The “Genius” GYSPOT Inverter Spot welder

GYS has been a market-leading manufacturer of car body repair equipment for 50 years and this time has always pushed the boundaries in technical innovation, bringing equipment to the market that technicians would love to use. 

It's like they took the time to talk to technicians and ask them what their main issues were with their existing spot welder and incorporated these recommendations into their design. GYS have called this spot welder the “Genius” and it's a big improvement on spot welders for the vehicle body repair market. GYS has made significant investments in research and development to (in my opinion) manufacture the ultimate spot welder for vehicle body repair - It is called the - GYSPOT INVERTER EVOLUTION PTI.G

Let's take a look at it, and its features.

NEW ELECTRONICS

Internally significant improvements to design and faster processing power have improved the welding process making it faster and more efficient in "smart" mode.

Many manufacturers have always sold “Smart Mode” as the "bee all and end all" to spot welding. "Simply press the button," they say, "and the welder will do the rest"!

Although smart modes are efficient, they are not 100%, so the technician still needs to monitor the weld visually.

The main downfall, though, was the amount of time it took to do each weld. Some are nearly 4-5 seconds per weld! the reason for this is that the welder has to perform many checks whilst it is welding ie: They need to measure the thickness, pressure, pre-weld for impedance and post-weld whilst also monitoring the current. This significantly increases the spot welding time and how long you have to hold the gun. This was a big thing that technicians constantly moaned about as they had to hold a heavy gun whilst it did it.

Making "smart" mode more efficient and quicker to monitor means this handling time is reduced.

I wrote a post on this called are, Smart Spotwelders really smart?  Take a look at it by clicking the link.

CONTROL

The main control board and the ergonomic way the panel is  laid out has for me always been the best on the market. I can quickly and

The main control board and the ergonomic way the panel is laid out have for me always been the best on the market. I can quickly and easily switch from Smart, Auto, Standard and Multi by pressing the centre mode button quickly.

I still feel other manufacturers are lagging in this respect.

Another part of this "control" is the fact that settings can be adjusted at the gun with no need to return to the machine when not in Smart Mode.

Smart modes sometimes do not work, there are just too many stacks and steel configurations for the welder to work out sometimes. All technicians can see this by the way the Heat Affected Zone around the spot weld (burn ring) can be huge and clearly, it's been welded for too long.  Yet the welder will say OK.

I also hear technicians telling me that they weld and the welder says it's OK but they can hear them split and crack as they go along the panel.

The welder is struggling to identify the joint configuration and therefore the technician needs to take over. How easily you can do this and adjust settings is one of the things that's always impressed me about GYS Spot Welders as I believe it has one of the simplest display controls on the market!

SPARES PRICING

One of the great things I've always liked about the GYS range of spot welders is the pricing of spares. Let's face it; all machines break down in their lifetime. Some competitors' spare pricing policies can be eye-watering. Not so with GYS; their spares are still reasonably priced whilst offering cutting-edge design and quality.
Let's take, for example, replacement welding arms. Some manufacturers list their 500-600mm arms in the thousands range. Yet, with GYS, its largest arm is under £1000, a significant saving!

They also have the most comprehensive arms range of any manufacturer.

Talking of Electrode Arms and the latest design,  brings me to the contact blocks.
One design fault of all the  transformer "C" type spot welders presently on the market is that they tend to arc out at the connection where the arms slot into the gun.

All the arms are manufactured from high-grade aluminium, and aluminium tends to form an oxidisation layer over itself to protect it from the atmosphere. The trouble is that this oxide layer isn't electrically conductive; therefore, if you don't clean the contact points every time you install an arm, it can stop the welding current from flowing.

However, when placing the arms into the holder, you can scratch a little of the oxidisation layer from the arm. This small scratch becomes the main point of contact for all the welding current, creating arcing and sparking in this area which will eventually wreck the arm.  As we have said before this can prove expensive, meaning not only do you have to replace the gun electrode holder but the welding arms too.

GYS seem to have thought about the contact problem too, meaning not only have they designed the gun holder in brass, but the locking mechanism pushes the arm forward when it locks, creating a more electrically conductive surface area to be enabled. This alone should mean less breakdowns, and wear and tear of the gun/welding arms in heavy use.

Also as  the locking lever is pushed forward it connects the integrated water valves to enable cooling, a great feature compared to the old dangly hoses that you need to insert into the water connectors. These cosed can get in the way and are also prone to sparks and spatter burning holes in them, leading to the inevitable water leak!

Another nice feature of the welding arms is the little rubber protectors on the end to protect against arcing.  It's the little things that count.

THE SPOT WELDING GUN

The weight of the new gun is slightly heavier than the previous model, which is a shame but seems as the last gun was one of the lightest on the market its still competitive to competitors at 11.5Kg

It has an integral lockable Gyroscope with a really nice red anodised locking lever. This enables full 360˚ rotation of the gun.

The two main selling points of the gun for the technician though, are the adjustment control of the setting via buttons on the gun, and the over opening of the centre electrode enabling easy placement over rear panels etc. This is brilliant and I know of only one other machine (Wielander Schill-Invertaspot GT) that has this feature. This alone can reduce the stress on the technician in placing the gun in the correct area with a large arm on the gun.

NEW ADJUSTABLE ARM

What I think might be a game-changer is the electric boom arm. Many competitors have boom arms, and they are there to help the technician take up the weight of the welding gun, especially when using a large arm. I've measured one of these guns for weight, and it was over 40 kilos. That makes it nearly impossible for one technician to weld a back panel easily, quickly and without injuring himself.
You will find, though, that with time the technicians dismantle them and throw them aside as they are clumsy in operation and create more problems than they solve. "It's just quicker to hold the gun up yourself and get the job done," they say. This is a waste and proves we need to think about it again.

I was at a show in Italy where PRIMA was showing their new spot welder, and although I was not too fond of it, I was impressed with how they looked at the gun support. It was like a pneumatic arm that supported the gun and cantilevered out from the base. I always wondered why nobody else had looked at this problem but with the "genius" I think they have cracked it.

You see, the other reason the conventional gun supports get ditched is that if you're repairing a back panel and the tailgate or boot is on the vehicle, it makes it impossible to use it. It just gets in the way.

I think they have thought about this and come up with their own take by launching the Genius with a motorised ergonomic arm.  Press the small button located in the vertical post, and you can adjust the height from 159 to 253cm, meaning you can get under those tailgates with the gun supported.

SPECIFICATION

• 14500 welding amps.  ✓
• 550 Dan Tip Pressure.  ✓
• Certification and traceability software.  ✓
• Pressure and material regulation.  ✓ 
• Center electrode retraction.   ✓ 
• Electrically adjustable up/down support arm .   ✓ 

Top Marks

It scores top marks on all fronts apart from one and that's manufacturers approvals. I'm sure GYS will rectify this and get it approved in time but at the moment many manufacturers are approving possibly inferior welders to Genius due to the length of time getting a welder through the process. Some manufacturers only open the window for new equipment to be added to their approved listings every couple of years and thats such a shame. The market innovation can move very quickly and this can leave some manufacturers approved lists somewhat lacking.

Conclusion

 If you're looking for a high specification spot welder that's excellent value, has good design and is equipped with some great innovative features, your technicians will appreciate,  then the GYSPOT INVERTER EVOLUTION PTI.G  should be on your list.