Alright guys, I’ve got an HK VP9 that I bought in October of last year. As of right now I have roughly 2,000 rounds through it with an assortment of different ammo ranging from WWB 115g FMJ to Hornady Critical Duty 135gr +P and everything in between. I went through 200 rounds of Blazer Brass 9mm 115gr FMJ earlier today and the gun functioned flawless as expected. Immediately after my range session I disassembled it for cleaning (I carry this gun daily, so I make sure to keep it clean and lubed 100% if the time). Once I had it apart I noticed what appears to be a marking or scaring of some sort on the locking block where it is welded. Below are three pictures of what I’m talking about. I wiped it down pretty good so hopefully it’s easy to see.
I’ve taken the gun apart and cleaned it immediately after every range session and never noticed it until now. It is 100% possible that it has been there the entire time but I just never noticed it, but I find it unlikely as it was the first thing I noticed upon removing the slide. Maybe carbon build-up made it more noticeable this time, I don’t know.
Is this something I need to be worried about? I’m no welder or mechanical engineer so I could be making a big deal out of nothing. Hopefully someone can help me out. I’ve tried to look at pictures of other VP9s and have not noticed any that look like mine from what I can tell. As of right now the gun functions perfectly, I just want to make sure this won’t be a problem down the road, especially since I carry this gun daily.
That’s called undercut. It’s 100% from the welding process. It is considered a defect in some industries but in this application is a non issue. If it was high pressure steam people piping or pharmaceutical grade parts it would be different but it’s fine. Drive on.
Sent from my SM-G900T using Xparent BlueTapatalk 2
That’s simply not true. There volume isn’t enough to justify the cost of robotics. I can promise you that they only take about 20 seconds tops a peice to weld by hand. They’re fusion welded with tig by some funky welder. A simple jig was made and there going to be done in lots of 500-1000 at a time most likely. Most likely the company that does them for HK is getting paid per peice.
Sent from my SM-G900T using Xparent BlueTapatalk 2
In the auto industry we’d not bother with hand welding much. The cost of the robot welder would be initially high but it could be amortized across several models. I HOPE they plan n making far more than they are currently producing (increasing their throughout). I sure as Hell would be.
But the robots, from all I’ve seen, can outperform a human both in quality and consistency across a shift - even across an hour.
That said, I interviewed with BMW Mfg in SC some years ago and they were hand welding a Z3 Roadster and I stopped and asked, “why?” And they stated that it was done (I don’t know how many nor if they were completed or just tested for consistency/precision to print) to insure that they could continue production in the event of losing their robotic elders for whatever reasons.
Made me smile!
“One cannot awaken a man who pretends to be asleep.”
Much higher volumes involved therefore worth it. I’ve run advanced welding robots before (more advanced then your typical production systems) and robots come with there own set of rules. As almost anyone with experience with them will tell you “there great when there working right!” It’s far more involved than simply paying for the equipment and the operator. Programming, troubleshooting, spare parts and equipment, etc… GOOD welders should be able to meet and in some cases exceed robots in quality but then you have to pay out the ass for highly skilled labor (better than average). Robots tend to average about 80% arc time while humans average about 35%.
Sent from my SM-G900T using Xparent BlueTapatalk 2
I’ve seen SOME welders come close but never exceed on the parts I worked very closely with - automotive exhaust systems - but when we did metallurgical analysis they were not as consistent. Of course, we had parameters to develop - angle, distance, feed rate, current, etc., with the robot. I found it all very fascinating and when we had issues I always went into the cell with the expert (I was the engineering product manager) and got very good - as I was responsible for the troubleshooting and reporting and I have a good metallurgy foundation.
I will say this: if you need much fewer parts a damned good human can match the machine if the weld is not too complex - like in the HK locking block.
I wish I could weld…
8-/
“One cannot awaken a man who pretends to be asleep.”
The biggest thing a welder has going for them is adaptability. Robots can only run within specific parameters and can’t think about how to adapt to variances. In order to get a robot running right what goes in front of it needs to be that much more perfect. That of course adds cost and new QC steps. The big QC advantage to a robot is the predictability of the finished product whereas a good human can taylor the weld to what you want on the spot but of course with less consistency.
Sent from my SM-G900T using Xparent BlueTapatalk 2
The biggest erea that you’ll find humans pushing for specific grain structures and metallurgical profiles is in the pipe and boiler industries. Much of what goes on there really requires a specific end product for safety predictability. Of course these are the wrong guys to have making 10,000 parts a day.
Sent from my SM-G900T using Xparent BlueTapatalk 2
Exactly, I worked as pipefitter for 32yrs, Steam,and boiler piping,has to be done right. And that takes time, I’ve been on jobs where a single hot weld could take 12-14hrs…
When I was visiting HK factory, I’ve seen lot of cutting edge industrial equipment. Some really impressed me (like laser hardening line or barrel hammer forges, that were not much bigger than CNC station and I did not notice them working until they were opened - when CHF worked in Radom all building was vibrating). Among those was ultra-modern, laser driven, computer controlled, automatic barrel straightening station that… was off-line. They explained that they bought it to save on cost of extremely high salary people, who work 15min per hour straightening barrels by Mk1 Mod 0 eyeball. But machine is still inferior to those people. So they tinker with it, play with new software, etc., but do not see it replacing humans any time soon. No using “cutting edge” and “state of the art” at HK only for it’s “cutting edgeness” and “state of artiness”.
That being told, welds on my SFP9-SF look much better
