Airbus to Implement Friction Stir Welding?

Speednews is reporting that Airbus will become the first big-airplane manufacturer to adopt friction stir welding production. The friction stir technique welds aluminum without melting it and eliminates the need for rivets. Airbus said it was planning on using friction stir welding on A350 assembly. This is a cool method for joining metals.

If you're into the technology side, check out The TWI World Centre for Materials Joining Technology site. Tons of links there.

Quick summation here:

In friction stir welding, a cylindrical, shouldered tool with a profiled probe is rotated and slowly plunged into the joint line between two butted-together pieces of sheet or plate material. The parts have to be clamped onto a backing bar in a manner that prevents the abutting joint faces from being forced apart. Frictional heat is generated between the wear resistant welding tool and the material of the workpieces. This heat causes the latter to soften without reaching the melting point and allows traversing of the tool along the weld line. The plasticised material is transferred from the leading edge of the tool to the trailing edge of the tool probe and is forged by the intimate contact of the tool shoulder and the pin profile. It leaves a solid phase bond between the two pieces. The process can be regarded as a solid phase keyhole welding technique since a hole to accommodate the probe is generated, then filled during the welding sequence.

Katrina, the Gulf Coast, and New Orleans...

During the last hurricane, there were news stories about welders and welding distributors donating generators to help with the situation. What they're facing in Missisipi, Louisiana and Alabama is such an unspeakable disaster that I don't think anyone knows how to proceed yet. It's one of those problems so huge that you can't start to get your mind around it-- any step seems pointless given the destruction.

Yet, a few generators can maybe make a positive difference for some people. Welders were generous for Andrew. Let's hope we can be so for this unimaginable disaster.

Speaking of that, Northern Tool has established a hotline for generator users during hurrican season. For those who might need assistance on their generators, it's a good place to start. Call (800) 214-8921 toll-free if you need it.

Firm adds robotic welder "employee"...

When John and Christine Dovovan, the husband & wife owners of JD Engineering in Overland Park, Kansas opened their firm, they were its only employees. Now, according to a story in the Johnson County Sun, they've been joined by a new worker, a welder -- a robot welder. I haven't talked a ton about fully robotic welding here, but the perception has always been that robotic welding is something you see more of in large assembly operations for cars. You think of high volume production of repetive welds over a long period of time. You don't see it in small business because the investment is supposedly too high.

Even better: The Donovans purchased their Fanuc industrial welding robot on eBay. JD Engineering strives to be different by being more innovative. It allows JD to do more for its clients than any of its competitors can.

In the Sun report, Donovan said, "Basically when people think of automation, they think of high-volume parts and products, that you have to make 100,000 units of something for it to be worth it," Donovan said. "I'm trying to bring the ideology that a small shop can use a robot to do small quantities and be successful at it. It takes a little more creativity ... but if you look at it the right way, a robot can be much more efficient and companies can be much more competitive."

The robot controls a 10-horsepower router head that can machine parts in wood, plastics, aluminum and castings.

Check out JD Engineering at its website, www.jdeng.net.

American Welding Society introduces Certified Welding Supervisor Program

Claiming that it will reduce welding costs and increase profitability, the American Welding Society rolls out its Certified Welding Supervisor Program. The program is designed to give managers, engineers designers and foremen the ability to enhance profitability and reduce welding costs. I don't know if anyone's interested in it, but for the right company, it might be a good thing.

Just for the fact that it gives you a consolidated body of information to draw from, I'd think it would be interesting to get involved with. I agree with the AWS that too often managers and supervisors are too ignorant of welding processes and procedures, and that if they can bring up that knowledge base, it's good for everyone in the business.

Check all of out AWS's certs programs here: http://www.aws.org/certification. They have tons. The Supervisor certification can be found at http://www.aws.org/certification/CWS.

More great stuff from Mother Earth News

I've been tracking these postings as they put em' up, so you should be able to look in my archives and find listings on other welding articles from Mother Earth News. This is another good one. John Wells wrote it in 1975, and it's still golden advice today. His article, Homestead Welding, can be read by clicking this link.

