My first welding machine was a bright green P&H Heliarc or TIG Welder.  P&H was made by The Air Reduction Company (Airco).  I bought the machine used from my Uncle Lynn Watson from San Leandro CA.   Lynn used it in his specialty electronics fabrication business.

The welding machine came complete with a WP-24 low profile TIG torch, a WP-20 general purpose TIG torch and a WP-18 350 Heavy-duty TIG torch. Included in the deal was a pile of accessory parts, collets, collet bodies, gas lenses, tungsten electrodes you name it! I was working at Weldcraft at the time and I had been learning about all the different TIG torches and replacement parts available, each designed for a specific welding job.

If you look around you can find a good machine and start building something right away.  I used my TIG machine for a variety of projects around the shop, and it was my only welding machine.  I even built my first race car trailer with it — sure it’s slower that MIG welding but very effective.  It worked great to weld my 4130 chrome molly steel Sprint Car chassis’s together, I even used my TIG torch to heat metal up for forming and shaping before I had an Oxy-Fuel gas welding torch setup! I bet you don’t know many others that can say that!

The point is, to get started look for the basics and If you have the budget, there is nothing better than having the best tools, but when you are first getting start why burn a lot of cash getting your shop set up, when you can start burning metal instead!

Do you remember YOUR first machine?

If you’re on our email list, you know Joe Welder (aka Jim Watson) recently had the opportunity to attend a metal fabrication workshop taught by Ron Covell.  You can read about it on WeldLikeAPro.com (where all our newsletters are archived).  And check out this brief interview with Covell, and a tour of Metalcraft Tool Skill Center in Tennessee:

And if you’re interested in the Covell videos– even if you are an expert, we’re pretty sure you’ll learn something (check out the Advanced TIG Welding DVD). You can get these welding DVDs direct from Arc-Zone.com, along with the performance proven MIG, TIG and Plasma Arc Welding accessories you’ll need for your welding application.

I decided to travel in style to the circuit so I hopped into the Arc-Zone.com green mobile (Toyota Prius) for the short 45 minute ride inland to the brand new Pala Raceway. They built an awesome new motocross track, just down the road from the world-class Pala casino in North County, San Diego California.

When I arrived, I headed to my base, which was the Thor/Parts Unlimited Team hospitality area for a bit of lunch. I was a guest of Mark Johnson, who was the former Team Manager for the powerhouse Team Green Kawasaki. Mark has worked with some of the greatest names in motorcycle racing: Eddie Lawson, Jeff Ward, Jeremy McGrath, Ricky Carmichael and more! Mark is now General Manager of the KV Racing Technology IZOD Indycar Team, and he works with David Brzozowski one of my best friends who is KV’s Team Manager– so that’s the connection!

I watched the final practice session from the race team timing and scoring area just past the starting line at the first corner-–perfect for catching all the action on track.  I also had a great spot for viewing the team TV’s, with the appropriate timing screens; I could really follow how all the riders were getting around the track. I could see each rider’s strategy, building up to the afternoon’s first moto.

It’s great to see the top riders up-close making laps and coming into debrief their mechanics. You can check out all my photos here:

But for me coming to a major event like this is really about catching up with people that I had raced with years ago and do business with now!

I had a few minutes to talk to Don Emler from FMF who has been the leading high-performance off-road motorcycle exhaust pipe manufacturer for more than twenty years. Don had purchased a Sharpie™ Hand-held Tungsten grinder and some ArcTime™ Hybrid tungsten electrodes. It was good to touch base with him and to talk about how the tools he bought from Arc-Zone improved his welding performance.  (You’ll see some awesome pictures of Don’s work in the slide show above).

All in all it was quite a day checking out all the race teams and their support equipment, watching riders from all over the world compete on an outdoor dirt track, and talking to the mechanics and seeing some old friends walking around the paddock.

See you there next year!

Chris Ilcin contacted Carmen Electrode on Facebook recently and gave us the heads up on a great charity event coming up on October 23.

Chris and his wife Julie run the TC’s Promise Foundation.  TC’s Promise is a non-profit organization based out of Northeastern Ohio that gives kids coming out of the foster care system a scholarship to the Lincoln Electric Welding School.

Their fundraising event this year is on Saturday, October 23 at the Euclid Lakefront Community Center in Euclid, Ohio.  You can read more about TC’s promise and purchase tickets to the event on the website.  Chris and Julie started the foundation as a way of honoring their son, Therlow Cash “TC”, who passed away on November 8, 2008.  In their own words:

“We’ve spent a lot of the past year thinking about Therlow, and what we can do to honor his life, potential and promise. So much positive came out of the whole situation that we refused to let the tragedy part “win.” We will never be rich people, so we won’t be able to endow a wing of a hospital in his name. But we wanted to make his life and its impact on us and all of you, resonate.”

Joe Welder couldn’t think of a more fitting way to get young people into welding.  And the Lincoln Electric Welding School has graduated more than 200,000 Welders!

Chris himself worked for Lincoln for a few years, and told me recently “I took the job on the floor just to get a “foot in the door” and in my time in marketing got to see just how important welding is to this country. I got to interview people who are welding bridges & pipelines, as well as people who are literally able to live their dreams through welding like Chip Foose , Bryan Fuller and Jessi Combs. I got to see first-hand the creativity and ingenuity of welders in almost every situation. And I think that if we can find kids who have that level of skill, artistry, and hands-on ability, we owe it to them to give them a start in welding.”

So support a good cause and help enrich the life of a young adult through welding!



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!