You may or may not know about Tesla, the swankiest 100% electric car on the market. They started up production a couple of months ago:

San Carlos, Calif. – (March 17, 2008) — Regular production of the 2008 Tesla Roadster commenced today, marking an historical milestone for Tesla Motors and a watershed in the development of clean, zero-emissions vehicles.

First unveiled as a prototype on July 19th, 2006, the revolutionary Tesla Roadster generated an extraordinary response from people everywhere who were inspired by the vision that beautiful, high performance cars could generate zero-emissions and burn no oil.

Here, Tesla’s engineer explains to Inside Line how the much anticipated electric roadster works:

And now they’ve opened their first store in Los Angeles a couple weeks ago. I can only wonder how long it is before our own Joe Welder trades in his Prius (and his house) for a Tesla– it even comes in Arc-Zone Orange!

Tom OLeary, General Manager of the new Tesla store writes on his blog:

The Tesla Roadster is a revolutionary car and our Tesla Stores will be no less revolutionary as an automotive retail experience….. continue reading at Tesla Motors–>

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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!

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!

You may have read previous posts about my “early” motorcycle racing days (more posts coming with some really neat bikes and personalities). I grew up in SO Cal riding motorcycles most every day and racing at least 2 days a week when I was in my teens. If you have ever heard of or seen the movie “On Any Sunday” you know what I’m talking about — if not rent it — it’s awesome!

I bring that up because there is a terrific motorcycle event coming up on the first weekend in May. Here’s the 411:

Legend Of The Motorcycle International Concours D’Elegance is a celebration of the art of motorcycling, past, present and future.

The event takes place Saturday May 3rd at the Ritz-Carlton, Half Moon Bay, CA (just south of San Francisco). It’s the 3rd edition and this year MV Agusta & Norton are the featured brands. Over 30 MV’s of various models will be presented, including an Agostini TT winner and a 2004 Bonneville speed record holder. Special Norton models featured to include a JPN, a Cosworth Challenge, a Ron Wood, a Monocoque, a Rotary, etc. More than 200 vintage bikes will be exhibited including the only known 1914 Ixion, U-frame Merkel racer, and oldest production 1902 Indian in existence. Among other attractions, there will be a special photo exhibit of Ewan McGregor & Charley Boorman’s “Long Way Down” trek curated by celeb photographer Timothy White exclusively for Legend of the Motorcycle. Also an exhibit of artwork by renowned graphic artist Conrad Leach.

Info and tickets ($50) at Legend Of The Motorcycle.

I wrote a post a few weeks ago and made some pretty pointed comments about some of the manufacturers/re-sellers in the TIG business. I immediately got a letter from an Attorney claiming that the comments were out of line and not necessary. While I understand the concern, what I was trying to say is that many companies have no ENGINEERING expertise and no Electrical or Mechanical Engineer on staff.

It’s not like back in the 1970s when you could simply tinker with a few parts and market it as better– who would know. Today it’s different. Equipment has improved greatly; machines are far more sophisticated and complex electronically.

In business you have to make many choices — As you know we chose to tie our wagon to the Weldcraft® brand of TIG torches. I have an extensive history with that company and was instrumental in establishing Weldcraft® as the undisputed world-wide leader in TIG and for a short time Plasma Arc Cutting torches. A lot has changed since I left the company: new ownership, factory relocation, management changes…. Weldcraft has gone from a business run out of one guy’s garage to being a part of ITW, a publicly traded, well-respected multi-national corporation.

That brings me to my point. What’s the Difference?

We just received a shipment of the new Weldcraft WP series TIG torches and they are nice. They use a new, patented scalloped or textured ergo style torch body with improved design features. You can’t miss them, they are Red!

Another huge differentiator is the collateral material included with each New Weldcraft TIG Torch. The information is very well laid out and includes great technical information, hook-up instructions, welding techniques, welding symbols, duty-cycle ratings, grounding information, amperage ratings for different tungsten sizes and more. This kind of information comes from having a full bank of engineers on staff, and sharing technical information with sister companies like Miller Electric.

When you compare what you get from other companies it is clear that Weldcraft® is on solid ground and back on their way to being the TIG Welders Choice™

I’m a big fan of Jeopardy and even have the show set to record on my DVR. I watch it virtually every night– so much so that my five-year-old daughter does a special dance during the music portion on Final Jeopardy.

Last week for the 2008 Teen Tournament Champion show, Alex Trebek asked about TIG welding, specifically what the ‘T’ stands for. One contestant answered “titanium” which is incorrect. It’s actually a pretty good guess, since the symbol for Titanium is Ti, but as you probably know (and I”m sure that contestant will never forget!) the answer should have been Tungsten, for Tungsten Inert Gas.