Wells believes that of all skills you could use in a modern homestead, welding is maybe the most important. It allows you to make tools -- he gives a great example of making hammer from axle steel -- make a living outside the home, and build things you need without having to buy them. You can take scrap metal from cars (cheaper back then than today, admittedly) and use it for dozens of projects.

Give it a read; it's good stuff.

CRC-Evans introduces new P450 Automatic Welder

In Houston, CRC-Evans has rolled out a new automatic welder, the P450.

For certain kinds of applications, this welding machine is worth a look - it's an automatic welder that can do jobs previously only done with standard welders. Its range includes those jobs with less than 50km, the need to support GMAW and Pulsed GMAW, and diameters sixteen inches or less. It'll do CRA and other exotic stuff. I find it interesting that it will handle 2G & 5G welding. It's compact, and tandem welding or single torch abilities.

According to Oil Online, higher levels of productivity can be achieved because CRC-Evans designed the P450 with tandem welding capabilities – an innovation in which two welding wires are fed through a single head to increase deposition rates and welding speeds. Every technological aspect of this machine is newly designed, and includes full through the arc positioned based tracking (vertical and horizontal), positioned based parameter control, and PDA interface. The end result is that it can provide a wider productivity range and more project flexibility.

“With the ability to work faster and more flexibly,” says Brian Laing, president of CRC-Evans Automatic Welding, “the P-450 enables projects previously handled by standard machines to come in on time and on budget. Nothing could be more important in such a project arena.”

Valley National Gases buying Reynolds welding supply...

A bit of welding business related news here...these guys are acquiring quite a collection of welding companies.

From PRWIRE: Valley National Gases Incorporated today announced that it entered into a formal agreement to acquire Reynolds Welding Supply Company, Inc. and its subsidiaries, Welders Supply Company, Inc. and Twin City Oxygen Company, Inc. The Companies are industrial gases and welding supply distributors, with a total of six operating locations, five in South Central Minnesota and one in Southeastern South Dakota. Aggregate annual sales, for all three companies, is approximately $20 million. Valley National Gases' Vice Chairman and Chief Executive Officer William A. Indelicato commented, "We are pleased to have the associates of Reynolds Welding, Welder's Supply and Twin City Oxygen join our Valley family. The Reynolds Companies provide us with the opportunity to participate, with a strong presence, in the states of Minnesota and South Dakota. Although these businesses are not contiguous with Valley's current operations, we believe the size and quality of all three companies provide us with an excellent new base of operations in the upper Midwest."

Portsmouth taken off base closing list

Just a quickie update - the welders and other guys at Portsmouth can breathe a sigh of relief. They were removed from the Pentagon's base closure list. Other sites are on the line, and other welding guys are on the line as well. More on this later...

BRAC votes today - 600 bases at stake...

Just a quick follow up to yesterday's post on the welders at Portsmouth Naval Shipyard and its peril due to the base closings process. Today's the day the BRAC votes for final recommendations that'll be sent to the President. My guess? The initial bases will all be closed. That's been the history of base closings. It's a brutal thing, and all these guys deserve better, but we can't keep bases we don't need.

Keep an eye open, and think good things if you're at one of the affected facilities.

Base realignment to challenge welders across the country

The military is shrinking - and the welding profession will shrink a little alongside it.

No source I can find indicates how many welders work in bases and associated industries across the United States, but it's in the tens of thousands. Think of the number of fabrication and repair facilities it takes to support a large military base.

In Foster's Online, American Federation of Government Employees 2nd Vice President John Joyal, "for 19 years, I've qualified, trained, and familiarized the best welders in the world to work on nuclear submarines from the cradle to the grave. That's what I do, lock, stock and barrel." Joyal works for the metalworkers, welders and other workers at the Portsmouth Naval Shipyard, one of the facilities scheduled for closure by the BRAC (Base Closing and Realignment Commission).

I don't know how much of a chance these guys have, but they should be in your thoughts. From what I've seen, they don't let local politicians get into this very much because they know everyone will protect his job, whether or not it's what the military needs. Good luck, guys.

