CF ChatterFix
Preventive Maintenance

Weld Tip Dressing & Cap Change

A resistance weld tip mushrooms as it works. The contact face grows, current density falls, and the nugget gets smaller while every setting on the controller stays exactly where it was. This is the classic silent quality failure in body shops: the machine reports a good weld, the schedule was followed, and the joint is undersized.

Interval Weekly
Est. Duration 0.5 hrs
Steps 5
Applies To Automotive & Metal Fabrication

The Procedure

The steps ChatterFix schedules for this PM. Every step is a checkable item on the work order — a technician can speak their way through it without touching a keyboard.

  1. Dress or change caps at the scheduled weld count
  2. Verify tip alignment and electrode force against the weld schedule
  3. Check water flow and temperature through the gun
  4. Run a destructive or ultrasonic coupon and record nugget size
  5. Log the weld counter reset

Why This PM Exists

A resistance weld tip mushrooms as it works. The contact face grows, current density falls, and the nugget gets smaller while every setting on the controller stays exactly where it was. This is the classic silent quality failure in body shops: the machine reports a good weld, the schedule was followed, and the joint is undersized.

What Skipping It Looks Like

Undersized nuggets ship. They are invisible without destructive or ultrasonic testing, and they concentrate in whatever the tip was doing just before the change was due — which means the bad welds cluster in a window nobody can identify after the fact. Recall exposure on a structural joint is the reason this PM is counted in welds rather than days.

Setting the interval

Weld count, always. Five thousand welds is a reasonable starting point for mild steel; coated and high-strength materials erode caps much faster and often run well under half that. The weekly calendar leg exists only so a low-volume cell still gets looked at.

Equipment This Covers

Common Questions

How often should this PM run?
Weekly. Weld count, always. Five thousand welds is a reasonable starting point for mild steel; coated and high-strength materials erode caps much faster and often run well under half that. The weekly calendar leg exists only so a low-volume cell still gets looked at.
How long does it take?
Budget about 0.5 hours for a technician working to the standard procedure. ChatterFix uses that estimate for capacity planning, then learns your plant's actual time from completed work orders.
What happens if we skip it?
Undersized nuggets ship. They are invisible without destructive or ultrasonic testing, and they concentrate in whatever the tip was doing just before the change was due — which means the bad welds cluster in a window nobody can identify after the fact. Recall exposure on a structural joint is the reason this PM is counted in welds rather than days.
Can I use this checklist in ChatterFix?
Yes — this exact procedure ships in the Automotive & Metal Fabrication industry pack. Pick your industry at signup and it is scheduled on the right assets automatically, with no configuration.

Related Procedures

Stop Retyping Your PM Library

This procedure — and every other PM for your industry — is already built into ChatterFix. Pick your industry and it lands on the right equipment, on the right interval, in about three minutes.