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 ->

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.

The critters in my garden aren’t made of metal, don’t stand perfectly still, and they certainly don’t have a four-foot wing spans.

Jerry Brooks’ critters do.

In his garden, flowers don’t grow; they rust.  Birds don’t cheep — if anything, they squeak as the wind brushes past.  His garden is frozen in time, and all because of a welding torch.

A Metal Menagerie

Blossoms, birds and bugs for the ages

by Pamela Kleibrink Thompson

On a bluff overlooking a tree-studded golf course in Wilder, Idaho, is a rough corrugated work shed where scrap iron and outdated tools are reshaped, welded and transformed into timeless works of art. The artist whose imagination resuscitates the rusty, beautifies the broken and distinguishes the discarded is sculptor Jerry Brooks.

In Brooks’ world, a sunflower blooms eternally with metal petals and leaves welded on wiry stems. A quartet of birds reveals personalities reminiscent of animated cartoons and looks ready to take flight or do the chicken dance. A shovel blade forms the body of a rara avis. Teeth from two rakes become outstretched wings. A giant dragonfly with wings of burnished copper-colored metal soars into the sky.

Dragonflies are not an uncommon sight at Boise’s Parkcenter Pond, but Brooks’ 40-pound metal behemoth that welcomes patrons to the restaurant Barbacoa always draws attention.

“When I see a piece of rusted metal or parts of machinery that have been bent and worn by time and the elements, I sometimes see a picture in my mind of what they could become—how they could become pieces of art,” Brooks says.

CONTINUE READING ONLINE ->

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!

I often wish when I’m stuck in rush hour traffic, that my car would suddenly sprout wings and fly over all the heads of those other unassuming drivers. But I’m not Brady McCormick, and my car can’t fly.

But his – well, with just a few adjustments, it’s more of a possibility than you might think.

In North Kitsap, Turning Old Cars Into New Planes

By GENE YOACHUM FOR THE KITSAP SUN

Brady McCormick has his eyes on the skies.

The machine shop owner sees an opportunity looming in building experimental aircraft power plants out of 40-year-old Corvair automobile engines.

McCormick, 42, said the recent announcement that Seattle-based Boeing Co. is opening a plant in South Carolina instead of Puget Sound “creates a vacuum’’ for aircraft manufacturing locally.

“Now’s my chance to fill that vacuum,” he said, tongue planted firmly in cheek. “I haven’t found the plans yet for a 747, but as soon as I do, they are in trouble.”

McCormick’s plans for building experimental airplanes powered by Corvair engines is no joke.

Pulled from wrecking yards and scrap heaps, engines from Chevrolet’s once-popular compact car are perfect for experimental aircraft enthusiasts to rebuild and convert into airplane engines, he said.

CONTINUE READING ONLINE ->

Can’t get to class?  Let class come to you!

Hot topic: Students learn welding at mobile training facility in Dover

By Leslie Modica
Monday, November 16, 2009

DOVER — One of Jim Amara’s top goals recently has been to introduce a welding program at Dover High School’s Career Technical Center.

He came close recently when the school worked out a deal with the Portsmouth Naval Shipyard to train students in welding at the shipyard at nearly no cost to the school.

But that fell through recently when it became clear an exception could not be made to the rule that only civilians who are shipyard employees can be allowed at the facility.

So, after a referral from someone at the shipyard, Amara did what he said was the next feasible option, another with a minimal price tag.

He booked the New England School of Metalwork’s mobile welding unit to spend a week at the school to teach students welding basics.

The unit, about the size of a 16-foot truck, is self-sustaining, with a generator, heat for the winter and air conditioning for warmer days. Inside are eight stalls about the size of voting booths at which students used various welding tools to learn the trade.

The unit was so popular, he already booked it for two weeks next year, Amara said Friday, the last day it was on campus.

CONTINUE READING ONLINE ->

This just goes to show you that fabricators are a smart, savvy and creative bunch! Check out this story on the  Marlin Days at Carolina Custom Towers.  Great way to keep up your chops and diversify your income stream.

Fishing for business

September 23, 2009 5:30 AM
By Drew C. Wilson

Havelock News

Successful companies can adapt to a changing market.

