If you’re welding on the job in a position that requires wearing a hard hat, why don’t you check out the new Sperian helmet.  Called the “Galaxy”, it’s a “passive flip front, high impact approved welding helmet… with a hard hat adaptor”.  That means no more switching back and forth between welding helmet and hard hat while you’re on the job.

Sperian’s Galaxy high impact welding helmet now with hard hat adaptor

10 July 2009

SPERIAN has launched the Galaxy high impact welding helmet with a hard hat adaptor.

According to Sperian, its Galaxy high impact welding helmet is currently the only passive flip front, high impact approved welding helmet on the market. It is tested to Australian Standards, and approved by SAI Global.

The Galaxy welding helmet is now fitted with a hard hat adaptor to suit PA620V and MSA V-Guard Elite hard hats.

Also available as a spare part, users can quickly convert their standard Galaxy high impact welding helmets to be used with a hard hat.

This provides protection for the head without needing to switch helmets and hardhats. The Galaxy high impact welding helmet with hard hat adaptor can be used at construction sites.

Welders using the Galaxy high impact welding helmet with hard hat adaptor can change the distance from the Auto Darkening Filter (ADF) to the eye, and the angle of the welding helmet to the hard hat to suit to their personal needs and working environment.

Welding is a delicate art, but with the right skills, techniques and welding tools and accessories you can bridge the gap between your vision and your final product. The following article, from Popular Mechanics , provides a clear and concise overview of the welding process from start to finish. It includes an introduction to welding equipment needed, an overview of the process, information on different types of welding, and free print plans for creating a welding cart.

Master Basic Welding Skills: A Step-By-Step Guide

Welding is a delicate art, but once you learn it, ordinary steel becomes a blank canvas for invention. These steps will help you with any welding project.

By Mike Allen

A thing of beauty is a joy forever. And around our Saturday Mechanic shop, beauty often takes the form of a perfectly laid welding bead—one that looks like a tall stack of dimes laid on its side. Okay, welding has some practical aspects, too. Your world, as a tinkerer and fabricator, fundamentally changes when you can permanently fasten two pieces of steel together in seconds. Sure, it takes years of experience to perfect the craft, and an investment in welding equipment. But don’t let the cost intimidate you.

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And when you’re ready to get started, check out the Pro Gear Packages at Arc-Zone.com…. everything you need to stay safe, and look good when you’re welding!

In came the new and out went the old at Piedmont Technical College. The school was provided with a $250,000 grant to upgrade the equipment in their welding lab. New technology has enabled to the lab operations to become more efficient, safe, and environmentally friendly. Overall, the upgrades have improved the educational value and the welding environment. One of three lab divisions have been upgraded and the school hopes to receive funding for the remaining two sections to be improved upon as well.

Jim Fleming, welding program coordinator and instructor, left, observes Otis Cunningham of Greenwood as he works on a project. The upgraded welding lab was provided through a grant from AdvanceSC.

PTC Welding Program Upgraded With Grant

Posted on 10.JUN.09

Piedmont Technical College’s welding labs are now state-of-the-art, thanks to a grant from AdvanceSC. AdvanceSC, funded with profits from Duke Energy’s Bulk Power Marketing program (BPM) and managed by an independent board of directors, recently provided a $250,000 grant to the welding program to upgrade the equipment in the lab.

The old exhaust system was replaced with new state-of-the-art “Clean-Air America” weld stations which filter the weld fumes and re-use the inside air. The program also installed the latest technology in the welding process utilizing the Lincoln Power Wave Model 355 Power Source and PF-10M Wire Feeder system.

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Marty Rice is a welding instructor at a high school career center in Texas and an honorary member of the Ironworkers Local 263. In this article from The Fabricator.Com Marty shares safety tips, answers to commonly asked questions, books and online resources for welding hobbyists and those just getting into MIG welding. This may also be a helpful review for those of you in advanced welding.

Photo courtesy of AlcoTec Wire Corp.

MIG welding tips and resources

By Marty Rice, Contributing Writer
April 11, 2005

Motorcycle- and hot rod-building shows on TV have put welding in a very positive light lately. In fact, Jesse James, the star of Discovery Channel’s “Monster Garage,” was named the American Welding Society (AWS) Welder of the Year because of his contributions to the trade. It’s nice to see welding in a good light after seeing it maligned for so long.

Over the years I’ve had a love/hate relationship with welding. I loved it when work and money were plentiful and the weather was nice. I hated it when there was no work to be found, I was broke, and when I was freezing or sweating my tail off.

Welding gets into your blood. It’s fun for both professional and hobby welders, and being a welder is like belonging to a club.

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And be sure to check out the ever-growing MIG welding section over at Arc-Zone.com:

MIG Guns, MIG gun replacement parts (and more!)

MIG Nozzle cleaning stations, and

MIG Wire feeders and drive roll kits

I found another great free resource for you. The Welders Lens is an educational welding website created by Michael D. Treadway, an experienced boilermaker, ironworker, and welder. The site features free articles and a video welding course on everything from stick welding to TIG welding. Here’s an example of one of the instructional videos:

Arc Zone also offers free educational welding videos which can be viewed here.

I can’t even count the number of posts we’ve made on this site about welding helmets, but I will drive home the point again.  They’re important, and can be quite stylish too, but that’s beside the point.

