How much do you value your car’s catalytic converter?  I don’t know about you, but I kind of like mine, and I’d kind of like it to stay where it is: attached to my car!  Thankfully, a device exists called a CatClamp™ (made by American Welding Inc.) to thwart off any would be “CatCons.”  

Stainless Steel Clamp Thwarts CatCon Thieves

May 1, 2009 12:00 PM

When welding isn’t the answer, fabricator finds the right method to get an idea to market.

Thieves are shameless in their pursuit catalytic converters (they’re after the precious metal contents, especially platinum), which has resulted in the development of a number of defensive devices aimed at preventing efforts to cut the “cats” away from a vehicle’s exhaust system.

The emissions control devices use platinum and palladium as oxidizing catalysts to remove several pollutants from a gasoline engine’s exhaust stream. Platinum, the more expensive metal, sold for $600/ounce five years ago. In 2008 the price was over $2,000/ounce — far more valuable than gold.

The crime is simple, and too common: a thief slips under a vehicle, often a SUV or truck with ample clearance and, with a reciprocating saw, slices through the exhaust pipe on either end of the catalytic converter, freeing it for removal. The operation takes about 10 seconds, and may yield the criminal $50 to $250, or more, from a scrap yard or recycler.

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We introduced the Sharpie hand-held tungsten electrode grinder in 2000.  We started with the SD or “standard” which is our low-cost model with a fixed grind angle.  Based on customer feedback we added the DX which has an adjustable grind angle range from 5-45 degrees, and more recently the vacuum model which is adjustable with a dust collection bag.

The machines are very popular with hobbyists and fabricators that need to grind tungsten electrodes up to 1/8″ (3.2mm).  They solve the problem of wearing out grinding wheels and belt sander belts, and greatly improve safety in the shop or on the job site.  I have been very pleased with all the positive comments that we get from customers after they receive their Sharpies.  It’s a great product!  Try one and see if you agree — as with all Arc-Zone purchases — its guaranteed!

Three Models to Choose From:

The Sharpie™ DXV “Deluxe Vacuum” model adjusts for a wide range of grind angles and tapers from 15-to-45 degrees (included angle) for virtually any TIG welding application and includes built-in dust collection for dust-free electrode preparation.

Customer Review:

Got this vacuum grinder with the pro kit. Great deal. We have a welder here who is pregnant and the vacuum system really helps with dust collection. Thanks for the candy and the free poster.

Date Added: 05/14/2009 by Roger Wilcox

The Sharpie™ DX “Deluxe” adjusts for a wide range of grind angles and tapers from 15-to-45 degrees (included angle) for virtually any TIG welding application.

Customer Review:

Got this grinder and it worked great even on 1/8 tungsten. Good adjustment angle, used the first side of the wheel then flipped it over and continued to grind. It is a must have for a shop.

Date Added: 03/17/2009 by Hit Hard

The Sharpie™ SD “Standard” has it’s grind angle pre-set at 20 degrees, a good, general-purpose angle for a variety of TIG welding applications, making the Sharpie Standard™ an economical choice.

Customer Review:

I’m a student at the local tech college taking the basic welding course. As you may have guessed, the need to sharpen the tungsten electrode is pretty frequent. The sharpie standard model has been a huge time saver, allowing me more time to learn tig. The price for of the sharpie is fairly steep for a student but well worth the cost in time saved. I would recommend this product to anyone from bigginer to expert. Sincerly, Dave

Date Added: 11/14/2008 by Dave Fasteen

Did you know that Arc-Zone.com carries the industry’s most comprehensive selection of tungsten grinders? In addition to the Sharpie, we’ve got the Turbo Sharp, the Triad, the Neutrix hand held tungsten grinders. We’ve also got the Neutra, the Ultima LTG, the TIG 10/175 and the Turbo 4…. not to mention replacement parts– including diamond grinding wheels for all the industry’s tungsten grinders.!
And if you’re not sure which one is right for you, check out our Tungsten Grinder Selector Guide (pdf).

If you’re welding on the job in a position that requires wearing a hard hat, why don’t you check out the new Sperian helmet.  Called the “Galaxy”, it’s a “passive flip front, high impact approved welding helmet… with a hard hat adaptor”.  That means no more switching back and forth between welding helmet and hard hat while you’re on the job.

Sperian’s Galaxy high impact welding helmet now with hard hat adaptor

10 July 2009

SPERIAN has launched the Galaxy high impact welding helmet with a hard hat adaptor.

