D/F Machine Specialties® is a family-owned and operated manufacturer of welding guns, torches and consumables that has built its reputation on the transformative ability to revolutionize the sector through continuous improvement. Fueled by a legacy of innovation, the service the company offers and the performance of its equipment is second to none, and everything is manufactured in-house by second- and third-generation family members and a team of skilled professionals. Known as ‘The Heavy Duty Guys’ for a reason, this team can handle the toughest jobs with ease.
“If you have a heavy duty welding gun, if you control the heat and don’t get affected by it, now you can control the parameters, the weld quality, and the speeds,” explains Sales Manager Steve Moerke, a third generation Moerke and part owner of the family business. “Now you have no downtime and no problems. You remove all of that and it’s unbelievable,” he says.
Able to be integrated with all robotic manufacturers’ equipment and capable of handling jobs of a variety of materials and sizes, D/F Machine Specialties® is one of the best kept secrets in the welding world—and we’re about to blow its cover.
Family business
So much more than the welding guns and consumables it manufactures, D/F Machine Specialties® is innovative to the core, and this has been the case since it was founded in the late 1960s to improve output and performance by addressing some of the sector’s greatest pain points.
Founder Del Moerke Sr. was a member of the Airco (Air Reduction Sales Co. of New York) development team responsible for developing a new welding process known as MIG (metal inert gas) welding, a process that proved faster than conventional TIG (tungsten inert gas) welding, and achieved temperatures required to effectively weld aluminum. As part of his role, Del Sr. travelled the country installing equipment and educating new users on the innovative approach. In the process, he had the opportunity to encounter a variety of welding guns, most of which would experience regular failures requiring service and resulting in costly downtime. It inspired him to craft something better.
While on the road, he came up with a design for a MIG pistol welding gun that was fully water-cooled. Patented in 1968, the D/F pistol gun became something of an overnight success. Unlike the competition, which could only last for 15 minutes of steady welding before requiring costly maintenance shutdowns, the gun just kept on running and did so for three shifts a day, seven days a week. The performance was unheard of.
This was the genesis of D/F Machine Specialties®. Operated by Del Sr. and his wife Fern, from whom the company’s initials and brand were derived, and their children Del Jr., Wayne, Beverly, and Karen, the company operated out of the basement of the family home until 1970, at which point D/F incorporated and moved to its first official location in Lombard, Illinois.
Family was pivotal to the company’s success and in 1978, as the company and the family outgrew the Lombard facility, the decision was made to relocate to its current 14,000-square-foot facility in North Mankato, Minnesota. Here, the company’s capacity grew and so did demand.
A new era
The introduction of robotic welding in the mid-1980s was a new opportunity for the brand to shine. True to form, Del Sr. identified a shortcoming in robotic welders (they required a two-hour shutdown for maintenance due to torch failure, a labor-intensive process that requires running utility lines into the gun for gas and water; the welding wire also had to be stripped down for a new gun to be re-harnessed and re-positioned) and responded with a viable, long-term solution.
Enter the new water-cooled robotic welding gun which consisted of a patented and trademarked docking spool and posit ring that conveniently snaps into the wrist of the robot for instant positioning to resume the weld. Instead of two hours, the entire process takes 45 seconds, and the innovation even translated over to automated machines.
Where hard automation is concerned, particularly instances with high deposition and large wire diameters that require preheating and high amperages, D/F’s heavy duty water-cooled weld automation torch is the gold standard and many of these original guns are still in production today, found on automatic and robotic cells worldwide.
“The welding gun is our best salesman,” notes Moerke, which is why he empowers potential customers to trial the equipment to ensure that it meets the needs of their application. “We are so confident that the D/F Water-Cooled to the Tip welding guns are the best welding guns in the world, that we will gladly run demos and trials with customers and prove why they should be using the D/F welding guns. The good news is when they find us, we have never lost a demo.”
