It’s midnight at a community college in Oregon. The classroom is brightly lit, and the students are up and about and… welding?

Thanks to a new series of “graveyard” welding classes, this has become a regular feature of several area colleges.

In the Midnight Hour

By David Moltz
December 9, 2009

Midnight classes, once a quirky scheduling option available at only a few institutions, are gaining currency at a growing number of community colleges as student demand for specific courses increases and available classroom space for those courses decreases.

Photo: Carl Graham / Clackamas Community College

Though it is unclear which institutions pioneered the idea, Clackamas Community College, in Oregon, began offering what became known as “graveyard welding classes,” lasting from 10 p.m. to 2 a.m., two nights a week last spring.

The classes were so popular that the college expanded them to four nights a week this fall, and students can now take five different welding courses during the “graveyard shift,” ranging from an introductory section to those focusing on specialized projects.

John Phelps, one of two adjunct welding instructors who lead the late-night courses, said the college’s experiment with these sections was a matter of necessity.

Even with some welding sections available on the weekends, he said, the college reached its capacity for these courses last fall and was forced to turn away a number of students.

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I often wish when I’m stuck in rush hour traffic, that my car would suddenly sprout wings and fly over all the heads of those other unassuming drivers. But I’m not Brady McCormick, and my car can’t fly.

But his – well, with just a few adjustments, it’s more of a possibility than you might think.

In North Kitsap, Turning Old Cars Into New Planes

By GENE YOACHUM FOR THE KITSAP SUN

Brady McCormick has his eyes on the skies.

The machine shop owner sees an opportunity looming in building experimental aircraft power plants out of 40-year-old Corvair automobile engines.

McCormick, 42, said the recent announcement that Seattle-based Boeing Co. is opening a plant in South Carolina instead of Puget Sound “creates a vacuum’’ for aircraft manufacturing locally.

“Now’s my chance to fill that vacuum,” he said, tongue planted firmly in cheek. “I haven’t found the plans yet for a 747, but as soon as I do, they are in trouble.”

McCormick’s plans for building experimental airplanes powered by Corvair engines is no joke.

Pulled from wrecking yards and scrap heaps, engines from Chevrolet’s once-popular compact car are perfect for experimental aircraft enthusiasts to rebuild and convert into airplane engines, he said.

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For some, learning welding might just be a hobby, or a way into a new career.  For teens at the Tuscaloosa juvenile detention center, it’s all that and much more.

Welding class keeps peace at juvenile detention center
Students stay out of trouble to attend sessions

By Stephanie Taylor Staff Writer
Saturday, November 21, 2009 at 3:30 a.m.

TUSCALOOSA | Some of the teenagers at the juvenile detention center don’t stop getting in trouble just because they’re behind bars.

Fights occasionally break out between the inmates, who are sometimes incarcerated for crimes as serious as shootings and burglary. They may cause trouble in a classroom or refuse to follow rules.

But fights are occurring less often lately since the facility began offering a welding class on Thursday and Friday afternoons.

“People won’t act up because they don’t want to miss welding,” said a 16-year-old who has been at the facility for three weeks. “Some of them want to have a career in this, and it might be the only chance they’ll have to learn.”

But the program isn’t just to motivate kids to stay out of trouble while at the facility, although that is a positive by-product. The administrators, teachers and businesses who have contributed to the program hope that the vocational skills will benefit the teenagers once they’re released.

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It was the day after Larry Dorsey’s 54th birthday when Katrina hit.  He spent the next week just trying to survive.  Now, 4 years later, Larry is not just surviving; he is thriving, thanks in part to a shiny new welding certificate.

Hurricane survivor, KCC student earns premier welding certification

NICOLE FINKBEINER • READER SUBMITTED • OCTOBER 6, 2009

Larry Dorsey (Kellogg Community College)

Larry Dorsey, 58, received notification on Wednesday, September 30, that he pass the American Welding Society’s 6G Pipe Welding Certification.

The national certification means that the Air Force veteran can make approximately $25-30 per hour inspecting and supervising welding projects.

The certification is rare, and opens up a broad range of employment prospects.

Dorsey arrived in Battle Creek after surviving seven days of flooding from Hurricane Katrina in New Orleans. It was the day after his birthday when the flood waters came and he thought, like all of the other times, the waters would subside.

Within two days, the food he had ran out so he used a refrigerator door as a flotation device to find food for him and his neighbors. When he realized the waters were not receding, he knew it was time to leave.

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If you think you had problems in high school, check out this kid:

Thomas Vipod of Colchester, England had to deal with all the normal rigors of high school life while having both Asperger’s syndrome and dyslexia on his plate.

And yet, he’s found one class where he tops all the rest, and you wouldn’t believe what it is…

Colchester: Young welder is just outstanding

9:00am Monday 26th October 2009
By Claire Owen

Thomas Vipond is used to being labelled by his Asperger’s syndrome and dyslexia.  But now, the 18-year-old from Kelvedon has a brand-new label – outstanding.

Picture: SEANA HUGHES (WKKXJ-03)

Student Thomas, of St Mary’s Road, was honoured with the outstanding achievement prize at this month’s Colchester Youth Awards.

He was nominated by Clyve Tanner, his tutor at Colchester Institute, where he has studied fabrication and welding for the last two years.

Now in his final year, Thomas said he has always had a love of practical pursuits, especially as his dyslexia and Asperger’s syndrome made learning and interaction with others difficult.

“I can’t spell or hand write very well at all, and I used to have problems with people,” said Thomas, who also has limited mobility due to knee problems.

“But I was into engineering from a young age.  I used to like taking things apart and putting them back together, and that’s where I got an interest in welding.”

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For more information on dyslexia and Asperger’s syndrome, you can visit these helpful website pages from WebMd:

Dyslexia ->

Asperger’s Syndrome ->

Chris Santistevan and John Hams (left to right)

At Arc-Zone.com we get some interesting customers, and Chris Santistevan is no exception. He not only a trapeze artist he is a welder too!

At night he dazzles visitors at the Las Vegas Ultimate Variety Show (see video below).

By day, however, he can be seen fabricating stainless steel above-ground pools for high rise hotels in the city.

Chris called us up looking for a good tungsten grinding solution– Arc-Zone.com offers the industry’s most comprehensive line up of tungsten sharpeners.

He was concerned that his newer employees were wasting a lot of time dressing tungsten on side grinders, and they were getting inconsistent welds.  We got him hooked up with a Sharpie DX-K pro-kit, and he told us a little bit about his work.

Chris fabricates stainless steel custom pool liners as well as  supply pipes, flanges, and tubes.  I didn’t know this, but evidently it’s a requirement that hotels with pools above the twelfth floor have the pool made entirely from TIG welded stainless steel!

Once completed, the pool is then sprayed with gunite to look like  a traditional pool.   As Chris points out, no one ever actually gets to see his work, but it is critical to the safety of the hotel nonetheless!