What one really needs to know about welding helmets (apart from the fact that you need them to protect your beautiful eyes), is how to pick them.  That’s important too.

I just found this article online over at Welding Magazine:

Welding Helmets – What you need to know before you buy

By Caleb Krisher, Product Manager for Hobart Welding Products | Aug 1, 2008 12:00 PM

On the job or in the garage, every welder needs protection to prevent eye damage.

As a general rule, spending more on a welding helmet will increase comfort, improve your welding ability, result in higher quality welds and ensure your safety.

Unfortunately, selecting a helmet can be confusing if you’re not familiar with the latest auto-darkening lens technology and national safety standards.

This article will help you sort through the clutter and point out the most important things to consider before investing in this important piece of safety gear, while showcasing some of the industry’s top trends and designs.

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… then you should buy a new Titanium Elite™ Auto-Darkening Helmet with an “innovative aluminum heat shield protects the analog lens in most high-amperage (300+ amp) applications”.

Oh.  You thought I was going to say, “… get out of the kitchen”.  Joke’s on you then.

From MillerWelds.com:

APPLETON, Wis., April 15, 2009—In response to customer demand for a welding helmet that can better withstand high-amperage, high-heat applications, Miller Electric Mfg. Co. created the Titanium Elite™ auto-darkening helmet, a new addition to the Arc Armor™ line of welding safety products. Introduced today, the Titanium Elite directly addresses the problem of heat build-up in welding applications that require 300 amps or more, conditions that can affect the lens performance of standard auto-darkening helmets and make it uncomfortable for the welder. The Titanium Elite—the newest member of Miller’s Elite Series of auto-darkening helmets—reflects the heat away from the operator and features an aluminum heat shield to protect the auto-darkening lens. A shock-absorbing gasket, which adds durability and protection from drop impact in hard welding environments, also surrounds the lens.

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We’ve modified the common saying a bit in order to adequately describe the following press release.

Lincoln Electric is helping to guard your eyes and lungs better than ever with these new products:

Lincoln Electric Introduces New Modular Fume Extraction Hood and Statiflex® Filter Banks

Modular extraction hood and filter banks provide solution for weld fume control

Cleveland – Lincoln Electric has introduced a new modular extraction hood and filter bank system, designed for the removal of welding fume and grinding particulate during welding, cutting, arc gouging, grinding, plasma cutting and finishing operations in manufacturing plants, job shops and training environments.

These units may be adapted to most applications, including robotic welding, hard automation welding, semi-automatic and manual welding.

The system’s modularity makes it easy for users to assemble, with the option to hang the hood in place from the ceiling or deploy as a free standing unit with the support of optional leg mounting kits. The sleek and lightweight design of the system makes it easy to mount and set up, and it’s available in a variety of sizes to fit your work station footprint.

The Modular Extraction Hood features semi-transparent welding strips (non-transparent curtain strips are also available), which keep the area contained to prevent cross drafts and control airflow direction to maximize extraction effectiveness. The hood’s unique double panel roof configuration acts as an in-line baffle, deflection plate and spark arrestor to prevent sparks from entering the duct work. Lincoln perimeter pull technology maximizes fume extraction efficiency at lower airflow rates for reduced energy consumption and equipment costs while enhancing overall safety performance.

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Confused?  Bothered?  Bewildered?

These words may not just be strangely reminiscent of a certain song from the 1940 Rodgers and Hart musical Pal Joey.  Instead, they may also be descriptive of your mental state concerning a few welding procedures.

If you are in fact, “Bewitched, Bothered, and Bewildered” by either of the following:

Welding Fume Control

Automation System Selection

You’re in luck, for Lincoln Electric, as usual, has just the answer for you.  They have released two different handy-dandy reference guides for your perusal about each of these topics and both can be purchased online at www.lincolnelectric.com or by calling (888) 355-3213.

Happy learning!

Welding Fume Control FAQ booklet

Automation System Selection Guide

No one’s really sure how you pronounce it.  Is it “one aught” or “one naught”?  And furthermore, is it “one aught” or “one aut”?  Google’s not even sure (gasp!), though “naught” comes in first by popularity.  But the question at hand is not how to pronounce the cable sizes!  It’s to determine which cable size you need for the job, a query even more confusing.

Cables, Tables, Gages and sizes Or, Watts it all about?

By AUGUST F. MANZ, AWS Fellow | Jan 1, 2009 12:00 PM

The question that welders face on many jobs is : What size welding cable do I need for XX amperes when I am YY feet away from the power source?  This article — and the corrected sizes shown in Table 7 — will help you to select the right size cables for your welding or cutting job.

…

Cable Numbers

Small diameter cables have high gage numbers, and the numbers get smaller as the cables get larger.  After AWG #1 is reached, the next larger size is 0, then 00, then 000, up to 0000.  The 0 to 0000 cables are sometimes referred to as 1/0, 2/0, 3/0 and 4/0, spoken as “one naught” or “one aut”, “two naught” or “two aut” and so on.  After that, larger sizes are described in “circular-mil” areas.  Welding cable sizes usually run from AWG #2 through 4/0. It is interesting to note, that in the AWG system, a change of three sizes will double or halve the resistance. For example, a #6 cable has a cross section of about 0.0206 in2 and a #3 cable has about 0.0413 in2, while a 1/0 cable has 0.0829 in2.

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