We’re starting a new regular feature on this site, Ask Joe™

Each week we’ll feature real questions from real customers, and answers from our own Joe Welder. Joe, aka Jim Watson, doesn’t like to toot his own horn, but he has a tremendous amount of expertise in TIG, MIG and Plasma Arc Welding and Cutting products– you can read the details over at Arc-Zone.com or read some of the About Joe Welder posts right here.

And, if you have a welding question you’d like answered, go ahead and Click on the Contact Joe link.

If your question is featured on an Ask Joe™ post, we’ll send you a t-shirt!

Ron in Lindenhurst, New York asks:

I have an HTP invertig 201 and a Bernard 3500ss water cooler. I’m interested in ordering an SF-225-25 Water Cooled PRO torch package. It says it does not include power cable adapter. Which one do I need?

My tig has a dinse non-gas through connector. My air cooled torch has a dinse connector and a separate gas hose.

Thanks for your help, I’m a newbie to tig and all these parts are a little confusing

We get asked all the time about how to connect a TIG torch to a particular power supply. There are a lot of connectors, many you’ll find in the Arc-Zone.com webstore. Often our customer doesn’t know which kind of connector he or she needs (we have a handy reference chart, so give us a call if you don’t know what you need). In this case, Ron knows he needs a dinse connector, and he knows its a water cooled TIG Torch. Which would bring him to the Water Cooled TIG Connectors, but even then, there are a lot of choices.

Ron will need a Weldcraft Q5W which is the large water-cooled DINSE connector.

We also recommended that he go quick release all the way, and get two of the QRW water connectors and one of the QRG gas connectors.

Found a great article in our local paper, the Union Tribune, featuring Nancy Woods, an instructor in the Welding Program at Palomar College, one of our local community colleges.

WELDING INSTRUCTOR SPARKS HER STUDENTS’ CAREERS AT PALOMAR By Pat Sherman

April 18, 2008 – SAN MARCOS – It’s not quite the same as crocheting a summer hat, but when Nancy Wood slips on her protective helmet and picks up her torch, the skills she employs in TIG welding are similar to those required for needlework, she said.

“I think that’s why women do it so well, because a lot of them over the years have learned how to crochet or knit,” said Wood, an adjunct welding instructor at Palomar College. “Welding is very artistic.”
….
According to the American Welding Society, of approximately 500,000 welders employed in the United States, only about 33,000, or 6.6 percent, are female.
…..[and]
there will be a shortage of about 200,000 skilled welders in the United States by the year 2010.
…read the full article online–>

In response to the present and predicted welder shortage, and to begin to change perceptions about women in welding (who they are, what they look like and what kind of work welding is) we’re profiling women welders over at CarmenElectrode.com– Check out “The New Rosies” .

If you know of any good welding programs in your community, or women welders who may be interested in being featured let us know!

Aluminum is a popular metal because of its light, silvery color and the fact that it is light weight and resists corrosion– a factor which makes it very popular in marine fabrication applications. In fact, Arc-Zone.com® has several yacht tower and wake board manufacturers that we work with on a regular basis.

Welding aluminum can be challenging even for a master fabricator, check out the newest publication from the American Welding Society (AWS), Welding Aluminum – Questions and Answers a practical guide for troubleshooting aluminum welding problems. Read the press release from the AWS, or go to www.aws.org/catalogs to order your Aluminum Welding Guide (only $93 for members of the American Welding Society).

Other resources for welding aluminum:

Lincoln Electric’s Guide to Aluminum Welding

Aluminum Welding– Using Oxy-Fuel Welding on Aircraft Aluminum Sheet from Experimenter Magazine

Alcotec’s Knowledge Center (Alcotec is an aluminum welding wire producer)

Two Tips from Joe Welder for welding aluminum:

–Clean your base metal (you may want to try the EZ Wipes, cleaning wipes or check out the TIG Weld Prep Kit in the Tools and Accessories section of Arc-Zone.com); and

–Use ArcTime™ Hybrid All Purpose Tungsten

A lot of times companies don’t add new vendors to their line up because there’s a lot of work involved in getting set up to do business. The vendor requires paperwork, the customer requires paperwork, sales staff needs to be trained… and of course in the case of Arc-Zone.com® we need to add products to our website. Then there’s the “getting to know you” period when the vendor and the customer adapt to each other’s way of doing business.

Arc-Zone.com® just hooked up with Revco Industries to carry their line of high-quality safety apparel. From quality leather safety apparel and BSX Xteme protective wear with style and welding gloves galore, we’re adding to our webstore daily.

One of the most exciting lines is the Women’s Welding Wear, offering protective gear that is tailored for a woman’s body.

In addition to offering great quality welding safety products, and information about Leather Quality and finding your Glove size, Revco is easy to do business with!

When we placed our first order, within minutes we received a confirmation indicating availability and ship date. And the best part is, they delivered!

We hope our customers are as excited as we are about this new line of welding safety gear. Not only will you stay protected, you’ll look good.

We got one of the New Weldcraft® Triad™ tungsten sharpeners when they first came out and looked it over to determine if we wanted to add it to our line of tungsten grinders. It’s a nice machine well engineered and produces a true precision ground tungsten electrode ideal for orbital and other demanding TIG/GTAW applications. The pricing is restrictive for the hobbyist, but if you have some coin to spend on fine electrode grinding tools — this is one!

Weldcraft® has added a new double decker kit to the options available for the grinder — and it’s a well made precision machined set-up. Check it out (at the left) and read the press release from Weldcraft here…

And by the way if you want to try any of our tungsten electrode grinders — we offer a 7-Day trial — to make sure you get the best machine for your welding application. Restrictions apply — Purchase order or credit card at time of order!

Legacy is Weldcraft’s “economy series line” which is going after all the reverse engineered knock-off torches that are sold on price. You can read the official Weldcraft press release about the Legacy TIG Torch here.

This unit is a basic WP-17 torch body with the new Red rubber molding and features a very nicely made and well designed amperage control built into the handle!

We checked one out recently and had an opportunity to play with it — the handle features a comfortable design with built in amperage control and cable strain relief on the back end to improve flexibility and torch control.

It’s another example of how good design engineering and manufacturing practices add value to the market and continue to establish Weldcraft as the market leader in TIG welding torches!