We get quite a few fabricators stoppin by the Zone, but imagine our surprise when Skateboarder Josh Kalis walked into the Arc-Zone.com headquarters to pick up a welding helmet….  DC Shoes is just down the street from Arc-Zone…

He rolled up in a cool blacked out Porsche 911 GT2RS and he was getting ready to star a new skating video.  The production company wanted him to skate over a roll-off dumpster, and he told them they needed to put a lid on that thing;  to do that right, they’d need some welding gear.  Josh offered to get it himself and weld it so they could add that to the video.

Josh googled and found Arc-Zone.  ”Sure glad I found you guys,” he told me.

We hooked him up with some stylin’ new Revco flamed out black Stallion gloves and a nice Miller Digital Elite welding helmet.

I  spread out the goods in our styled out conference room– helmets all the colors and graphic options, and told him the the flat black is my fave– you can decal it as you like.   Josh agreed and that was that.

Next the ladies in our Customer Care Department put together the rest of his order and  charged his Amex card.  He even gave up his email address:  ”Put me on the list!” he said.  (Arc-Zone’s monthly email is pretty informative and a fun read)

Josh said, “Man you guys got all the good stuff! When I walked in the lobby I was thinking you only sold online, but I’m blown away!”  He said he’d be buying more from us for his Automotive restoration shop in Michigan — http://www.allspeedperformance.com/

Unfortunately he wasn’t driving this tricked out custom DC Camaro but you can check it out here:

And let us know if you want to stop by! Its great to meet our customers and hear about the projects they’re working on…. We’ll even have you’re order ready to go!

And sign up for our email list to get news of new products, as well as tips and tricks so you can Weld Like A PRO!

Dario Franchitti

If you’re a regular reader of this blog, you know that I have a background in racing.  When I moved from racing to manufacturing, many of my friends and colleagues stayed in the racing industry:  The winning team Target Chip Ganassi, Team Penske, KV Racing Technology and many part suppliers like Howerton Racing Products, Reid Washbon Racing Exhaust, SS Tube Technology, and more. Not only do I count these folks among my friends, some of them have become customers of Arc-Zone.

In other words, I have strong ties to the industry.  And so in the spirit of celebrating those ties, and starting a new tradition for Arc-Zone, for this year’s Indy 500 Race we started  our own version of an office pool.  (for the record, no gambling was involved)

Our Operations Manager Scott Reiman came up with this plan, and to make sure no one (like me) with extensive knowledge of the racing teams would have an unfair advantage, we each  drew names and the person who’s driver came in First would get $25, Second  place driver qualified for $20, and so on.  And to make sure everyone got in on the fun, we even awarded prize money for First Crash, Driver who leads the most laps, Driver leading at the half, Last Finisher and even the Arc-Zone Employee  winning the fewest categories qualified for a $10 award.  I’m not sure everyone actually watched the race– not everyone is as into racing as I am, but it did give us something fun to talk about after the holiday weekend!

Arc-Zone is not the only company with strong ties in the racing industry–  Lincoln Electric is the exclusive provider of welding equipment to winning driver Dario Franchitti (pictured above) and his  Target Chip Ganassi Racing Team.  In fact, Lincoln Electric is the “Official Welder” of the Indy Racing League (IRL).  You can read all about it at the Lincoln website–>.

Recently, I was fortunate enough to be able to go up to the Pomona Fairplex for the annual Grand National Roadster Show.  It was amazing!  Masses of people were milling about (I heard there were 40,000 folks there, grand total), and there were, of course, loads of cool cars, roadsters, trucks, and motorcycles to look at.

The main focus of the competition is, of course, the roadster, and there were so many awesome projects that caught my eye, but I just wanted to share a few of the highlights of my trip with you.

This was, hands down, my favorite roadster – actually, it’s a truck-roadster combination, but it had that “track look” that I love. . . Check out the craftsmanship on this car — the attention to detail was impeccable!

The place was like motorcycle heaven – it made me want to get back on my bike right then and there… or maybe one of theirs – much shinier and way more tricked out than my current ride. I loved this Triumph 650 Bonneville named “Brown Sugar” It took me back to one of my racing mentors Gary Scott who rode his Triumph TT and flat track bike @ Ascot Park in Gardena CA. I can still hear that bike screamin down the track!