Female welders in demand, in Wyoming

According to the Casper Star Tribune, about a quarter of welding jobs in the state are held by women. In vocational education terminology (I used to work at the Oklahoma Department of Vocational education so I'm familiar with the language they use), this is a nontraditional job for women.

I'm actually suprised the percentage is as high as that. Nationwide, a quick search tells me that only 3.5% of welders were women (although this is 1996 data). For Wyoming, according to the Tribune, it's important that women get into the welding field since it pays more than average and Wyoming women suffer from one of the worst gender wage gaps in the country.

The paper said that "Our Families Our Future's CLIMB Wyoming nonprofit program has teamed up with Casper College this summer to help train women in the field of welding, hoping to provide skilled workers for an under-staffed industry and give single mothers a leg up toward self-sufficiency."

Good for them. There is nothing particularly male about welding, and in fact some jobs with high degrees of precision required might be better done by women.

Is welding fume litigation "the next asbestos?"

Is welding fume litigation "the next asbestos?"

All over the place, we see stories about lawsuits launced against welding manufacturers over the effects of fumes. The core issue is this: do welding fumes, said to contain manganese fumes released when you're welding cause damage to your central nervous system? Lawyers for the plaintiffs -- and there are thousands of plaintiffs -- think so. The billions in potential damages guarantee that we'll see lawsuits across the spectrum. But that doesn't mean that manganese fumes aren't causing the symptons some welders are seeing, which are often like Parkinson's disease.

According to the Washington Post, 10,000 suits have been filed and another 50,000 will follow. With half a million current and former welders in this country, we'll be hashing this out for years.

But if you pick up a welder every day for a living, what does it mean to you? I mean, who cares what it means to the manufacturers and trial lawyers. The core issue is this: Are you safe doing this work? My answer is that I don't know. But as this thing goes forward, we'll all have the opportunity to find out.

Pipe Pal - a nifty pipe welding template

I ran across The "Pipe Pal" the other day and thought some of you pipe welders might be interested in what appears to be a good pipe template. It works by aligning saddles and 45 degree pipe ends for easy marking. They sell em' in 2" and 2-1/2" diameters. Looks like it'd make a piping, fencing, or handrail job go quicker and match better.

I haven't used one yet, but I'll review it once I have.

American welding society releases ANSI Z49.1:2005 Revision

The ANSI Z49.1:2005 Revision is now available for free download from the American Welding Society. I'll throw out their press release so you can find it if you're so inclined.

FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE (See it over at AWS's site)

Miami, FL-August 17, 2005: The American Welding Society's (AWS) Board of Directors recently authorized free electronic distribution of the current (2005) revision of ANSI Z49.1, Safety in Welding, Cutting, and Allied Processes.

The Board decided this important voluntary welding safety and health standards document should receive the widest distribution possible and has directed that Z49.1-2005 be made available for free download from the AWS Website http://www.aws.org/technical/facts.

During World War II, the huge demand for war materials production placed on the United States brought a tremendous expansion in the use of welding. In mid-1943 it was recognized that some type of code or standard was needed relating to safe practices for performing welding. Under the auspices of the American Standards Association, the standard was drafted and published in 1944. It was entitled American War Standard Z49.1, Safety in Electric and Gas Welding, and Cutting Operations.

Following the war, the standard was first revised in 1950. Subsequent revisions occurred in 1958, 1967, 1973, 1983, 1988, 1994, and 1999. During the period of these revisions, the American Standards Association has become the American National Standards Institute and War Standard ASA Z49.1-1944 became ANSI Z49.1-2005.

Robert Peaslee to be featured in American Welding Society Legends Session

The word "legend" is often over-used, but in the case of Robert Peaslee, it's appropriate. Often called the father of nickel brazing, Peaselee graduated from Cincinnati University in 1940 with a Bachelor's degree in chemical engineering. At Curtiss Wright Corporation, he worked in metallurgy, engineering, and mechanical research. He became the engineer for welding in jet engine development after the close of World War II.

According to the Fabricator, while on the job, Peaslee used a furnace braze to a test specimen of Colmonoy 6, a nickel alloy from Wall Colmonoy Corp. At 2,000 degrees F, the alloy successfully brazed jet engine parts together—a process that became known as diffusion brazing.

