“Digital welding technology” – it sounds like a phrase straight out of  a sci-fi novel rather than something we’d use in day to day life.  Or is it?

Digitizing welding is hardly a thing of the future, and no, it doesn’t mean that robots will be taking over your jobs anytime soon.  Rather, it puts the power right back into your hands to make sure that your welds are the best that they can possibly be.

Digital Revolution Energizes Welding

By PETER ANDERSON | Jun 1, 2009 12:00 PM

Digital technology is transforming how welders work, giving them more control and more consistency, and making operations more competitive.

Because its surpasses past innovations, the emergence of “digital technology” has changed the way we live and play. The quality, consistency, and repeatability of digital technology have rewarded those who long for the best in audio and visual capabilities. So it’s no surprise we’ve traded our cassette tapes for CDs and MP3s, our VHS for DVDs, and analog TV for digital TV.

The benefits of digital can be experienced on the job site, too. In the welding industry, digital technology is transforming how today’s operators work, giving them more control and more consistency than they ever thought possible. Because digital welding can reproduce every weld for a given setup 100% of the time, welders and job shops alike are embracing this new technology to remain competitive in a changing industry.

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How has “going digital” helped you or your company?  We want to know!  Email us at carmenelectrode@arc-zone.com

Ever wanted to be an astronaut when you were little?  Well, now you can!  Well, no, you can’t, but you can get pretty darn close, by welding for NASA!  Even if they won’t actually be able to live in the International Space Station, these students can get a taste of life in space by welding the very tables that those astronauts will eat off of!

Students work to create table for NASA

Friday, July 31, 2009 | 2:50 PM

LEAGUE CITY, TX — Teachers, mentors and students with the HUNCH program (High Schools United with NASA to Create Hardware) are working overtime this summer. NASA engineers are teaching high school students how to create flight ready hardware out of sheet metal.

Jacobs Engineering's Steve Rogers and Clear Creek HS teacher Bill Gibbs help Josh Hartnett learn the intricacies of making sheet metal flight ready for space.

At Clear Creek High School they are working on making a dining table for the International Space Station. The design is already NASA approved and now students are learning how to fabricate the table using wax molds and sheet metal that is flight tolerant. According to teacher Bill Gibbs, the table should be flown to the ISS in 2010.

Steve Rogers a NASA contractor with Jacobs Engineering explained, “These high school students are doing what engineers with 25 to 30 year experience are doing at NASA. These students are doing very well.”

From the design to the fabrication, students are also learning the tedious side of sending hardware into space.

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Did you know that The Fabricator® magazine publishes some of their articles in both Spanish and English?  As you probably know, metal fabrication is a global industry, so now The Fabricator magazine can reach across borders.  And frankly, reading these articles has helped me with my Spanish skills–  so I can communicate with our Spanish speaking customers.  (They just didn’t cover welding words in Spanish 101, or 102, or even 485 for that matter!)

Here are two of my favorite new bilingual articles.  To search for more, go here  to The Fabricator®’s website.

Do your welds pass muster?

Evaluating gas and equipment to deliver quality and performance

By Richard Green
November 25, 2008

For a job shop or manufacturer, maintaining weld quality begins with consistent shielding gas in the gas metal arc welding (GMAW) process. Consistently delivering the correct blend ensures proper arc characteristics and weld quality. Mixing technology, supply gas density, and gas usage patterns can affect the on-site gas blending system’s ability to deliver a consistent blend.

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When does a punch/laser make sense?

3 Questions a fabricator needs to ask

By Michael Bishop, Assistant Editor
August 26, 2008

Hawkeye Industries Inc., Tupelo, Miss., was getting more and more orders for parts that required both punching and laser cutting. To meet the growing demand, the company purchased a combination punch/laser machine. Some shops are more suited than others to this technolgy–combination machines can increase profits for some companies, and costs for others. Shop owners should keep five key things in mind when evaluating and purchasing a combination punch/laser machine.

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The SME, Society of Manufacturing Engineers, is hosting not one, but two events this coming October. Get out your pens and paper folks: do you live anywhere near South Carolina or Ontario? Pens and paper down — you’re going!

The first:

SOUTH-TEC 2009 Exposition & Conference

Charlotte Convention Center — Charlotte NC USA

October 06, 2009 to October 08, 2009

The SOUTH-TEC APEX (Advanced Productivity Exposition), the event you’ve depended on for more than 30 years, returns to the Charlotte Convention Center in 2009. This event, dedicated to machine tool and metalworking technologies, delivers nearly 6,500 qualified, manufacturing equipment buyers and fills 80,000 square feet. If you market your products and services in the Southeast, then SOUTH-TEC is a “can’t miss” show for your company. Connect with the pulse of southeast manufacturing!

The second:

Canadian Manufacturing Technology Show 2009

Direct Energy Centre — Toronto ON CAN

October 19, 2009 to October 22, 2009

Reinvent, grow and succeed at the Canadian Manufacturing Technology Show! In October 2009, CMTS transforms Toronto’s Direct Energy Centre into Canada’s definitive showcase for the latest machine tools, automation technologies, production methods, management strategies and more. More than 600 manufacturers and distributors in five technology-focused zones connect your manufacturing to cutting-edge technologies and ideas that speed new product development time, cut costs, and deliver world-class quality. CMTS takes you beyond product demonstrations with the Automation Rendez-vous Two-Day Technical Conference exploring industrial process improvement, emerging technologies, partnership best-practices and much more. Combined with our timely and relevant keynotes and town hall panels, and many valuable networking opportunities, CMTS is a must-attend event for all Canadian manufacturing professionals.

SIGN UP NOW!!

My first thought when I stumbled upon the following website was: “PINK!!”  Just like that – all caps.

I had just found the homepage of Charm and Hammer, a website dedicated to “safety gear for the hard working woman™.  It has everything you could ever want or need in a work environment.

Safety goggles?  Check.

Welding gloves?  Check.

Hot pink toolbelt?  Definitely check!

I swear that if you counted, at least 75% percent of the products on that website are pink!  And they aren’t ashamed of it!

They also feature products from two different companies, of which I am also a fan:

Rosie’s Workwear for Women and

Tomboy Tools.

The former makes lovely overalls and coveralls AND the t-shirt to the left (which I was very tempted to order — after all, we here at Carmen Electrode can never get enough of Rosie!)  The latter — well, where else would you go to find pink power tools?!?

You guys (er, girls) have to check these sites out – your work wardrobe may never be the same again!

However, if pink is not your thing (like maybe you don’t want to stick out like a sore thumb on the work site),  check out the

AngelFire™ Gear at Arc-Zone.com –>

We carry this state of the art line of welding gear for women, inlcuding the Firefly™ TIG gloves, made especially for women, all in a nice chocolate brown.