New leadership, same commitment
At a time when the industry has experienced a great deal of consolidation, D/F Machine Specialties remains independent and family owned. In 2008, after years of trying, Del Jr. and Steve, his son, assumed ownership of the company and continue to forge ahead with a unified vision for the future, dedicated to supporting and advancing the heavy duty welding sector as well as the family legacy. Laura Moerke (aka Laura Christopherson) is the company’s Account Administrator and handles all invoicing, bill paying, accounting and legal matters, inside sales, human resources, insurance, customer service, ordering of raw materials and supplies, marketing, and IT.
“We attend tradeshows together as a family,” explains Steve Moerke. “Laura, Del, and I staff the booth and we actually bring family with us to watch the kids in the hotels while we work. My mother and Laura’s have both worked the D/F booth at Fabtech over the years,” he shares. “It takes a family to run a family business!”
This kind of support enables the team to “under-promise and over-deliver” in a sector where the competition rates their welding guns at 60 percent duty cycles. D/F Machine Specialties® knows that its equipment can be pushed to the maximum and continues to strive for perfection.
“We excel in the 100 percent duty cycle jobs; heavy duty, high heat, pulse welding, water-cooled, high amperage, and will still remain cold to the touch, even if it is pushed all day long, three shifts a day, seven days a week, with only one contact tip per shift,” says Moerke.
D/F is the only manufacturer in the U.S. that has both 1000-amp MIG and TIG torches that can run ¼” aluminum wire for MIG welding and ⅜” diameter tungsten for the TIG process. While the company gets plenty of calls for the 1000-amp iterations, playfully referred to as the “Big Mig” and the “Big Tig,” the reality is that very few people welding ever get above 650 amps.
“We have to explain to customers you do not need a 1000-amp welding gun; you just need a welding gun that stays cold below 650 amps. Luckily for us, the competition fails above 400 amps, and this is where we shine,” says Moerke. “We have been able to do 95 percent of all jobs with our standard series of trademarked water-cooled to the tip welding guns.”
A lifelong member of the AWS (American Welding Society) and GAWDA (Gases and Welding Distributors Association), D/F Machine Specialties® takes great pride in the fact that its equipment isn’t disposable as so many others are in the market. Instead of high-temperature plastic components, D/F welding guns are built differently.
“We not only build the guns more robustly—use copper instead of plastic, braze them together—but we also receive the gas, water, and power differently. This all enables D/F to control the heat and remain cold while welding,” explains Moerke, and this allows for better control of the weld quality, speed, and performance without the added cost.
In fact, the equipment typically costs less than the competition and often pays for itself in a matter of six months to a year, mitigating torch failures and reducing consumable usage, downtime, and rework in the process.
A legacy in action
When speaking about the company’s history and evolution, the contribution of the extended family cannot be overstated. For Moerke, from the outset “family members were personally invested in the business’s success, resulting in a dedicated workforce and a willingness to make sacrifices or go the extra mile for the business and for the customer.”
With no outside sales force, the company has grown strictly on word of mouth and reputation, which is founded on a superior product and unmatched customer service built on trust and loyalty. This, however, can be a double-edged sword, making D/F Machine Specialties® a victim of its own success.
“If you were a welding distributor, would you want to sell the welding guns that have to be replaced every two months and use a tip every 40 minutes, or would you want to sell the welding guns that last for years and years, only use one tip every one to two days (on the hardest jobs in the world), and reduces cost, downtime, and rework seven to one on average? We are our own worst enemy because our guns are too good and our consumables last too long,” jokes Moerke.
Like the welding guns, torches, and consumables it manufactures, the standard of service delivery at D/F Machine Specialties® is also second to none. Everything is manufactured in-house with intention behind it, and decades of expertise makes the company a true partner on the most difficult jobs where extreme conditions, long duty cycles, high heat and amperage, and other contingencies are present.
“This is where we excel. Give us a chance to run a demo on your worst job and make it go away,” says Moerke of D/F’s ability to improve weld quality, reduce downtime, and save money over the long term. “Customers can’t believe the D/F difference. If we can fit the D/F gun into the job, there really is no comparison,” something Moerke and his team are happy to prove time and time again.
