From EHS Today (the magazine for environment, health and safety leaders):

OSHA’s fall semi-annual regulatory agenda was published in the Federal Register Dec. 20, featuring updates on regulatory actions including the Injury and Illness Prevention Program, modernizing recording and reporting requirements, infectious diseases, hazard communication, combustible dust and more.

CONTINUE READING–>

At Arc-Zone.com we think safety is important also. In fact, you may have noticed that we have been enhancing our line of welding safety apparel and equipment–  from Miller’s Arc Armor and Weld X to Angelfire welding apparel for women, BSX Welding apparel, and some of the best welding helmets on the market.  We’ve also been working behind the scenes as well.   We’ve just put the finishing touches on a Technical Focus  paper, Eye Care for Welders (.pdf), also available in the Arc-Zone.com Welding Library.

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.

Came across a great informative article over at The Fabricator on different types of metal production.  Very detailed look into how the different ways of steel production can affect the quality of the steel itself, and how that in turn can affect the quality of the weld.  Porosity is a huge problem in welding, as any welder knows all too well.  This article gives you a lot of insight into how porosity can occur when the steel is originally cast.

By Carl Smith

Metal production processes introduce flaws (dimensional and integral discontinuities) and cleaning requirements that affect welding.

Most metals actually are mined as minerals—metal combined with another element. Commonly used metals—not the exotic metals—are combined with nitrogen, oxygen, or sulfur. Those combined with oxygen are called oxides. Metals combined with sulfur are called sulfides, and those containing nitrogen are called nitrides. (Some stainless steels are treated with nitrogen to harden the surface.)

CONTINUE READING AT THE FABRICATOR –>

And don’t worry, Arc-Zone.com stands by every product we sell.  We’ve got your every Welding Accessory covered, from TIG Torches to TIG Rod, to all sorts of welding apparel, helmets and more.  We’ll get you dialed in, and ready to weld!

Lincoln Electric to Hold Free Pipeline Welding Seminar in March
Sessions to Address Safety, Quality and Productivity

Cleveland – Lincoln Electric is offering a free Pipeline Welding Seminar intended for contractors and professionals in the pipeline industry. The three-day, in-depth session will take place on March 29-31, 2011, at Lincoln Electric’s corporate headquarters in Cleveland, Ohio.

With the growing demand in energy markets, rehabilitation of existing infrastructure and construction of new cross-country and subsea pipelines will continue to increase. The seminar will focus on these topics, as well as new solutions for overall improved safety, productivity and quality.

Topics will include:
• Solutions to common pipeline welding challenges
• Understanding hydrogen cracking and how to minimize it
• Effects of welding essential variables, including heat input, on weld metal properties

Sessions will be followed by welding demonstrations on the latest pipeline welding techniques, equipment and consumables. Tours of Lincoln’s state-of-the-art manufacturing facilities will also be included.

For more information on this free informational seminar or to reserve a spot, contact Lincoln Electric at (216) 383-8355. Space is limited, and the deadline to register is Tuesday, March 15, 2011.

The Lincoln Electric Company, headquartered in Cleveland, Ohio, is the world leader in the design, development and manufacture of arc welding products, robotic arc welding systems, fume extraction equipment and plasma and oxyfuel cutting equipment. The company holds a leading global position in the brazing and soldering alloys market. For more information, visit their Web site at www.lincolnelectric.com.

This would also be a good time to check out some of the performance proven pipe welding accessories at Arc-Zone.com like purge film and heat resistant purge bladders and purge baffle systems for localized purging…  not to mention our incredible stock of top performing CK TIG Torches and Weldcraft TIG torches, parts and accessories.

Joe Welder will be the first to tell you that a good education is one of the building blocks you need in order to have success.  He says that a good welding education teaches you “more than just the welding processes, it teaches you about safety as it relates to welding, how to handle certain equipment, the fundamentals of different processes and when to use those processes.  Not to mention the types of material/rods available for you to learn about.  And ultimately, whether you’re going to night school, community college, or elsewhere, you’ll be able to network with people doing the exact same thing you are, which makes it even more important to have a good education.”

And because Joe Welder knows how hard it is for students to afford all the things a full-time education can require, Arc-Zone offers a 10% discount to all students, check it out on our website.  And another helpful place for welding students is The American Welding Society, which also offers plenty of welding scholarships.