Peaslee will be the interviewee at the American Welding Society's (AWS) Interview with a Legend session to be held November 16 as part of a series of programs and events scheduled at the FABTECH International/AWS Welding Show in Chicago. Sounds like a fun session to attend, if you'll be in town.

Chip Foose chooses Lincoln Electric as welding source

This is press release fodder, but Foose's choice of Lincoln products will be good marketing for them and probably help their efforts...

"Provocative designs and sleek curves are the hallmarks of legendary hot rod designer and fabricator Chip Foose. His work has already captured three Don Ridler Memorial Awards, one of the most coveted trophies on the show car circuit. As the lead designer and builder of the Discovery Channel series Overhaulin' that airs weekly on TLC, Foose is a household name among those who tune in to see how he and his team of technicians radically transform a car for its unsuspecting owner. Viewers of the show are also familiar with Foose Design, his Huntington Beach, Calif., shop, equipped with only the best tools to translate design ideas into reality.

Recently, after a side-by-side comparison, Foose replaced his former brand of welding equipment to outfit his shop solely with Lincoln Electric MIG, TIG and plasma equipment. Citing a better arc and improved welding performance, Foose and his fabricators are now taking advantage of the Lincoln Power MIG(TM) 350MP and Power MIG 255 MIG welders, Precision(TM) TIG 275 and Invertec® V205-T TIG welders and Pro-Cut® 55 plasma cutter.

"I love Lincoln's Precision TIG with Micro-Start(TM) because you can get right in there and see what you're working on before you start melting the metal," said Foose. "It has a much lower heat input, which gives you more control and just an overall beautiful weld. All of our craftsmen love them. Our Lincoln plasma cutter is great too. You can get into tight places with no problem."

Read the rest over at Yahoo...

More from Design News: Welding stronger steels create joining challenges

Another one worth reading at Design News...

Advanced high-strength steels are moving into the fast lane of automotive applications, thanks to the growing recognition that they can help engineers reduce vehicle weight and improve crash worthiness. But the extra strength comes at a price: The strength gains that make these steels so desirable also compel designers and manufacturers to consider new welding techniques.

The reason largely boils down to the pinchforce required to hold sheets together for spot welding. Whereas a pinch of 400 pounds will accommodate a typical low-carbon steel, a pinch of 1,400 lbs or more would be needed for the higher-strength steels.

Read the rest over at DN...

A site I recommend on welding history

Just a quick link for you here on welding history. Even the wikipedia doesn't have the depth that Mark Sapp has put together for his website, weldinghistory.org. It's got the roots of welding from as early as 6000 B.C. and stretching to modern times. Fascinating stuff, if you're a welder or otherwise interested in metalworking.

Design News details Titanium welding advances

One of my favorite sites is Design News, so when they have something about welding, I always make a point to give it a shout-out. This time they're going in depth about a highly anticipated welding code to help engineers and increase titanium use in industrial and military areas. That code, the D1.9 Structural Welding Code for Titanium seems to be on its way toward final approval.

The code's in its ninth stage of revision, and was submitted to the American Welding Society for approval in May 2005. According to the AWS website, it's going to be approved by mid-2006.

Herrmann Ultrasonics unveils FDA compliant ultrasonic welder

I don't normally get into plastics welding, but it is a part of this business so I thought I'd cover it. It's an expanding field and very different from the metalworking, but still related.

In Schaumburg IL, Herrmann Ultrasonics has unveiled the first (and they say only) FDA-compliant ultrasonic welder. The FDA System is an add-on software package. It meets FDA CFR 21 part 11 standards for login and traceability.

Login in screens let only authorized personnel operate the system. Operators can be defined as an Administrator, Supervisor, Setup, or User(s) and can be enabled or prohibited from changing the different features of the DIALOG touch weld process controller. An Audit Trail (electronic record) is created, showing all changes made and the user that made the changes (electronic signatures).

