Bahamas needs underwater welders (which sounds pretty good to my cold feet)

Grand Bahama Seeing Influx Of Expatriate Workers, from the Bahama Journal

Labourers are being requested from abroad because there is a need for highly skilled workers for work that is not traditionally performed in the Bahamas, he said. A major employer of expatriate workers is the Grand Bahama Shipyard. Joseph Darville, Director of Work Force Development, spoke candidly to The Bahama Journal about the need to employ foreign workers.

"Grand Bahama is touted as being an industrial capital of the Bahamas," he said.

"Nothing much was done by the government to bring about that reality to properly train persons for work, which requires highly skilled labourers, for example, in marine mechanics, marine electricians, people who could do underwater welding, etc.

"What we have had to do is bring in massive amounts of expatriate workers."

He said that in the short period of time of the shipyard, there has not been sufficient time or sufficient individuals interested in being skilled workers in these particular areas, so the shipyard has had to find workers from elswhere.

Interesting proposition, depending on how big of a change in your lifestyle you're interested in...

Since you can't use oil based products on Acetylene torches, what is the best way to keep torches and tips clean?

Tips are cleaned with little kits that contain a file and some little toothy wire rods. You simply burnish the end of the tip with the file and push the appropriate size wire rod down the hole or holes in the tip.

Do not use any thread sealer. Just keep everything clean and completely free of oil or grease. Typically, the torch head to torch body connections are hand tight only. The torch to hose body connections are wrench tight but not incredibly so. Barely tight enough to not leak is what you want.If your threads are dirty use a tooth brush or something with soft bristles. Brass is soft.

Welding the Roswell UFO...

In a funny moment in the Google Welding Newsgroup (which I read often), a poster threw this out...

My granddaddy was living near Roswell in 1947 and now he died and I found some parts of the Roswell UFO in his old barn, some odd alien device.

How can I weld these UFO parts, it's a unknown alien material ???

I want to repair the alien device and sell it for big $$$ !!! If you help me and it works, I will pay anyone who helped me $1 Million !

As you can imagine, the responses ranged from humorous to dismissive.

Akron Auto Parts Manufacturer to Open...Automated Welding Jobs Coming

See the Akraon Beacon Journal

A company that uses robotics to laser weld auto parts is moving into the Stow industrial park that once was the site of a Goodyear mold plant.

Noble International Ltd. is expected to employ about 45 people and invest $200,000 in the new building, which it will lease from Albrecht Inc. The company also will spend about $2.5 million on equipment for the plant, which is expected to open in January.

The plant will laser mold metal ``blanks'' for use in auto bodies and will chiefly supply Chrysler's Twinsburg Stamping Plant. Noble is North America's largest supplier of laser-welded blanks, with projected revenue of $350 million in 2005. (A blank is a piece of material that will be cut or patterned into something by a further operation.)

``Laser welding is a new, cost-efficient and growing technology, and Noble specializes in it, which could mean good things for Northeast Ohio if Noble continues to expand and increase production in the future,'' said Jack Juron, vice president of Albrecht.

Texas Welding Instructor Garners National Award

From the Sulphur Springs News-Herald...

Sulphur Springs (Texas) High School’s agriculture department’s welding students recently made out like bandits in a national welding contest sponsored by James F. Lincoln Arc Welding Foundation of Cleveland, Ohio.

If that wasn’t enough, the welding instructor himself also won at the national FFA Convention held last month in Louisville, Ky. At the same venue, Alina Tatum was one of 18 of the top youths in the country afforded the opportunity to perform on the main stage, and Blake Fisher was awarded his American Farmer certificate.

According to instructor Dan Froneberger, several of his students who submitted entries in the 2005 Student Arc Welding Award Program in June were selected as winners in July, and within the last month received letters from the James F. Lincoln Arc Welding Foundation notifying them of their awards.