In any region boasting a strong industrial base, the need for skilled welders is a given.  Erie, Pennsylvania, is no exception. This city on the shores of Lake Erie has thrived for years on a heavy manufacturing sector, including the presence of a General Electric locomotive factory – an industry that relies heavily on the latest advances in welding technology and other manufacturing skills.

(more…)

I don’t think I’ve ever laughed so hard at work before!  This guy has a gift – if not for welding, then definitely for writing!

Attempting to weld in the age of duct tape

Al Batt, Tales from Exit 22
Published Wednesday, March 10, 2010

I don’t like to wear socks.

I wear them but I don’t like it.

I consider socks to be a fire hazard.

I took a welding class at a college that once thrived in Waseca.

It wasn’t my idea. It was my employer’s idea. He felt that the duct tape I used wasn’t as strong as a weld. He was annoyingly conscientious. Welding started during the Bronze Age, and it survives into the Duct Tape Age. I went to college during the day and worked nights. The welding class gave me something to fill those hours that I had been wasting on sleep.

My father had taught me how to weld with a derelict welder he had rescued from a junkyard. It was a serious stapler that performed basic farm welding with little attention paid to aesthetics.

On the farm, I welded broken wagon tongues and tractor hitches. I gave up welding once I quit breaking wagon tongues and tractor hitches.

I would have been happy not knowing anything more about welding. Welding isn’t even an Olympic event. It could be in the Winter Olympics. Replacing the brooms with welders would make curling a little more exciting.

CONTINUE READING ONLINE ->

At Cal State Fullerton, engineering students are getting ready to race, but first, they’ll need get their welding engines fired up!

CSUF students build a race car chassis
By DAMON LOWNEY
Daily Titan Online Editor
Published: February 08, 2010

One inch steel tubes were welded together over winter break to form a race car chassis as Cal State Fullerton engineering students toil to build a race car to compete in the annual Formula Society of Automotive Engineers (FSAE) competition.

By May, the Yamaha R6 powered senior project, built to FSAE’s race car specifications, will be ready to race.

The steel tubular space-frame chassis was finished on Jan. 26, according to CSUF FSAE team director Fred Hogarth.

“During break I saw footage of other teams chassis completed … They finished by mid-January. We finished by late January.” He said he believes CSUF’s car is about even in the build phase with cars from other university FSAE teams.

CONTINUE READING ONLINE ->

Terex Simplicity’s recent profitable months have turned out to mean good news as well for the welding students at neighboring schools.

Donation of equipment welds together knowledge for students

By SEAN ELY, Argus-Press Staff Writer
Monday, February 1, 2010 10:17 AM EST

Terex Simplicity’s recent sales increases prompted the company to purchase new welding equipment to further improve their business.

That couldn’t have been better news for both Byron and Ovid-Elsie high schools.

“We had a number of pieces of welding equipment on reserve as backups, so we decided to find a home for them,” said Keith Shivnen, Terex general manager. “We reached out to the local schools to boost and supplement their classes.”

The high schools’ industrial arts and welding programs received the massive MIG and stick Lincoln welding machines, valued at about $500 apiece with Terex maintenance supervisor Neil Marshall coordinating pick up and delivery. Ovid-Elsie received eight machines while Byron requested two.

CONTINUE READING ONLINE ->

Eight Caledonia Area High School students are revving up their welding engines to compete in a national motorcycle building contest — the 2010 Donnie Smith Chopper Class Challenge, taking place at the end of this month!

Project puts Caledonia students in the limelight
By Charlie Warner
Argus News Editor

While it’s not quite Orange County Choppers or the hit TV reality show American Chopper starring Paul Teutul, Sr. and his two sons Paul, Jr. and Mike, a group of motorcycle builders from Caledonia are basking in the limelight just the same.

Eight students of Caledonia Area High School industrial education instructor Scott Martin hit the big time last week when it was announced the Caledonia Chopper Club has been selected as one of just five school groups in the United States to compete in a national motorcycle building contest.

The eight students include Ricky Pitts, Rebecca Sabo, Ben Schoh, Bill Ranzenberger, Elliot Breeser, Brandon and Lyndon Becker and Albert Kilger.

The contest is called the 2010 Donnie Smith Chopper Class Challenge. Judging for the motorcycle-building challenge will take place March 27 and 28 at the St. Paul River Centre, St. Paul, Minn.

CONTINUE READING ONLINE ->

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!