Herrmann Ultrasonics has been setting industry standards with features such as true Windows®-based touch screen controllers, most rigid machine design, built in calibration, and on-screen weld process graphing capabilities. The FSC software continues the pioneering path of the recognized technology leader in ultrasonic welding.

Read the details over at the Herrmann Ultrasonics website...

Florence, South Carolina welding instructor will be on Monster Garage

I've posted several times about two trends: (1) The lack of female welders and metalworkers, and (2) The general shortage of welding professionals overall. That means that companies are scratching their collective heads to attract welders to an industry where half the people in the country aren't interested in dealing with.

The television Show "Monster Garage" is showcasing a female welding instructor from South Carolina. Good for her. A snippet from the longer story...

Twenty-nine-year-old Sue Benton spent most of her career fighting the female stereotype.

The Florence resident discovered welding as she finished up high school and pursued her newfound passion, in spite of all the people who warned her against it.

When she started at Florence-Darlington Technical College, Benton’s instructor pulled her aside.

“He was concerned I wasn’t going to make it because I was a girl,” she said. “He told me, ‘You’re going to get burned, hot and sweaty.’ I told him ‘I can do this, there’s no doubt in my mind.’”

Ten years later, Benton has been selected to appear as a welder on an episode of the Discovery Channel’s “Monster Garage,” where celebrity bike builder Jesse James leads a team in turning regular vehicles into unique machines.

Benton, who is now a welding instructor at Florence-Darlington Technical College, leaves Monday for a weeklong, all expenses paid trip to California to film the show.

“I was honored to be asked,” she said. “I watch the show all the time. Jesse James is a master of what he does, an extremely talented person.”

Benton’s own path to success was not always an easy one.

After acing a welding test for a local company, she was turned down for the job because she’s a woman. “You’re one of the best welders I’ve seen,” Benton was told, “but my boss thinks you’ll distract the other workers.”

Friction heats up Mazda aluminum welding - From Automotive Body Repair News

Mark Johnson over at Automotive Body Repair News has a great article for anyone who has mig welded to check out.

Anyone who has pulled the trigger on a MIG welder or who has closed the jaws on a spot welder knows the rules: You can’t weld dissimilar metals.

Rules are made to be broken, and that rule was smashed in 1990 when friction welding was developed. Two different metals can be joined with friction welding, but until recently, the different metals had to be fairly similar—aluminum and magnesium, for example. Now Mazda has broken that rule by adapting a friction welding technique to enable it to join steel and aluminum.

Basically, Mazda has created a welding process that solves the huge problem of joining aluminum to steel (when you do, it creates a galvanic reatction). The joint inevitably fails when positive charges from steel and negatively charged aluminum meet. Whatever they welded becomes junk. Galvanized steel essentially solves this by not causing the contact to break -- no more corrossion on the aluminum side. And a ton of advantages.

Give it a read.

Students at University of Missouri-Rolla research weightless welding

Given the unforeseen repairs that had to be performed on the latest space shuttle mission, the ability to weld in zero-gravity environments is one that has seen its time come. That is why I thought this was a nifty little piece about weightless welding...

From Rolla Daily News Online...

As NASA spent the better part of two years grappling with the foam problem that resulted in the loss of the shuttle Columbia and its crew in 2003, a team of engineering students from the University of Missouri-Rolla was solving problems of its own.

While NASA focused on returning the shuttle to flight, the UMR Miners in Space team put its efforts toward building and designing a welding machine that would work in zero gravity.

For its experiment the Miners in Space designed a machine to test the strength of welds made in a zero gravity environment. The team chose this experiment because welding in a weightless environment will become increasingly important for tasks and repairs needed to be performed in space.

Electron Beam Welding - From American Scientist Online

In a longer article called To Boldly Go (Again), American Scientist has highlighted a newer welding technology worth noting...

From the article:

"...Similar physical principles are behind a second Star Trek-like technology now coming into use, something called the "plasma window," which is the brainchild of Ady Hershcovitch, a physicist at Brookhaven National Laboratory. Hershcovitch conceived of the plasma window to serve in electron-beam welding, a technique used to fashion metal welds that are narrower and deeper than what can be accomplished with conventional tools.

