I got a call from a customer TIG welding high-end aerospace parts. He bought a complete setup from us a few years ago that featured the Weldcraft® WP-20-25-R TIG torch customized to a WP-20-25-Pro™ package by Arc-Zone.com® with all the goods needed for his new TIG machine.

The reason for the call was that the customer has now spec’d out a TIG torch with vinyl plastic gas hose.

I was a little perplexed. We generally recommend the rubber leads as opposed to vinyl. They are more flexible and easier to handle. The plastic hoses are stiff and are susceptible to damage from heat– like when a hot TIG Torch gets placed on top of a hose inadvertently.

The WP-20-25-Pro™ package that he received features the rubber lead set. And that can be problematic — it seems that the rubber hose, in certain conditions, can absorb moisture from the atmosphere and it can cause impurities in the weld. This may show up when welding reactive metals such as titanium, molybdenum, nickel-based and aluminum based alloys as well as non-reactive metals like stainless steel.

I would be interested to know what your thoughts are — do you have an experience with this issue –let me know by commenting below — first commenter get a free Arc-Zone.com® T-Shirt!

$10 million bounty for super-efficient cars
Insurance company provides the purse for Automotive X Prize
By Alan Boyle, Science editor MSNBC

A $10 million contest to develop super-efficient — and salable — automobiles is getting its official kickoff on Thursday, with Progressive Insurance providing the purse.

The Progressive Insurance Automotive X Prize, modeled after earlier prizes for spaceflight and genetic research, is aimed at promoting the creation of cars that get the equivalent of 100 miles per gallon, while at the same time hitting targets for low greenhouse-gas emissions, safety and affordability.
READ THE ARTICLE ONLINE–>

There hasn’t been a lot of innovation in the automotive industry, though I have been following the development of the Tesla — named after Nicola Tesla, and electrical genius. Tesla Motors was established by the founder of PayPal and some other Silicon Valley success stories who are putting their fortunes to work to improve our quality of life and provide jobs.

The Automotive X prize is reminiscent of the Ansari X Prize for private spaceflight recently awarded to Burt Rutan another innovator in the aircraft industry (flew around the world without stopping) He beat out all the competition to claim the prize for first in space. His company Scaled Composites, Inc. develops research aircraft and currently employs 130 people at the Mojave, California airport. My mom went to high school with Burt and he was in my Dad’s model airplane club! I met him myself back in the late ’80s and he toured me around his shop in the desert. I’ll tell you about that in another post.

Let’s hope the Automotive X Prize sparks some terrific innovation– and some opportunities– for some of the auto companies.

You may have read previous posts about my “early” motorcycle racing days (more posts coming with some really neat bikes and personalities). I grew up in SO Cal riding motorcycles most every day and racing at least 2 days a week when I was in my teens. If you have ever heard of or seen the movie “On Any Sunday” you know what I’m talking about — if not rent it — it’s awesome!

I bring that up because there is a terrific motorcycle event coming up on the first weekend in May. Here’s the 411:

Legend Of The Motorcycle International Concours D’Elegance is a celebration of the art of motorcycling, past, present and future.

The event takes place Saturday May 3rd at the Ritz-Carlton, Half Moon Bay, CA (just south of San Francisco). It’s the 3rd edition and this year MV Agusta & Norton are the featured brands. Over 30 MV’s of various models will be presented, including an Agostini TT winner and a 2004 Bonneville speed record holder. Special Norton models featured to include a JPN, a Cosworth Challenge, a Ron Wood, a Monocoque, a Rotary, etc. More than 200 vintage bikes will be exhibited including the only known 1914 Ixion, U-frame Merkel racer, and oldest production 1902 Indian in existence. Among other attractions, there will be a special photo exhibit of Ewan McGregor & Charley Boorman’s “Long Way Down” trek curated by celeb photographer Timothy White exclusively for Legend of the Motorcycle. Also an exhibit of artwork by renowned graphic artist Conrad Leach.

Info and tickets ($50) at Legend Of The Motorcycle.

I wrote a post a few weeks ago and made some pretty pointed comments about some of the manufacturers/re-sellers in the TIG business. I immediately got a letter from an Attorney claiming that the comments were out of line and not necessary. While I understand the concern, what I was trying to say is that many companies have no ENGINEERING expertise and no Electrical or Mechanical Engineer on staff.

It’s not like back in the 1970s when you could simply tinker with a few parts and market it as better– who would know. Today it’s different. Equipment has improved greatly; machines are far more sophisticated and complex electronically.

In business you have to make many choices — As you know we chose to tie our wagon to the Weldcraft® brand of TIG torches. I have an extensive history with that company and was instrumental in establishing Weldcraft® as the undisputed world-wide leader in TIG and for a short time Plasma Arc Cutting torches. A lot has changed since I left the company: new ownership, factory relocation, management changes…. Weldcraft has gone from a business run out of one guy’s garage to being a part of ITW, a publicly traded, well-respected multi-national corporation.

That brings me to my point. What’s the Difference?

We just received a shipment of the new Weldcraft WP series TIG torches and they are nice. They use a new, patented scalloped or textured ergo style torch body with improved design features. You can’t miss them, they are Red!

Another huge differentiator is the collateral material included with each New Weldcraft TIG Torch. The information is very well laid out and includes great technical information, hook-up instructions, welding techniques, welding symbols, duty-cycle ratings, grounding information, amperage ratings for different tungsten sizes and more. This kind of information comes from having a full bank of engineers on staff, and sharing technical information with sister companies like Miller Electric.

When you compare what you get from other companies it is clear that Weldcraft® is on solid ground and back on their way to being the TIG Welders Choice™

Got a call from Bob who is the welding engineer at a plant in Georgia that manufactures interior and exterior automobile parts (seat recliners, window regulators, door locks, door frames and molding). This is a super high volume production line and as part of the manufacturing process, in addition to roll forming and stamping, they TIG weld utilizing 4 robotic work cells with 4 TIG robots in each cell.

Bob graduated from Ferris State University where he learned about TIG welding, but the bulk of his real world experience to date has been in resistance welding. He’s been working in the plant for the past year, learning more hands-on TIG and one aspect of the job has been to make improvements. The plant has been having some consistency problems from arc starting problems to inconsistent arcs. Plus, they have been and going through quite a bit of tungsten– changing tungsten electrodes once for every 12 parts.

“I did some research on the internet and found your site,” he said. He told me he read our articles about tungsten electrodes and the first thing he realized was that even though they have a dedicated tungsten sharpener, it is set up to grind radially, not longitudinally.
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