Top Student Arc Welding Award Program winners included Jared Ramey, $1,000 for Best Division I Welding; Kristopher Pace and Harlan Hammond, $250 each for Regional Gold Award Division I; Dillon Millsap, $250 Regional Silver Award; and Mitch Self and Jared Ramey, $100 each for Regional Bronze Award.

Keeping a family welding business going...

From the MDTimes.com, a good story on how one man is working to keep his family welding business going...

Jeff Allen bought Mooresville Welding in 1991. He couldn’t have done it without financial help from his grandfather Dale Jessup, but the money wasn’t the real gift— Allen had to pay that back. What has kept the business alive is the advice that his grandfather has given him.

“I didn’t know anything about the business side of it,” Allen said. “It was tough learning in the way that sometimes mistakes can cost you a lot of money.

“But there were a couple of things he said, pieces of conversations I took away that have really stuck with me. And if anyone could call me successful, or heading toward success, it’s because of that advice and the role model that I have.”

The most important piece of advice was to be diversified in the services you offer. Or in Jessup’s clichéd words, don’t keep all your eggs in one basket.

Adding to your business wasn’t the only tenet that Jessup passed on to his grandson. He also had a few other pieces of advice, that Allen said he has tried to follow. “Grandpa always told me ‘always be honest and don’t be greedy’,” Allen said. “Oh, and don’t cheat on taxes — make lots of money and pay lots of taxes that’s just part of it.

Harris Calorific, Airgas Join Forces for Laser Offering, Including New Configurator

This press release comes from Business Wire.

CHICAGO--(BUSINESS WIRE)--Nov. 15, 2005---In a joint press conference at the 2005 FABTECH International(R)/AWS Welding Show today, Gainesville, GA-based Harris Calorific, Inc. and Airgas, Inc. (NYSE:ARG) announced an agreement to jointly market gases and gas control equipment for carbon dioxide lasers used in materials processing.

With this agreement, Airgas has chosen to exclusively market Harris Calorific laser gas control equipment. Airgas, in turn, will have exclusive use of a new customized Airgas Laser Gas Configurator developed by Harris Calorific. The Configurator will help Airgas' nearly 1,000 sales force select the right gases and gas handling equipment for their customers' laser equipment.

The Configurator is programmed with data on more than 600 different carbon dioxide lasers and can quickly determine the required lasing, purge and assist gases, pressure, flow, and gas control equipment, based on the laser, the types of materials being worked and the laser runtime.

"Our combined knowledge of the laser marketplace will help Airgas and Harris better serve laser cutting operators, so they can be more productive U.S. manufacturers," said Tom Thoman, vice president - gases, for Airgas, Inc. "This will be an important element in the full product offering that we bring to our laser cutting customers."

"We are excited about joining forces with Airgas," said David Bell, manager - Special Products Group for Harris Calorific, Inc. "Based on Airgas' extensive customer base, we know they work with many existing laser customers. Our new Airgas Laser Gas Configurator will help laser owners optimize their performance."

Huge welding auction in Seattle...but it's tomorrow...

They have a ton of stuff on auction at the Seattle Shipyards tomorrow, Nov. 16. They have a 28 page PDF catalog listing more than 1,300 welding related items. You can download that from the auctioneers' page, here.

Some of it includes:

