Coated steel positioning pin gives weld spatter no chance

Particularly reliable positioning pin – at least the same results can be achieved with a steel pin than with ceramic pins for the first time.

Positioning pins may be small and cheap parts, but they are very important – designers, maintenance engineers and system operators in body-in-white production know this best. After all, positioning pins that are exposed to resistance welding on steel sheets or experience significant wear are frequently replaced. This prevents damage to the positioning pins and components that can have serious consequences. But the frequent changes reduce productivity. OEMs want less maintenance and increased process reliability.

Ceramic positioning pins have been the norm in body-in-white construction until now. The reason: There was no suitable solution for steel pins combined with a coating for a long time; uncoated steel pins are not durable enough in highly stressed areas. But ceramic pins have defects. Their sleeves may become detached or break due to damage from weld spatter, wear or transverse forces when using a steel core. If this type of malfunction goes unnoticed, this may have serious consequences. The worst-case scenario: A number of manufactured parts are rendered unusable and this results in a halt in production. The positioning pins are therefore usually replaced at an early stage – long before damage occurs. However, what applies to a defect also applies to a change: production comes to a standstill.

Since 2018, WSR positioning pins have been used for testing in series production by various well-known car manufacturers and their suppliers. After all this time, we can confirm that positioning pins with the WSR coating contribute to a significant extension of the service life and thus an improvement in process reliability. The pins are characterised by barely noticeable wear or weld spatter adhesion compared to previous solutions. Users therefore assume that the positioning pins can achieve more than one million cycles. This is convincing: many users have decided to replace their ceramic pins or uncoated pins 1:1 with WSR positioning pins.