I saw this blown HEMI and immediately thought that this would be the perfect engine to install in my Toyota Prius! Talk about uncontrolled acceleration — most folks on the road have no clue what real horse power is. I might wanna get the brakes checked out before I install that bullet though…

And, if I got such a bitchin’ engine, I would probably be tempted to speed like a maniac on my way to the shop, so while we’re installing that engine, I think I might have to go find one of the pinstripers that were there at the show to paint this on my car for me.

And who could forget the food?  As if the automotive eye candy wasn’t awesome enough, there was Pink’s Hot Dogs!  It’s a genuine Hollywood institution, so I had to break down and get one of their hotdogs – the server recommended the “Martha Stewart” – I said what’s in it — she said it’s a kosher hotdog, strip of bacon, sauerkraut, sour cream, relish in a kaiser bun.

Something tells me the bacon might just cancel out the “kosherness” of the hotdog, but hey, it’s a Martha Stewart — so it’s a good thing, right? I loved it! So next time you’re rolling down Sunset Blvd. in Hollywood, stop in and get a Pinks hot dog, or better yet plan on coming to next years GNRS– see you there!

My first motorcycle was a 1963 Yamaha 80cc 80YG 2 Cycle 7.7 hp that I got from a grade school friend of mine for free after her dad backed over it with his car.

My dad and I straightened the frame, hand cut and bobbed the rear fender, took the emblems off, painted it orange, and went racing.

I will never forget that Tuesday night.  We went to Trojan Speedway in South Gate, CA — a sticky little clay oval next to the LA river, behind the rock quarry, east of downtown LA.

My Dad stopped off at Kmart to get a cool looking orange metal flake Grant helmet that cost a mere $14.35.

I remember thinking, “Is that all my head’s worth?”, but my dad checked the specs, and it turned out that it was Snell approved and everything.

Then it was off to the races!  I was so excited to be there that lining up for the first heat race, I actually dropped the clutch early and jumped the start! I ended up going from my row two starting spot clear past row one and the starter! That was hard to explain to my sixth grade school teacher Mrs. Jackie Jacobson and a bunch of my class mates from Vista Del Lavalle grade school in Claremont CA. . .

That first race was an eye opener — the other bikes were faster and highly modified, so my dad and I went out and bought Floyd Clymer’s book “How to Tune a Two Stroke Engine”.

I learned early on that researching what others have done is your quickest way to the top.

We went to work on the engine — a rotary valve design that was easy to hop up. We installed a new rotary valve, over-bored cylinder, which we seven ported, installed a single-ring piston with a super short cut-skirt, machined radial high-compression head, and a topped it off with a total loss ignition system.

We finished the engine modifications off with a tuned exhaust made by Dick Haycock from Chino CA. Dick custom fabricated it by beautifully rolling and forming the expansion chamber and artfully oxy acetylene welding it together. He then finished off with a 7” long x 1/2” diameter stinger tip – that thing screamed!

It was a fun night for me at the monthly American Welding Society — San Diego Section meeting. This night’s topic? Induction heating with a system unlike anything you’ve ever seen before.

Gone are the days of waiting hours and hours for your length of pipe to warm up to the right temperature –

Miller has just released the new ProHeat 35 Induction Heating System, which works by inducing heat electromagnetically, rather than via a conductor, thus saving the operator incredible amounts of time and energy.

Simply wrap the induction coils around whatever piece of metal you’re working on, and in just a few minutes, you’re ready to go!

This picture was taken looking inside the length of pipe that was being heated up by the ProHeat 35 — you can’t see it here, but that tube was glowing red hot on the inside!

And even better, when I tried touching the coils wrapped around it?
Cold as ice! This product is simply amazing!

But perhaps the best part about this whole new system is that you don’t even have to buy it! Red-D-Arc will rent out one of their machines to you for as long as you need!

Isn’t it time you started getting involved? That’s what these students thought!

I met them recently at one of our local AWS (American Welding Society) section meetings.  Daren Hitchman and Fred Paregoy (3rd from left in top and bottom rows) are the member recruiter and publicity chairman of their AWS student chapter, respectively.

I spent some time talking with them and I couldn’t help but take a picture of their workbooks. Unfortunatly, I did not capture the notes and diagrams on the inside; they were very detailed and technical — I was impressed with the level of training that these new students go throught to get certified.