The chief drawback of this technique is that the electrons used for welding must be accelerated in a vacuum (just like, for example, the electrons that light up the front of a television picture tube). Hence the objects being welded together must normally be placed within a sealed chamber from which the air has been extracted. With that constraint, one cannot make welds to, say, the deck of a battleship. Even for small work pieces, pumping down the vacuum chamber each time an object is inserted is time-consuming, making this form of welding rather costly."

Give it a read. Fun stuff in any case.

Monster Garage: "How to Weld Damn Near Anything" Book

Monster Garage's "How to Weld Anything" Book

This one has been out for a while, and I think it's okay. There are probably better books out there , but this one has that golden brand name. If you're a Monster fan, you may want it for collection purposes. If you're starting to learn to weld, it has some good stuff. But there might be better resources out there, depending on your expertise and situation.

The publisher has this to say: "Want to learn how to weld just like they do on Monster Garage? This invaluable guide to welding covers techniques used for Indy and NASCAR race cars, experimental aircraft, and other applications requiring high-quality welds, including welding 4130 steel, stainless and aluminum, as well as plasma cutting. Learn how to select equipment, set up your welding shop, pre-weld jigging and fitting, and how to choose the right process and fill metal for each project. Includes chapters on the latest technology in filler metals and welding rod."

Give it a look. They have a neat feature that lets you preview pages, so you can get a peek inside.

In Southern California, Welders File Mass Tort Lawsuits

It's heating up on the mass torts front for welders and welding rod fume exposure. I don't know how to interpret this yet. We do need to know how much potential harm there is out there for welders when we are exposed to these fumes.

Yet, part of me has seen the explosion of lawsuits -- especially class action stuff where only the lawyers seem to win -- and wonder about the situation. (Ever read John Grisham's "The King of Torts"? It'll make you wonder.)

According to BusinessWire, 8 Southern California Welders File Mass Tort Lawsuits Against Airco Inc., Caterpillar, Inc., General Electric Company Among More Than 55 Defendants for Injuries Caused by Exposure to Welding Fumes.

Eighteen welding rod workers filed a mass tort lawsuit today in Los Angeles Superior Court against Airco Inc., Caterpillar, Inc., General Electric Company and more than 55 other named defendants claiming that they suffered serious neurological injuries as a consequence of exposure to welding fumes containing manganese, a substance medically recognized as toxic to the human central nervous system. Plaintiffs' complaints for damages allege 15 claims, including negligence, strict products liability, and fraud/deceit by suppression/concealment, involving welding products that were manufactured, sold, distributed, and/or promoted by Defendants. All of the Defendants were, at relevant times, manufacturers and sellers of welding products, large industrial consumers of welding rod products, and members of leading trade organizations, including the American Welding Society and the National Electrical Manufacturers Association.

The Plaintiffs are jointly represented by the Santa Monica, CA law firm of Greene Broillet & Wheeler (Bruce C. Fishelman, Timothy J. Wheeler, Geoffrey S. Wells), the Los Angeles, CA law firm of Panish, Shea & Boyle, LLP (Brian J. Panish, Kevin R. Boyle), the Los Angeles office of Kirk B. Bernard, and the San Francisco, CA law firm of Lieff, Cabraser, Heimann & Bernstein, LLP (Robert J. Nelson, Eric B. Fastiff). John John vs. A.O. Smith Corporation, et. al., Case No. BC337178.

I'll keep an eye out on this...

Austin, Texas welder sparks career as steel works artist

Central Texas is filled with wonderful artists. And while each has followed a unique path, Jimmy Harwell, a Hays County artist, got a late start at it -- entirely by accident.

"Of course we had horses and rode a lot and so I always wore spurs," Harwell said of his childhood. "But you know always wore real cheap spurs, then I decided 'well I'll just make some spurs,' and actually I made my first pair when I was 17."

And so began Harwell's artistic career. He just didn't know it at the time.

Eventually, this welder by trade started making the decorative kind of spurs and many other works. His art career officially started decades after those first spurs while enrolled at Austin Community College.

See the rest at Austin's News 8 Website...