Change is exactly what Carolina Custom Towers of Havelock is doing.

The company makes aluminum tuna towers and other products for custom sports fishing and luxury yachts.

“I really enjoy doing the towers, but the way the economy’s been the last couple of years, there just isn’t the work,” owner Tim Daly said from the company’s shop in Havelock’s industrial park.

So five weeks ago Daly and his employees got together and decided to diversify. Fridays have now become marlin days.

That’s when anodized aluminum that would otherwise be made into tuna towers and T-tops is instead fashioned into marlin, tuna and mahi mahi sculptures and wall mounts.

CONTINUE READING ONLINE ->

Are YOU doing anything to diversify? Let us know!

How old is too young to retire?  Fifty?  Sixty?  How about eight-nine?
For Jack Hayes, it certainly was, because this year, he is an even 90 and just beginning the transition from full-time welder into part-time “buggering about.”  I guess when you love your job, it’s not “work!”

90 may just be time to ease up

Don Farmer | 10th September 2009

After a lifetime of making and fixing things Greytown engineer Jack Hayes has finally hung up his welding gear.

The 90 year old whose exploits with a welding torch and a spanner are legend in South Wairarapa has flagged away taking on jobs for customers but he won’t be sitting idle.

“I’ll keep buggering about but I won’t be taking on any engineering work.”

For all his successes- that include transforming the fishing industry at Ngawi by vastly improving the mechanics of launching and retrieving vessels from the bay – Jack reckons his proudest achievement was not making anything of steel.

“It was making my eight kids, they are my proudest achievement.”

CONTINUE READING ONLINE ->

It was a blissful (and action-packed) week for me and my family as we vacationed on the beautiful island of Maui.

Even though it was a vacation, I couldn’t resist taking some time to get to know some of the people in the welding industry who live and work right here on this island!

The first stop on our tour was the South Maui Choppers.  They had some cool Arlen Ness choppers available for rent, but they were a bit too bright and shiny for my taste.

After that we cruised on over to Cycle City to look at some of the new Harley-Davidsons.  My wife decided that I should get the new Deluxe Model -  scarlet red and black with silver trim.

The next day I decided to go check out the Maui Motor Speedway.  They had MX races on Saturday night and practice on Wednesday.

I was hoping someone would have a rental available for some track time (I have been eying the new 2010 YZ25), but unfortunately, they didn’t have one available.

Our last stop of the week was at South Maui Bicycles.  I wanted to get the low-down on the new Gary Fisher Rumblefish 29er mountain bike.

I was surprised to learn from the owners that there is not much mountain biking on Maui – it seems that the majority of the land is private property! They do rent out the bikes, but you have to ride them on the road.

You can’t really call that “mountain” biking, now can you?

To top it off, this is the unbelievable view that we got to wake up to every morning – the sun setting over the Pacific Ocean, with, if you can believe it –  the world famous Molokini crater right there in the background.

And although we all had a fantastic time soakin’ up the sun and the aloha spirit,  it was just as awesome to get back into the swing of things and see how smooth things are running here at Arc-Zone!

Lots to be thankful for as we start the holiday season.

Wishing you and yours a wonderful thanksgiving…

Not the Carlsbad, CA where Arc-Zone is locate…  but the one in New Mexico…  thems some big roadrunners!

Iron roadrunners installed at Heritage Park

Posted: 10/05/2009 10:55:12 PM MDT

By Valerie Cranston – Current-Argus Staff Writer

CARLSBAD — Heritage Park near the Flume is now the permanent home to one large and three small quarter-inch plate metal roadrunners designed by Terry Fuson and welded by Jeff Cornwell.

Some time back, Fuson made and gave away a few small metal roadrunners to sit on desktops. The roadrunners were made of large nails, nuts and parts of washers.

He gave one to Heritage Park committee member Dale Janway, who then had the idea to pursue a larger family version to place along the retaining wall in front of the park pavilion.

“At one time someone said to me, ‘You should sell these,’” Fuson said. “I told them why, they give away real good.”

Local artist Gerri Mattson offered to enlarge the small design so it would be easier to cut and assemble.

CONTINUE READING ONLINE ->