You’ve seen Arc-Zone products online, now experience Arc-Zone in a whole new way!

IT’S A WELDING SHOWROOM LIKE NO OTHER

Arc-Zone.com is opening a Retail Showroom and you’re invited:

GRAND OPENING

WHEN?  2-7 p.m., Wednesday, May 22, 2013 

WHERE? 2091 Las Palmas Drive, Carlsbad, CA

Build a custom welding torch for your welding application at the  Arc-Zone PRO Solutions Center™ where you can choose from the industry’s most innovative welding accessories.

Preview the The Ultimate Weld Shop™ dedicated to product demos, welding classes, and more. It’s like nothing you’ve ever seen before.

• Meet the Team & tour our facilities

• Preview our Next Generation TIG & Plasma Arc welding accessories

• Shop the world’s largest selection of Tungsten Grinders, top brand TIG Torches & accessories

• Get hands on time with Arc-Zone’s Exclusives including the most comprehensive selection of tungsten electrode grinders on the market

• Network with industry professionals

• Enjoy food & beverages

• Enter to win a Miller Digital Elite Helmet Custom painted by Pete “Hot Dog” Finlan

We hope to see you here. As always, Good Welding!

Everything you need to know about Pumps for your Welding Water Cooler

You probably know that Procon(R) coolant pumps are pretty much the industry standard for welding water coolers.  But a quick search for “coolant pump” or even “Procon pump” on google, or eBay and you’ll soon be overwhelmed with choices.  And in fact, you may be tempted to buy an inexpensive pump – but beware.  That inexpensive pump on eBay could in fact be a beverage dispenser pump with a default setting of 250 PSI. Which can blow out the small passages in your TIG torch.  And it won’t be the best pump for your welding needs for other reasons…

Arc-Zone sells Procon pumps that are new, refurbished, and engineered for welding applications.  The pumps include an inlet strainer that keeps particles out of the pump and out of the TIG torch – particles that can clog up passages in your TIG torch that allow water to flow through and cool your torch.  The Procon pumps for welding applications also come preset at 60 PSI, the standard for MIG welding.  NOTE:  the recommended setting  for TIG welding is 50 PSI.  Arc-Zone also ships new and professionally refurbished Procon pumps with all the parts you need to get your welding cooler back up and running:  v-band mounting clamp, tang shaft drive, and set up instructions.

Check out this video we did a while back explaining all of this:

Another reason to buy from Arc-Zone.com is our Core Exchange program. You can send in your used Procon pump and get a $25 credit towards you replacement pump! (You may be able to get credit for your Plasma Arc Welding torch, foot pedals, and diamond grinding wheels as well!)

Dear Arc-Zone Customers,

The whole team and I wanted to say a heartfelt “Thank You” to all of you that we’ve had the pleasure of serving over the years.  Since I founded Arc-Zone out of my garage it 1998, it has been an incredible journey to say the least and I can’t wait to see what the future holds for us. Arc-Zone has become what it is today all thanks to you guys!

Here are some recent photos sent to us by Arc-Zone customers through our Facebook page that we thought were awesome!

“I earned this with years of hard work…”

“Thanks for giving me a hand and helping me with my Plasma needs…”

Lastly, the Thanksgiving Fun Fact of the day!

The bald eagle was selected as the national bird of the newly formed United States of America. Founding father Benjamin Franklin wrote in a letter,  “[The turkey] is besides, tho’ a little vain and silly, a Bird of Courage, and would not hesitate to attack a Grenadier of the British Guards who should presume to invade his Farm Yard with a red Coat on.”

As always, Good Welding… but more importantly, have a Happy Thanksgiving with all of your loved ones!

Sincerely,

Jim Watson (AKA Joe Welder) and the entire Arc-Zone Team

Metal Turkey Photo Credit

Well, we’re not really heading south, but a couple of boxes out of our warehouse are! As you can see from the photo below, those are some nice beaches from way far south, and probably a bit warmer than ours here in So Cal.

Even though we’ve been online since 1998 (when I used to ship orders out of my garage), and we have customers around the world, it’s still exciting when we get an order from overseas. Maybe it’s because it reminds me that this is a small world and a global economy.  The internet has really helped make it possible for a company like Arc-Zone to serve customers everywhere!

Our first international order came in the very first year we did business.  We shipped a supply of Sharpie Tungsten Grinders and some specialty TIG welding torches to a distributor in Japan.  Since then, we’ve shipped to all kinds of customers all over the world — and we keep track, pinning each spot on the map prominently displayed in our conference room:

This week we sent out a couple thousand dollars worth of high performance welding accessories to a customer in Venezuela.  We worked directly with their freight forwarder so that they could minimize their shipping costs and ensure all the proper paperwork was in order to get through customs.  Our warehouse team has experience in prepping orders, and our customer care team can make sure we ship orders in the way that works best for the customer — whether it’s Prepay and add the amount to the invoice, bill direct to the customer’s UPS account, or as our friends in Venezuela required, working with a freight forwarder.

It’s truly rewarding to remember where we started, and see how far we’ve come: From sending out a couple boxes a week from my garage, to shipping orders around the world from our very own warehouse.

This past week, Arc-Zone has had hundreds of thousands of walk-ins and phone calls due to recent astronomical events…. Okay maybe not that many, but a ton! Why, you ask? Well yesterday, our brightest planet, Venus, passed right in front of the sun for nearly seven hours.

And in case you missed it, no need to worry. This rare event will occur again on  December 11, 2117. So don’t forget to mark it in your great-grand children’s calendar.  But what does all of this have to do with welding? Because staring at the sun for several hours attempting to witness Venus’s transition can cause blindness. So thousands of spectators needed No. 14 welder’s glass to protect their eyes against the suns harmful ultraviolet rays.