• LODGE & SHIPLEY AVS engine lathe, 22" swing, 72" center distance, 3-jaw chuck, tool post, TRUE TRACE tracer attachment
• LODGE & SHIPLEY engine lathe, 18" swing, 12' bed, collet chuck
• LE BLOND engine lathe, 14" swing, 30" center distance, 3-jaw chuck, tool post, s/n: B11819
• GRAZIANO SAG 17 lathe, 17" swing, 60" center distance, tool post, collet chuck
• BULLARD 54" vertical turret lathe, SONY Magnascale X-Y digital readout
• GISHOLT 4L turret lathe, 28" swing, 3-jaw chuck, s/n: 990-2
• WARNER & SWASEY 1A turret lathe, 20" swing, tool post
• BRIDGEPORT vertical milling machine, 9"x42" power feed table, 1 hp, s/n: 70759
• LAGUN FTV-2S vertical milling machine, PATHFINDER X-Y digital readout, power feed table, s/n: SE3017A
• ACER vertical milling machine, ANILAM X-Y digital readout, 9"x42" power feed table
• BURGMASTER Econocenter NC milling/drilling machine, GE Mark Century controls, 39"x62" table
• HERCULES radial arm drill, 8" column, 3' arm
• METAL MUNCHER ironworker
• SUNNEN MBB1600 hone, s/n: 43869
• HARIG Super 618 surface grinder w/6"x18" mag chuck
• PARKER hydraulic tube bender, s/n: 1652
• DENISON 50 TON hydraulic press
• WHEELABRATOR shot blast cabinet w/6' table
• Sand blast system w/(4) hoses, storage system
• TRINCO 36/BP sand blast cabinet w/dust collector, s/n: 45830-6
• (4) horizontal band saws
• AMROX 12 spd drill press
• 60' cutting & burning table, BURNY IV controls, (2) THERMAL ARC PAK 45 plasma cutters, 8'x40' plate capacity
• (2) LINCOLN Idealarc 1000 welders
• LINCOLN R3S800 welder
• (3) LINDE 600 welders
• (2) LINCOLN Idealarc DC600 welders
• (26) LINCOLN R3R500 welders
• (9) LINCOLN R3S400 welders
• LINCOLN Idealarc 400 welder
• MILLER Synchrowave 350 welder
• (28) MILLER XMT 304 welders
• (24) POWCON 300 SM welders
• AIRCO 300 amp welder
• MILLER 300 amp welder
• MILLER CP200 welder
• (2) AIRCO Pulse Arc welders
• (2) WESTINGHOUSE welders
• (7) MILLER Mk VIII 8 bank welders
• BIRDSELL 8-bank welder
• (5) MILLER XRA wire feeders
• (30) MILLER S32P wire feeders
• (10) LINCOLN LN25 wire feeders
• QNW 650 CFM compressor w/ZURN air dryer
• (4) SPEEDFLO airless paint pumps
• GRACO airless paint pump
• KREMLIN airless paint pump
• (2) MTM 4000 psi portable water blasters
• (8+) COFFING, CM 1-ton chain hoists w/jib
• Assortment of chain hoists, lifting magnets, overhead cranes, welding equipment, welding leads, welding positioner, cutting tables, air hose, work benches, vises, machine vises, hand & power tools, pedestal grinders, SYNCHRO-LIFT boat lift, (3) 20'x45' portable sheds, 66'x96' steel shed w/bridge cranes, 50'x120' carpenter shop, 60'x120' steel shop building w/bridge cranes, other shipyard buildings, stores & supplies, too much more to list!

Friction Stir Welding - What's it mean to you?

Friction stir welding, a process invented at Cambridge, involves the joining of metals without fusion or filler materials. It is used already in routine, as well as critical applications, for the joining of structural components made of aluminium and its alloys. Indeed, it has been convincingly demonstrated that the process results in strong and ductile joints, sometimes in systems which have proved difficult using conventional welding techniques. The process is most suitable for components which are flat and long (plates and sheets) but can be adapted for pipes, hollow sections and positional welding. The welds are created by the combined action of frictional heating and mechanical deformation due to a rotating tool. The maximum temperature reached is of the order of 0.8 of the melting temperature.

It's a manufacturing process welding type that really shows potential for things like building cars and other production items.

Wikipedia calls it the "Frictional heat is generated between the wear resistant welding tool shoulder and nib, and the material of the work-pieces. This heat, along with the heat generated by the mechanical mixing process and the adiabatic heat within the material, cause the stirred materials to soften without reaching the melting point (hence cited a solid-state process), allowing the traversing of the tool along the weld line in a a plasticised tubular shaft of metal. As the pin is moved in the direction of welding the leading face of the pin, assisted by a special pin profile, forces plasticised material to the back of the pin whilst applying a substantial forging force to consolidate the weld metal. The welding of the material is facilitated by severe plastic deformation in the solid state involving dynamic recrystallization of the base material."