According to Sperian, its Galaxy high impact welding helmet is currently the only passive flip front, high impact approved welding helmet on the market. It is tested to Australian Standards, and approved by SAI Global.

The Galaxy welding helmet is now fitted with a hard hat adaptor to suit PA620V and MSA V-Guard Elite hard hats.

Also available as a spare part, users can quickly convert their standard Galaxy high impact welding helmets to be used with a hard hat.

This provides protection for the head without needing to switch helmets and hardhats. The Galaxy high impact welding helmet with hard hat adaptor can be used at construction sites.

Welders using the Galaxy high impact welding helmet with hard hat adaptor can change the distance from the Auto Darkening Filter (ADF) to the eye, and the angle of the welding helmet to the hard hat to suit to their personal needs and working environment.

Then maybe you should come and join the Milwaukee Inventors’ and Entrepreneurs’ Forum.  The meetings, founded by Jill Welytok, are a forum in which inventors and entrepreneurs can work hand in hand, providing important feedback for each other, insider advice, and maybe even an investment or two.

Milwaukee forum brings inventors, entrepreneurs together

Tannette Johnson-Elie | Connections
Posted: July 21, 2009

As a patent attorney, Jill Gilbert Welytok frequently encounters people who come up with clever inventions but lack the resources and connections to launch their products.

Photo By: MaryJo Walicki --- Doug Bartelt stands in a heavy-duty lifter mounted in the back of his truck.

“Many people will go through great expense filing a patent for products that they couldn’t sell or make money from,” said Welytok, a managing partner with Absolute Technology Law Group LLC, a 3-year-old Milwaukee company that specializes in patents, trademarks, copyrights, licensing agreements and due diligence. “Sometimes people have a great idea or product, but what matters most is what the market thinks.”

If the market thinks your product stinks, you’re not going to make money from it. But what if you could test your invention on other inventors and entrepreneurs who have successfully developed and marketed products?

Thanks to Welytok, there now is a place where local inventors can come together to network and share ideas: The Downtown Milwaukee Inventors’ and Entrepreneurs’ Forum. The forum meets monthly at the Germania Building, 135 W. Wells St., and draws 60 to 120 people.

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I’m going to the Essen Welding Show in Essen Germany.  Yes, that’s right, in Germany!  If you’re not familiar with the show, it is the Olympics of Welding and Metal Fabrication–  it happens every four years, and draws the best in welding and fabrication technology from around the world.

Not only will I have the opportunity to see the latest in innovation for our industry (see above), I’ll get to catch up with some colleagues as well.  It will also be a great opportunity to see what new products our international welding accessory vendors are showcasing.

Schweissen & Schneiden, the Essen Welding Show has established its position as number one in its industry. With the biggest names in the industry taking part and almost 60,000 trade buyers coming to see them Schweissen & Schneiden continues to become more international. With more than 1,000 exhibitors, the show takes place in the entire exhibition complex of more 1.1 million sq feet.

Let me know if you’ll be there! And make your plans early! Oktoberfest starts September 19– the day the show ends….

Mariah Power is the greenest company I’ve heard of in a long time.  They’ve got the three R’s down to a science.  For one, they’ve set up shop in what once used to be a auto parts manufacturing plant, modified to fit their needs.  Their employees?  Workers from the previous plant.  Their product? Windspire vertical-axis wind turbines, which will “recycle” wind on a small scale to provide power for homes and businesses.

Wind Turbine Company Opens New Manufacturing Plant 

Edited by: MHM Staff

MANISTEE, Mich.—Mariah Power, a wind technology company, just opened its first high-volume manufacturing site in Manistee in partnership with MasTech Manufacturing’s material handling specialists. 

The new facility, a retrofitted auto parts manufacturing plant, will produce Windspire vertical-axis wind turbines. Mariah Power will employ former automotive workers who have experience working with steel, assembly lines and robotics.

The plant will produce 100 Windspire turbines per month, and executives foresee that number growing to 1,000. Steel and aluminum required to make the turbines will be supplied to the 30,000-square foot facility by companies located in Michigan.

The Windspire is Mariah Power’s first official product line. It is a small-scale, vertical-axis wind turbine that can power homes or businesses. Standing 30 feet tall, Windspire features a “plug ‘n produce” design and connects directly to the power supply of a building. 

The big news in laser welding means big saving for your wallets.  Linde North America has just introduced two alternatives to the regular pure helium shielding gas.  Their new LASGON® H gases are a combination of argon, helium, and hydrogen designed expressly for CO2 and solid state lasers when welding stainless steel.