FYI, on November 13, 2012, there will be a total solar eclipse, so don’t forget to protect those eyes and pick up a welding helmet or replacement shield at Arc-Zone.com before it’s too late!

Were you able to view Venus’s transition, tell us about it below!

Photo of Venus courtesy of: kswt.com/story/18707202/transit-of-venus-today

Photo of # 14 welder’s shades courtesy of:  old.transitofvenus.org

Today’s blog will be a short one, because I’ve been so busy working on several awesome projects that time is limited.  As those of you who have read this blog for any length of time know, I am the Founder and President of Arc-Zone.com.  When I’m not blogging on Joe Welder about welding, motorsports, cycling or other things that interest me, I run our welding supply company.  Here’s some of the cool stuff happening at the Zone, and the reasons why it’s good to be Joe Welder:

Reason 1: Miller just delivered a bunch of new toys

I’ve been working on a special program with our friends at Miller for some time, and today it finally feels real.  Miller dropped off a Millermatic 211 MIG welder, a Dynasty 200 TIG welder, a Diversion 180 TIG welder, a Spectrum 625 XTREME Plasma Cutter, and some cool accessories like a wireless foot control for us to play with.  I can’t tell you what it’s for yet, but I can say that we’re working on a way to get you more free education and better information to make sure you have what you need to do the job right the first time.

Reason 2: The contractor and designer were here working on our new spaces

Arc-Zone HQ is expanding, and part of that expansion are two spaces that I’ve been dreaming about for some time.  We’ll announce more in the coming months, but what we’re working on is totally unique, and will transform Arc-Zone.com from just an online weld-shop to a real-world destination and hangout for welders.

Reason 3: We’re hiring

The American economy is slowly recovering, and thanks to our great customers, the Arc-Zone business is expanding.  We’re combing Southern California for customer service reps and warehouse staff to meet the demands of our ever-growing customer base.  We’ll profile a couple of the new additions on the blogs very soon.

Thanks to our Arc-Zone.com customers and readers of the Joe Welder and Carmen Electrode blogs (that means you!), I get to watch the big vision that started with our opening in 1998 come to fruition.  We’ll soon be back to our regularly scheduled programming.  Until then, weld on!

ATTENTION WELDERS:

We would like to announce that Joe Welder is back, energized, excited and ready to blog. Due to some staffing changes and record sales at our welding supply store, Arc-Zone.com, we have really lagged over the last few months on updating the blog for all of you readers.

But Joe Welder is back and ready to rock it with a weekly blog post that contains interesting and helpful info for all you welders out there. Here’s a sneak peak of what’s to come:

• How-to articles
• Stories from Jim Watson aka Joe Welder
• Metal fabrication industry news
• Favorite product highlights
• Welding education
• The Ask Joe column
• Unique welding applications
• Welding events
• And So Much More….

So what do you think? Our goal is to be the go-to blog for metal fabricators. Is there anything you want to see covered in the blog? Let us know your thoughts by leaving a comment below.

A lot of folks ask about the M&Ms we include with every order.  Some even ask us to toss in an extra bag for a co-worker.  Our customers like getting the M&Ms, but still, they ask why M&Ms?

When I started Arc-Zone.com in 1998,  the internet and the idea of ecommerce was new.  Folks were hesitant to do business online and with people they never met…    I had a pretty small marketing budget and some big ideas, so including M&Ms in each order was a way to personalize our customer’s shopping experience and say “thank you” for the order.

Our core belief is that our customers deserve the best technical support and top quality, performance proven welding accessories in the marketplace.   But we also believe that work can be fun…   and M&Ms are fun!

From EHS Today (the magazine for environment, health and safety leaders):

OSHA’s fall semi-annual regulatory agenda was published in the Federal Register Dec. 20, featuring updates on regulatory actions including the Injury and Illness Prevention Program, modernizing recording and reporting requirements, infectious diseases, hazard communication, combustible dust and more.

CONTINUE READING–>

At Arc-Zone.com we think safety is important also. In fact, you may have noticed that we have been enhancing our line of welding safety apparel and equipment–  from Miller’s Arc Armor and Weld X to Angelfire welding apparel for women, BSX Welding apparel, and some of the best welding helmets on the market.  We’ve also been working behind the scenes as well.   We’ve just put the finishing touches on a Technical Focus  paper, Eye Care for Welders (.pdf), also available in the Arc-Zone.com Welding Library.

In yet another sign that today’s cell phones are progressing faster than anyone thought was possible, ESAB announced today that they have created the world’s first smart phone application aimed exclusively at welding.  The app itself  is supposed to help users find the right parameters for a specific job.  I downloaded one to my Android phone, and it is a pretty cool app!  Good to see ESAB get welding in on the smart phone application craze.  

1/18/2011

ESAB Welding & Cutting Products has introduced the first-ever Smart Phone application for welding. Available for use with iPhone, Blackberry®, and Android™ devices, the ESAB Welding Parameters Set-up Guide is a user-friendly application that helps welders quickly identify the correct parameters for a specific job. The user simply enters the metal to be welded and the filler metals, and the application determines the appropriate settings for the welding machine.

The free application can be downloaded at http://www.esabna.com/apps.

You can read the rest of this press release over at ESAB –>

And don’t worry, Arc-Zone.com is fully accessible on any Blackberry, Android, or iPhone.  Our live chat option is even accessible by your smart phone!  So for any welding products on the go, oxy-fuel torches and parts, or MiG guns and parts, or Plasma Arc Welding torches and parts, head on over to Arc-Zone, and we’ll get you dialed in and ready to weld.