Some places to check it out include...

• The University of Cambridge, where it was invented, includes extensive explanations, photography, and video. Great site.
• The Wikipedia is good, but brief. Not enough yet to sink your teeth into.
  

Medical expert testifies in weld rod trial

I've tried to keep you up to date, and to make sense of, the continuing battle over welding rod gasses and manganese-containing welding fumes. In the Wisonsin trial involving Steve Boren, a welder who sued in 2001 over nerological injuries, the beat goes on.

From the Madison-St. Clair Record,

In the fourth day of a Cape Girardeau man's welding rod trial in Madison County, defense attorney Pat Gloor of Chicago hammered the testimony of medical expert Paul Nausieda, M.D., a Chicago neurologist.

Some of the defendants on trial include Praxair, Viacom, Union Carbide, The BOC Group, Sandvik Inc, and Lincoln Electric.

Nausieda, who conducted trial-attorney funded mass screenings of Louisiana shipyard workers in Louisiana in 2001, testified that as a clinician he is seeing an increasing number of patients with manganese toxicity, which causes Parkinson's Disease.

"I see seven to 10 new patients a week," he said. "Week by week and year by year there are more. (And) the patients are younger and younger."

But Gloor countered that Nausieda contradicted himself in earlier testimony, claiming that he earlier stated, that "the neurological community generally does not accept welding fumes as a cause of Parkinson's Disease."

Nausieda's one-day court appearance in Madison County net him a $10,000 fee.

Suggesting his study was flawed, Nausieda submitted the research conducted on 3,500 Louisiana shipyard workers to the Annals of Internal Medicine, but "they said, 'we don't want to publish it'," Gloor stated.

"That's a gross misstatement," Nausieda countered, explaining that the legal issue soured the editors' decision and the study was not epidemiological.

After an inaudible question fired by Gore prompted Nausieda to retort, "That's a cheap shot," presiding Judge Nicholas Byron intervened by calling for a chamber conference with attorneys.

Boren, represented by Goldenberg Miller Heller & Antognoli of Edwardsville and the Vaughan Cascino Law Offices in Chicago, is staying at a Collinsville hotel during the trial. Attorney Robert McCoy of the Vaughan Cascino firm conducted the witness examination at trial Tuesday.

Jeff Hebrank of the Burroughs law firm in Edwardsville represents several of the defendants.

Welding products cause emissions of fumes that contain manganese which has been medically recognized as toxic to the human central nervous system in levels that exceed trace amounts normally found in the human body.

People exposed to welding fumes absorb them through inhalation, and according to the plaintiff's exposure for a period as short as 49 days causes disabling injuries.

The trial is expected to last four- to six weeks.

In October 2003, Larry Elam of Collinsville who claimed his Parkinson’s disease was caused by welding fumes was awarded $1 million by a Madison County jury in the first ever successfully litigated weld-rod case in the country. Associate Judge Ralph Mendelsohn presided over the Elam case.

In Elam's case, the jury ruled that welding-rod manufacturers were responsible for failing to warn him about serious health risks. Elam said he used rods manufactured and distributed by major companies across the country.

Rome, GA welding class assists Peru village

Get some good training, do some good in the world -- from the Rome, GA News

It wasn’t the typical project assigned to welding classes at Floyd County Technical High School.

In fact, students laughed when metals teacher Chesley Chambers explained they would be building a 300-pound pressure cooker for a small Peruvian school that needed the device to produce soy milk for cafeteria lunches.

“I thought he was joking. I didn’t think they’d be sending something we made to Peru,” said Jeremy Master, a senior in the class.

Yet Chambers wasn’t kidding. During a mission trip this June to the desert town of Chincha, Peru, Chambers visited the 150-student, private Trinity School, where teachers told him they wanted to be able to serve their students milk with their lunches instead of water.

