The first Women Building California (and the nation ) Conference will be happening April 29-30 in Oakland, Calif.

Marriott Oakland City Center
1001 Broadway
Oakland, CA

Here’s the Schedule:
Friday April 29th, Informal pre conference gathering, Lunch, Dinner, Cocktails, laughter, bullshitting, making friends, and having fun.
…
Saturday April 30 at 8:00am – Conference
Sunday May 1 at 2:00pm – Conference

For More info: http://www.sbctc.org/

To register, download the Registration Form (.pdf) and fill out!  Then gas up your car (or take public transportation) and Go!

Consider requesting to be sponsored to go, from your Local, regional, employer, labor center, and other orgs and agency’s supporting women in the blue collar industry.

The First “Women Building The Nation Conference, at the 10th Annual Women Build California, with support of the National Building Trades Council

The goal:   1,000 women

So help get the word out!

Geography quiz time!  Where is Guernsey?  I’ll give you a hint: it’s one of the Channel Islands (and no, we’re not talking about the ones off the coast of California…)

Give up?  Here you go: Guernsey.  How’s that for an exotic locale?  And what do ya know – there are welders there too!

Challenging the world’s welders

A group of apprentices from the College of Further Education are challenging the best welders in the world.

Three fourth year students hope their welding skills will allow them to reach the world final of the SkillWeld competition in London in 2011.

Guernsey man James Le Lievre was a UK finalist in the contest in 2008.

John Semenowicz, the programme manager for engineering at the college, said: “We’re talking about students in the premier league of welding.”

The Channel Island heat of the SkillWeld competition took place at the College of FE’s workshop in March 2010 as Guernsey’s three entrants became part of the 170 from across the UK who are competing.

CONTINUE READING ONLINE ->

Gordon Brown has lately honoured the women who worked in the steel factories during WWII!  Huzzah for our fellow Rosies from across the sea!

Sheffield’s World War II Women of Steel are thanked

Prime Minister Gordon Brown has paid tribute to hundreds of female workers who toiled in the steel factories of South Yorkshire during World War II.

The workers, known as the Women of Steel, produced metal which was essential for the war effort.

Among them were Ruby Gascoigne, 87, Dorothy Slingsby and Kathleen Roberts, both 88, and Kit Sollitt, 90, who were honoured on a visit to Downing Street.

They travelled from Sheffield on a train named the Women of Steel Express.

The engine was specially renamed in honour of the occasion and was unveiled by the four steel mill veterans before their journey on Wednesday.

The women received a special letter of thanks from veterans minister Kevan Jones and met Sheffield MPs at the House of Commons before visiting 10 Downing Street.

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It was a fun night for me at the monthly American Welding Society — San Diego Section meeting.  This night’s topic?  Induction heating with a system unlike anything you’ve ever seen before.

Gone are the days of waiting hours and hours for your length of pipe to warm up to the right temperature –

Miller has just released the new ProHeat 35 Induction Heating System, which works by inducing heat electromagnetically, rather than via a conductor, thus saving the operator incredible amounts of time and energy.

Simply wrap the induction coils around whatever piece of metal you’re working on, and in just a few minutes, you’re ready to go!

This picture was taken looking inside the length of pipe that was being heated up by the ProHeat 35 — you can’t see it here, but that tube was glowing red hot on the inside!

And even better, when I tried touching the coils wrapped around it?
Cold as ice! This product is simply amazing!

But perhaps the best part about this whole new system is that you don’t even have to buy it! Red-D-Arc will rent out one of their machines to you for as long as you need!

It must be a dream come true for students at the Western Dakota Technical Institute.  I mean, since when do you get to custom build a motorcycle during class, and get credit for it?!?

WDTI students gear up for bike build

Barbara Soderlin Journal staff
Posted: Thursday, January 28, 2010 9:15 am

Western Dakota Technical Institute welding students will be able to add “custom motorcycle builder” to their resumes, thanks to a program announced Wednesday.

A bike, built by a team of WDTI students working under custom builder Michael Prugh of Prugh Design in Black Hawk, will be auctioned at the annual Sturgis motorcycle rally Legends Ride this summer.

“I don’t know bikes, but I’m hoping to learn,” said welding student Don Pyn, a custom hot rod enthusiast. “It’s along the line of what I want to get into when I’m done with school.”

Rod Woodruff, owner of the Buffalo Chip campground, which created the charity ride two years ago, announced the program in the technical college’s welding lab surrounded by welding students.

He said the partnership, called the 2k10 Challenge, would help develop a workforce skilled in motorcycle building, which would benefit the growing number of bike builders in the Black Hills.

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College isn’t all it’s cracked up to be.  In fact, if you’re looking for a career in welding, a technical school might just be the place to go.

Technical schools give students a leg up on a career

By FARAH TAMIZUDDIN/VOICE CORRESPONDENT
THE STATE JOURNAL-REGISTER
Posted Jan 25, 2010 @ 11:00 PM

Seventeen-year-old Konner Fenwick doesn’t want to go to college.

She isn’t taking any more history or English classes.

The Springfield High School senior doesn’t want to get a job after she graduates in June, either.

Her plan? Attend a technical school.

“School’s never really been my thing,” Konner said. “I think I’ll enjoy this a lot.”

More than half of the country’s high school seniors each year head to college right after graduation, according to the U.S. Department of Education.

However, 30 to 40 percent of seniors find their footing elsewhere.

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Are you free the 20th or 21st of February?

Come join Jim Watson, aka Joe Welder, and Ron Covell of Covell Creative Metalworking at Hot Rods & Custom Stuff in Escondido, CA for Covell’s Beginning and Advanced Steel Workshops!

Ron is one of the preeminent fabricators in the custom automotive industry and has been a good friend to us here at Arc-Zone.com!

You can head over to our webstore to check out a few of his welding DVDs.

If you don’t live in Southern California or can’t make it on this particular weekend, you can head over to Ron’s website and check out a complete list of his workshops in the upcoming year.

Who knows – he just might be coming to your neck of the woods soon!

We’re always excited to hear about young people taking welding classes, but a rise in attendance?  A renewed interest in welding?
Well, that we just love!

Popularity of welding on the rise at ASUMH

DEB PETERSON • BULLETIN STAFF WRITER • SEPTEMBER 7, 2009

In just four years, the welding program at Arkansas State University Mountain Home has grown from two instructors and seven students borrowing space at Mountain Home High School to three instructors and 40 students who have very nearly outgrown the welding shop on the university campus, equipped with 20 machines.

‘”I always thought I would teach a class or two,” said lead instructor Brandon Pickett, who helped start the program.  ”I didn’t expect it to become so big.  Everyone absolutely loves it.”

Karen Hopper, associate vice chancellor for research, special projects, and distance learning at ASUMH, is responsible for coming up with the idea in the first place.

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