module such that repositioning said housing of said wire drive module between said first position and said second position maintains said at least one gas inlet connector and said at least one welding control cable connector on said at least one controller module on the same plane; and at least one wire feeding means for supplying welding wire to said wire drive module, and wherein said wire drive module is configurable to feed wire in either the first position or the second position and said at least one separable wire drive module is positionable between said first position and said second position by rotation of said wire drive module about a central vertical axis of said wire drive module which is normal to a wire feed axis.