So if you’re planning a stint on Jeopardy, you may want to check out our glossary of welding terms– you never know!

We here at JoeWelder.com wanted to take a minute to make note of the passing of a pioneer in the So Cal hot rod lifestyle, Boyd Coddington. I first heard about Boyd when my good friend Randy Haberman was building his ‘32 Ford 3 window coupe… that was back in the ’70s. Before T.V. when Boyd had more of a cult following, based on his ‘32 track roadsters. He and L’il John would come out to the races where they’d watch master sheet metal fabricator Steve Davis’ beautiful CRA Sprint Car run at Ascot Park.

Boyd Coddington was at the forefront of the whole “SoCal lifestyle” of fabricating and customizing hot rods, and he will be missed in the hot rod and metalworking communities.

Anaheim, CA (PRWEB) February 28, 2008 — Boyd Coddington, the creative visionary who took hot rodding to an art form and custom wheels to a new level dies at 63. Coddington who was a long-time diabetic died from complications that were brought on from a recent surgery. It was Coddington’s ever forward-looking view at the design of the hot rod and his unconditional desire to create the finest quality cars that became the “Boyd Look”.

“It is a major loss for the automotive enthusiasts and hot rod aficionados around the world. Boyd Coddington did so much more than create automotive trends, he also built the finest hot rods. He was entertaining on his TV Show (TLC’s- American Hot Rod) and an ambassador who educated,” said Harry Hibler, former publisher of Hot Rod Magazine.

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I got a call the other day from a prospect who was researching the benefits of using a tungsten grinder verses a wheel grinder. He came across our site, read our tech articles and then called.

He said “We’re a couple of farmers that have been trying to do TIG welding for a couple years and have never gotten good at it.”

A friend told them about Arc-Zone.com and the Sharpie Tungsten Grinder.

He told me they had a little fabshop and a small dirt track in southern Indiana.

“What’s the name of the track?” I asked.

“You probably never heard of it– TriState Speedway,” he said.

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Arc-Zone carries a wide variety of remote amperage controls for TIG Welding, and we’ve found there’s a lot of confusion regarding which remote amperage control you need for your Miller welding machine. We have customers ordering the wrong part all the time.

Older Miller machines have what is called a 5-pin plug. This plug is smaller in diameter, and has only 5 pins, all loaded and active. The picture on the left shows that this plug is smaller in diameter than the 14 pin shown below. You’ll find these plugs on our:
popular Hot Foot(TM) Foot pedal for Miller,
the “East/West” or Side-to-Side Rotary motion amp controls for Miller welding machines,
and the “North/South” or In-line Fingertip Amp controls for Miller.

The newer Miller machines utilize a 14-pin plug. You’d think it would be easy to count the pins. If you’re lucky you may have a connector with 14 pins installed– but you’d never know that only 5 of those are “live.”

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We have evolved from the Stone Age, Bronze Age, and Iron Age and we are nearing the end of the Age of Oil. When historians look back at our time, that is how they will refer to us, to our time on this planet. It is in everything we do and use.

Last night My Wife and I were invited to the Del Mar Country Club for a presentation, a “fireside chat” with T. Boone Pickens it was very interesting and gave me some insight as to the future of energy, and the world energy markets.

Pickens advocates we pursue all forms of alternative fuels and move towards reducing our dependency on imported oil. He believes we won’t ever eliminate oil, and we shouldn’t as he believes we need to maintain relationships with the oil suppliers.

There were some 270 people there and the discussion was moderated by Sandra Maas from KUSI News. I had the chance to speak with Boone after the event and he was very informative and funny! He is currently developing natural gas for transportation, a giant wind farm for power generation and a water company. more info on his site. . .

So HOW does this relate to the Welding industry?
Consider the opportunities for each one of those forms of energy, and natural resources.

They all need to be manufactured and delivered — this takes infrastructure, storage tanks, pipelines, transportation vehicles, distribution hubs, terminals, and dispensers. All of these items are heavily fabricated metal products which require engineering, raw material production, welding, finishing and assembly. Work that can’t be done overseas.

It is going to take thousands of skilled welders, pipe fitters, welding and manufacturing engineers, and others to build the needed infrastructure. Additionally we will need welding equipment, safety equipment and much more.

No matter what your political affiliations are, the opportunity to pursue these energy resources in a creative and thoughtful way will pay huge dividends, provide thousands of good paying jobs, and supply the needed energy to power us well beyond the next several generations.

These are exciting times!

(Grangemouth Oil Refiner courtesy of Bryan Burke)