Linde North America introduces shielding gas mixtures

[ 23 Mar 2009, Katie Hill, gasworld.com ]

Thanks to Linde, fabricators looking for alternatives to using pure helium as a shielding gas in high power laser welding now have more options.

Linde North America, part of The Linde Group, has introduced two new, LASGON® H shielding gas mixtures that lower operating costs and increase welding speed and product quality.

The new mixtures combine helium, hydrogen and argon in special formulations for laser welding of stainless steel with CO2 and solid state lasers.

“Higher helium prices and tighter supplies have led fabricators to seek out less expensive shielding gas mixtures that enable them to maintain high product quality,” said Joe Berkmanns, Manufacturing Segment Manager, Linde North America.

“Linde’s LASGON® H product line lowers fabricators’ operating costs, while enabling them to boost productivity through higher welding speeds. What’s more, the LASGON® gas mixtures create less oxide buildup than pure noble gases, resulting in a clean, shiny weld surface. It’s truly a win-win product for the laser welder.”

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… then you should buy a new Titanium Elite™ Auto-Darkening Helmet with an “innovative aluminum heat shield protects the analog lens in most high-amperage (300+ amp) applications”.

Oh.  You thought I was going to say, “… get out of the kitchen”.  Joke’s on you then.

From MillerWelds.com:

APPLETON, Wis., April 15, 2009—In response to customer demand for a welding helmet that can better withstand high-amperage, high-heat applications, Miller Electric Mfg. Co. created the Titanium Elite™ auto-darkening helmet, a new addition to the Arc Armor™ line of welding safety products. Introduced today, the Titanium Elite directly addresses the problem of heat build-up in welding applications that require 300 amps or more, conditions that can affect the lens performance of standard auto-darkening helmets and make it uncomfortable for the welder. The Titanium Elite—the newest member of Miller’s Elite Series of auto-darkening helmets—reflects the heat away from the operator and features an aluminum heat shield to protect the auto-darkening lens. A shock-absorbing gasket, which adds durability and protection from drop impact in hard welding environments, also surrounds the lens.

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Bring it On! California sets the standard again for innovation and job creation. I look forward to working with the contractors, engineers and fabricators that will build and maintain the new plants needed to produce alternative fuels of the future.

From facilities complete with tubing, piping, valves and more to the equipment needed to transport the finished product you are looking at a big opportunity for the metal fabrication market.

From Today’s LA Times:

As the state moves to reduce the carbon footprint of fuel, an engineer hopes to build a plant in Lancaster that will convert garbage into an alcohol-based mixture.
By Margot Roosevelt. April 22, 2009

Arnold Klann has a green dream.

It began 16 years ago in a sprawling laboratory in Anaheim. This year, he hopes, it will culminate at a Lancaster garbage dump.

There, in the high desert of the Antelope Valley, Klann’s company, BlueFire Ethanol Fuels, plans to build a $100-million plant to convert raw trash into an alcohol-based fuel that will help power the cars and trucks of the future.

It’s just the sort of improbable concoction that California is now demanding. On Thursday, the state is expected to adopt the world’s first regulation to reduce the carbon footprint of fuel. And, just as California created the first market for catalytic converters decades ago, this rule, a likely model for national and even global calculations, could jump-start a huge demand for new technologies.
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We’re ready… are you?

If you conveniently happen to be searching for the ultimate portable welder/generator combination, look no further.  Lincoln Electric has the answer to every one of those needs all wrapped up in this one versatile machine.

Lincoln Electric Introduces the New Outback® 185 Engine-Driven Welder for On-site Welding Applications
Portable unit ideal for jobsites and rugged outdoor welding applications
• Low-Lift™ grab bars for easy transport
• Portable 185 amp DC stick capabilities and 5,700 watt peak AC generator power
• Largest in its class with a 6.8-gallon fuel tank for extended run time
• Easy-access front panel controls

Cleveland – Lincoln Electric introduces the new Outback^® 185 engine-driven welder, specifically designed for portability as the ultimate DC stick welder and AC power generator.

Ideal for service truck operators, maintenance crews, farmers, ranchers and contractors, the unit’s Low-Lift™ grab bars provide move leverage for lifting the unit on and off truck beds. The Outback 185’s engine control panels are accessible from the front, allowing users to start up, turn off and adjust output on truck-mounted units. These features and the Outback 185’s 6.8-gallon fuel tank make it the ultimate portable welder/generator option.

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