Author Archives: Editor

Iron Man 2 : The Welder

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Excited for the new Iron Man 2 movie coming out this summer?  Well, while you’re waiting, why don’t you check out this new IronMan 230 All-in-One MIG Welder from Hobart Welders?  It has everything you could want in a MIG machine — we only wish it had a bit more in common with its namesake (flying while welding anyone??)

Hobart Introduces IronMan 230 All-in-One MIG Welder with Superior Arc Quality and Greater Precision
Jon Crowley | Jan 14, 2010

Hobart Ironman 230

The IronMan™ 230 is a total redesign of the full-size MIG platform, outperforming the competition on arc quality, voltage control, duty cycle and value. It delivers 30-250 amps of pure power in a heavy duty cabinet. The arc of the new IronMan™ 230 is optimized to deliver a flawless weld, making spatter and post-weld cleanup almost non-existent. The IronMan™ 230 easily runs aluminum – just add the optional Hobart DP-3545-20 spool gun and you’re ready to weld aluminum from 18 gauge to 1/2″.

For improved feedability with aluminum wires or for extended reach with other wires add the Hobart 3545-20 spool gun with its 20 ft. cable length.

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There Are No “Welding Socks”

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I don’t think I’ve ever laughed so hard at work before!  This guy has a gift – if not for welding, then definitely for writing!

Attempting to weld in the age of duct tape

Al Batt, Tales from Exit 22
Published Wednesday, March 10, 2010

I don’t like to wear socks.

I wear them but I don’t like it.

I consider socks to be a fire hazard.

I took a welding class at a college that once thrived in Waseca.

It wasn’t my idea. It was my employer’s idea. He felt that the duct tape I used wasn’t as strong as a weld. He was annoyingly conscientious. Welding started during the Bronze Age, and it survives into the Duct Tape Age. I went to college during the day and worked nights. The welding class gave me something to fill those hours that I had been wasting on sleep.

My father had taught me how to weld with a derelict welder he had rescued from a junkyard. It was a serious stapler that performed basic farm welding with little attention paid to aesthetics.

On the farm, I welded broken wagon tongues and tractor hitches. I gave up welding once I quit breaking wagon tongues and tractor hitches.

I would have been happy not knowing anything more about welding. Welding isn’t even an Olympic event. It could be in the Winter Olympics. Replacing the brooms with welders would make curling a little more exciting.

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Elektrogrill für Männer

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Crazy Germans and their sausage.  And I fully mean that as a compliment, because we here at Arc-Zone.com were all amazed and highly entertained by what happened next.

German welders + sausage + welding machine = Electric grill for men??

Adventurous Germans Grill Sausages with an Industrial Welder

“Eventually, the tube was so hot that the arc had to be shut down because the fat was on the verge of spontaneous combustion.”

By Vin Marshall  Posted 03.22.2010

Barbecue grills don’t typically require eye protection, but then, they’re typically not made from a giant TIG welder and an industrial sausage positioner either.

That’s something these Germans set out to change with the “Electric Grill For Men.”

What would you do if you needed to endurance-test a large industrial welding power supply?

You’d probably rig up something like the apparatus pictured here, in which a TIG welding torch draws a continuous arc along a slowly rotating piece of aluminum tubing mounted in a work positioner normally used for pipe welding.

As the long weld bead is laid down, the power supply is tested to verify that it can maintain its rated output and duty cycle without melting down. In the process, a great deal of heat is generated.

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Welding on the Reservation

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A new program on the Lummi Reservation is offering the equivalent of full scholarships to ten aspiring Native American welders for an intense 16 week welding course.  They qualify as second-year union apprentices at the end of it!

New program teaches welding to Native Americans
JOHN STARK – THE BELLINGHAM HERALD

LUMMI RESERVATION – Ten Native American men are getting an intensive course in welding that they hope will enable them to get better jobs, even in a sluggish economy.

The students train 10 hours a day, six days a week for 16 weeks, under a program through a new partnership among the U.S. Department of Interior, Lummi Indian Business Council, United Association of Plumbers and Pipefitters, and Native American Fabricators Welding School, a private welding school that operates on Lummi Reservation.

Art George, a welder and former chairman of Nooksack Tribe, started the school in 2008 with his wife, Rebecca.

He said the demand for trained welders remains brisk at refineries, boat builders, construction sites and shipyards as the older generation of welders retires.

Students who complete the intensive program qualify for hiring as second-year union apprentices, with pay starting at about $20 an hour.

After four years, they could qualify for journeyman welder status and make more than twice that, George said.

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Welding in Guernsey

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Geography quiz time!  Where is Guernsey?  I’ll give you a hint: it’s one of the Channel Islands (and no, we’re not talking about the ones off the coast of California…)

Give up?  Here you go: Guernsey.  How’s that for an exotic locale?  And what do ya know – there are welders there too!

Challenging the world’s welders

A group of apprentices from the College of Further Education are challenging the best welders in the world.

Three fourth year students hope their welding skills will allow them to reach the world final of the SkillWeld competition in London in 2011.

Guernsey man James Le Lievre was a UK finalist in the contest in 2008.

John Semenowicz, the programme manager for engineering at the college, said: “We’re talking about students in the premier league of welding.”

The Channel Island heat of the SkillWeld competition took place at the College of FE’s workshop in March 2010 as Guernsey’s three entrants became part of the 170 from across the UK who are competing.

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