Though they both are currently going to welding school at ECC in San Diego, they make the time to get involved in the local welding community by coming to events like this one.

Through attending meetings and events sponsored by local welding supply companies, professional organizations etc., these students are getting a better idea of the jobs that are available to them once they leave school.

Who knows? They might even meet a future boss, or learn about an opportunity to open their own shop just by hanging around and learning about the latest welding equipment!

Find a chapter of AWS near you and get involved!

Today is the start of the Grand National Roadster Show in Pomona, California.  This weekend, Jim Watson, aka Joe Welder, will be joining more than 40,000 other hot rod aficionados for a weekend of cars, cars, and a few motorcycles!

But Jim has a bit more on his mind — he just learned that one Glen Dennee has bought his Uncle Ben’s old racing car and is working on restoring it!
He’ll get a chance to meet up with Glen during the show and discuss how best to go about restoring Farmer Ben’s V8 60  Midget!

The Grand National Roadster Show
January 29 – 31, 2010

GNRS Supports Haiti Relief

Come to the 2010 Kragen O’Reilly Grand National Roadster Show this weekend and support the Clinton Bush Haiti Fund! We are donating proceeds from the sales of GNRS programs to this fund, and as this year’s theme is “Mardi Gras,” we’ll be having a good time handing out Mardi Gras beads to showgoers in exchange for small donations. Make a difference – come on out and join 40,000 other hot rodders for Haiti!

MORE INFORMATION ->

Are you free the 20th or 21st of February?

Come join Jim Watson, aka Joe Welder, and Ron Covell of Covell Creative Metalworking at Hot Rods & Custom Stuff in Escondido, CA for Covell’s Beginning and Advanced Steel Workshops!

Ron is one of the preeminent fabricators in the custom automotive industry and has been a good friend to us here at Arc-Zone.com!

You can head over to our webstore to check out a few of his welding DVDs.

If you don’t live in Southern California or can’t make it on this particular weekend, you can head over to Ron’s website and check out a complete list of his workshops in the upcoming year.

Who knows – he just might be coming to your neck of the woods soon!

My first motorcycle was a Mini Bike – a Taco 44 kit that my neighbor and his dad decided was too much of a hassle to build. I traded my electric guitar for it.

My dad and I worked together to collect all the parts needed to build it.

Centrifigal chain drive clutches were popular then but a bit unreliable and noisy, so we engineered a belt drive system with a double pulley jackshaft, and chain drive to the rear sproket.

It was connected to a variable speed clutch, which was installed on a polished and chromed out, performance tuned Briggs & Stratton 5HP engine complete with a Tecumseh down draft carburator and straight pipe exhaust!

We turned the flywheel all the way down to the magnets, milled the head and made our own copper head gasket, as the OEM one was a thick layered sandwich design.

My dad organized a trip to Tijuana Mexico to have our 1969 Dodge Dart reupolstered. I invited two of my grade school buddies, Steve Maxwell and Eddie Fagg from Vista de Valle Elementry School in Claremont CA. Each of us brought our mini bike seats to have them reskined with custom material, button-tucked and finished off with some nice edge piping. The last thing we did before painting the frame gloss black was to redesigned the friction rear brake and custom foot pegs, which we had heliarc welded at Foothill Welding in Claremont, California.

When we picked up the parts from the shop, I was intrigued by the heliarc welds the guy had laid down, so I asked him a couple of questions, and he showed me how to make a few myself!

My friends thought it was all so cool – the bike – the welding. Before long, they had started calling me “Joe Welder”, and I guess it stuck !

I had a lot of fun on that old bike – it was the first time I really learned about engine modifications.

One night my Dad came home and saw me doing a trophy run down the alley behind the workshop. He said there was a long white flame streaming from the exhaust and it smelled like it was burning up.

When I explained how I had added some nitro to the high-octane AvGas, he knew I was ready to move up to a real motorcyle.

I’ve never been one to play video games, but then watching this YouTube video it occurred to me that welding with your helmet on is kind of like a video game.  Crazy….

Oh, and in case you forgot, we’ve got some awesome welding helmets over at Arc-Zone.com….  including the totally radical Hoodlum Hoods– no reason why you can’t have fun at work!