Bad welding, escaped prisoners, not a good thing...

A poor welding job can be unsafe for any number of reasons, but here is a novel one. In Helena, South Dakota a prisoner escaped through a defectively-welded hatch on a transport van. The hatch was apparently designed so that people could escape the van safely in a crash, but it was welded in such a way that Dueston Haggard, 28, was able to get through it.

Read it over here.

First U.S. Jury Verdict Linking Asbestos From Welding Rods to Mesothelioma and Lung Cancer Affirmed by New York Appeals Court

Well, the back & forth between trial lawyers and welding industry lawyers continues. The only sure thing is that lawyers will get rich. For the sake of all the guys out there welding, I hope that they're wrong and that the fumes are safe. I really do. But if they aren't, then this is for the better.

NEW YORK, Jan. 9 /PRNewswire/ -- In the second major verdict against the U.S. welding industry in little more than a week, a New York State appeals court on Dec. 29th affirmed the first-ever jury finding that asbestos-containing welding rods, sold in the billions up to the early 1980's, had caused lung cancer and mesothelioma, Attorney Jerome H. Block of the nationally known mass toxic tort law firm of Levy Phillips and Konigsberg, LLP announced.

The New York Supreme Court, Appellate Division, First Department, in a published decision, upheld the July 2003 jury verdict in favor of, Angel Gomez, who died following the trial, and the late Daniel Tucker. Both men worked with and around asbestos-containing welding rods. The jury awarded Gomez a total of approximately $3.19 million against Lincoln Electric Company ("Lincoln"), reduced 25 percent since Gomez was a cigarette smoker. Tucker's estate was awarded a total of approximately $3.5 million split between Lincoln and Hobart Brothers Company ("Hobart").

Read the rest over at Yahoo...

Airforce base moves welders from stick to keyboard...

Pretty cool about how welding, defense, and high technology all meet at the highest skill levels, from NewsOk.com...

Welders that once specialized in hand welding are trading their blow torches and masks for a computer keyboard and high-tech welding equipment at Tinker Air Force Base's Air Logisitics Center.

High-tech welding is helping workers at the center repair parts quicker and better, which allows Tinker to get the parts back into active duty.

The Air Logistics Center employs nearly 300 welders, including 109 welders who work on the parts of the engines used in some of the Air Force's fighter jets. The engines are brought in for routine maintenance, taken apart and repaired. Cracks as small as the thickness of a fingernail could shut down an engine and leave an Air Force pilot with an emergency in the sky.

"We don't get to make mistakes," said Max Glover Jr., a welder in the hand-welding division at Tinker. "It costs somebody their life if we do."

For some parts of the engine, such as the titanium fan jet cover used in an F-16 fighter, precise electron beam welding is used to make repairs. The lightweight part costs about $60,000 to replace. In a vacuum-sealed chamber, electrons going three times faster than the speed of light vaporize the metal and close the hole with a new seal, said Dean Williams, work leader for electron beam welding.

"It's a lot like a TV tube," Williams said. "The electrons accelerate and are so exact that they could be shot through the eye of a carpet needle."

Because the welding is done inside a vacuum, the metal also is less likely to be contaminated by foreign substances in the air, Williams said. Titanium can be very sensitive and easily rusts during welding. Using a computer program, a welder can pinpoint the defect and fix it in less time than it would take to hand weld and with a higher rate of success. All engine parts that are repaired have to pass the scrutiny of an X-ray test that searches very small cracks or bubbles. Because computerized welding allows the repairs to be so exact, few parts fail the inspection process, Williams said.

Read the rest over at NewsOk.com.

Welders median earnings...

In case you were wondering, the United States department of Labor says that Median hourly earnings of welders, cutters, solderers, and brazers were $14.72 in May 2004. The middle 50 percent earned between $11.90 and $18.05. The lowest 10 percent had earnings of less than $9.79, while the top 10 percent earned over $22.20. The range of earnings of welders reflects the wide range of skill levels. Median hourly earnings in the industries employing the largest numbers of welders, cutters, solderers, and brazers in May 2004 were:

Motor vehicle parts manufacturing	$16.47
Agriculture, construction, and mining machinery manufacturing	14.12
Architectural and structural metals manufacturing	13.98
Commercial and industrial machinery and equipment (except automotive and electronic) repair and maintenance	13.45
Motor vehicle body and trailer manufacturing	13.45

Underwater welder can't let fear surface...they work in darkness, by touch

I've welded down in some dark corners and funky places put made me off-balance and made it tough to work. If you've done the same and know how hard it can be to get everything lined up on dry land, imagine doing it floating, in the dark, by touch. Or in a 250 foot pipe.

From IndyStar.com.

COLUMBUS, Ind. -- Known for being calm as sundown, Ryan Hey confronts some of mankind's most basic fears all in a day's work.

Take claustrophobia, for example, or the fear of being trapped. Hey, a 1999 Columbus North High School graduate, recently found himself crawling 240 feet down a 30-inch pipe.

He had to squeeze through a 16-inch pipe -- as wide as a large pizza -- just to get there. The fear of water? We should mention it was a water pipe.

The dark? Let's just say Hey looks at maps at the start of his day, then relies on memory.

The only time Hey, 25, admitted ever feeling uneasy -- besides the time he found himself in the 2-foot space between a riverboat casino and the Ohio River bottom -- was when he met a wild animal bigger than himself. That happened when he was working underwater around a dam on the Ohio River.

Hey put his hand on what he thought was a log for balance, but the thing swam away. He's still not sure what it was. Such is the life of an underwater welder. Hey finds himself in a variety of dicey situations, but after four years on the job with Rockport-based Bulldog Diving, he still sees a future in the work.

He worked as a welder on the surface before, and eventually it bored him. That's when he got on the Internet and learned more about underwater welding.

"There are certain people who can't do it," Hey said after a long shift and drive home to Columbus. "You don't want little things to freak you out." Little things, for example, such as the 40-pound metal helmet he dons for each job. It encases his entire head and limits his vision to a tiny glass pane.

Hey does much of his work in pitch blackness, which means he has become adept at navigating underwater spaces by hand.

The unusual nature of his job, however, draws notice. He and a friend, Phillip Rogers, recalled a recent trip to Harrodsburg, Ky., where the water tower was leaking about a gallon a minute. They climbed to the top, where Hey suited up and bleached himself so he wouldn't contaminate the water supply, then descended into the tank.

Inside, he walked along the bottom and patched it with hydraulic cement. Once they climbed down, Rogers said, they were surprised to see a television news crew.

More than two months later, however, Hey shrugged when he described the job. To him, it was just another day at work.

Back after a holiday break!

Just a quick note that we're back here at the Welder's Corner after a holiday vacation. I hope you strike a clean arc and run a good bead in 2005!