A giant pressure cooker would allow the school to make enough soymilk for their students and to sell some to cover the costs of production. Chambers quickly volunteered his class to build the contraption, he said.

“This is a real life application. They get to use the skills they’ve learned to benefit others,” he said. “Where else would they get to work on something like this?”

Welding curtains protect eyes, reduce debris, flashburns

I've seen these used in a lot of shop environments, and think they work pretty well...

Welding curtains are an inexpensive way to segment off an area and keep it free of debris and dust from the welding area and sparks from everything else. The barrier material is available in many different configurations. It protects workers adjacent to welding operations from welding hazards like sparks, spatter, and ultraviolet light.

These barriers are free-standing sewn curtain panels, as strip curtains, or as bulk rolls of film or strip. Sewn curtain panels are offered with, or without a self-supporting frame. Screens with frame have optional casters. Strip curtain material is available in a bulk roll, with strip door hardware, as replacement strips, or with specialized hardware to build custom work stations.

Need another reason to be careful when welding?

This happened in New Zealand, but it's got implications for anyone who handles a welder...

The country's Labour Department decided that an explosion at Kaitaia College that injured seven people was due to problems in the school's hazard management processes. The blast injured a teacher and seven kids in a metalworking room earlier this year. Luckily, despite fractures and other injuries, nobody was killed.

The department's report says ignition of leaking acetylene gas was the most likely cause of the explosion.

It says members of the teaching staff attempted to raise issues about the condition of the welding equipment. But the report says that due to failures in the reporting process, there was nothing to indicate the school board or principal were aware of the extent of the potential hazard.

So think about that, as you work either at home or at the office. Your stuff is as important as your techniques. Take care of both.

Welding bridge steel expansion joints the focus of Arizona Company

See Casa Grande Valley for its story on this...

Stinger Welding in Randolph, Arizona has carved out a comfortable niche in this era of exponential growth in the state of Arizona: piecing together the steel expansion joints that hold up major bridges as cities - and especially highways - expand. With nearly 900 bridge projects under its belt, Stinger is readying its most challenging structure yet.

Stinger is responsible for the Tempe Town Lake bridge crossing, which will carry trains of the Valley Metro light rail from Phoenix to Tempe. The bridge may be called upon to support 1,050,000 pounds of train cars, not to mention the future of mass transit in the Valley.

Stinger Welding President Carl Douglas bought into the privately-held company in July 1996. The facility itself has housed welding services in Randolph since the 1940s. Currently, the company has 125 employees on a $4 million annual payroll, including 51 certified welders with 215 certifications. Of the 125 employees, all but four of them live in Pinal County.

Over time, Stinger has built a reputation for welding high-stress expansion joints, most commonly found in major bridge and highway projects.

Why bridges?

"In the state of Arizona, with all the federal funds being sent from Washington down here, there's a lot of money directed toward building pedestrian bridges," Douglas said.

And it's pedestrian bridges that have made Stinger a welding force. In the Phoenix area especially, "there seems to be a slant toward more artistic work," said Gary Gardner, pubic information officer with Stinger. "Steel allows more artistic possibilities than concrete bridgework." Popular Stinger projects include a Ray Road crossing for student pedestrians, sun and lizard designs along the Santan Freeway, and a pedestrian bridge featuring a bird-in-flight art motif spanning the Superstition Freeway.

Bay Bridge Welding Scandal: Chief welder sues Bay Bridge builders

According to Inside Bay Area Online, The Bay Bridge foreman who was an informant in an eight-month FBI investigation into allegations of concealed bad bridge welds has filed a whistle-blower lawsuit.

(Just when we think this thing is wrapping up, it finds a bit more life)

East Bay welder Angel Leon sued bridge firm KFM Joint Venture, its subsidiaries and some of his supervisors in Alameda County Superior Court on Tuesday, seeking economic, general and punitive damages. The complaint lists nine causes of action and alleges that KFM and its welding supervisors discriminated andretaliated against Leon by firing him after he questioned the firm's health and safety record.