Over the past 23 years, industrial services company The Dickinson Group has sold more than 500 specialised stud welding machines, says company refractory anchor division manager Miles Simpson.

The machines were provided by Germany-based welding machine suppliers Soyer and UK-based welding manufacturer Taylor.

“The Dickinson Group carries all the spares and additional machines from the two welding manufacturers for resale at our Vereeniging head offices,” adds Simpson. The machines are mostly used for the steel, motor, signage and rail industries.

Moreover, the company has supplied the refractory anchor industry throughout Africa with stud welding machines and offers full training on all the machines it supplies, providing competency certificates to the candidates they train.

Stud welding can be defined as semi-automatically attaching a stud to a plate without coded welders, using capacitor discharge, short cycle, drawn arc and symmetrical magnetic field stud welding methods. No welding wires or electrodes are required. Such welding can be used on mild and stainless steel, aluminium zintec and brass, and allows for fast assembly and reliable welds, explains Simpson.

The Soyer and Taylor brands supply one of the smallest machines for sheet metal stud welding – the capacitator discharge welder – as well as the drawn arc welders and short-cycle welder that are used in the automotive industry where no ceramic ferrule is required. “Each application has a different machine type, and we advise which machine is best suited to clients’ needs,” he adds.

The Dickinson Group supplies clients in Africa and has been involved in large welding projects, such as the Nelson Mandela Bridge, in Johannesburg; and projects with financial institution Absa, global energy commodity resources company Glencore, steel production company ArcelorMittal and pulp and paper company Sappi.