One of the most common questions we receive from instructors is whether the VRTEX™ 360 can be set up for a “Drag” technique instead of a “Push” technique. With the VRTEX™ 360, instructors can teach either a Push or a Drag technique. This requires two changes for each WPS:
• Switching the technique name
• Changing the travel angle value

Switching the technique name changes what is displayed to your students so that they know the proper way to make the weld (i.e. Push or Drag). Modifying the travel angle value sets how the student is scored and adjusts the visual cues (e.g. 75° is correct). Doing this allows both the student and the system to understand the expected travel angle.

Here is a step-by-step guide to get you through changing from a “Push” to a “Drag”:

1. From the sign in screen, turn the instructor key a quarter turn to the right to access the “Instructor Mode.”
2. Then use the joystick to highlight the “Tolerance” box, and press the red “Select” button.
3. You want to edit your own tolerances. If you have a tolerance set you have been using, select this by pressing the green “Set Tolerance” button. Otherwise, create a new tolerance file with a name of your choice, and then select it (see the manual for step-by-step instructions).
4. On the “Joint Selection Screen,” choose the joint that you want to change (e.g. ¼” 2F Horizontal Tee).
5. In the tolerance adjustment, use the white “Next” or “Previous” buttons (located at each end of the colored selection button bar) until you find the “Travel Angle” selection.
6. Using the joystick, toggle the words until you see the desired direction you wish to change to (Drag or Push). Then press the green “Set Tolerance” button (on the right side of the colored selection button bar).
7. The next step is to change the angle, because the system needs to also know what numeric value you want for the travel angle. Using the joystick, toggle over to the “Ideal” box under the Travel Angel setting, and press the red Select button.
8. Then, use the joystick to go up or down to the desired angle.

For example:If the push angle is currently 105° and you wish to change this to a drag angle, you would select 75°. This is because drag angles need to be between 0° and 90°. To calculate this, simply do the following calculation:
Drag Angle = 180° – Push Angle

9. Once the desired degree is selected, press the “Set Tolerance” button.
10. To exit the Tolerance screen and Instructor Mode, press the orange “Back” button until you reach the sign in screen.