What's your favorite hood?

A new welder is just about to leave tech school, and he's wondering what he should layout for a new hood.

Should he go with a fixed front, flip front or auto darkening? And, is a 10 shade good enough, or does he need a 12 or 14?

You can give your opinion on the WeldingWeb.com Internet site at http://weldingweb.com/showthread.php?t=22588.

The forum is free of charge, but you have to register.

Cool Videos

There are many videos — ranging from training videos to commercial videos — available on the Welding Theater website, http://www.weldingtheater.com.

Here are a few of the latest videos to be posted:

• American inventor, designer, and car customizer Eddie Paul, the owner and chief executive officer of E.P. Industries, Inc., talks about customizing cars and making cars for action movies including how his shop made custom components for the Bat Mobile used in the movie “The Dark Knight.”

• Avesta Welding has posted a video on welding stainless steel sheet and pipes that includes a view of how to grind the root gap and what the weld looks like from the root side of the process.

• Baileigh Industrial, Inc. includes an introductory video and separate videos on its cold saws and welding positioners. The cold saw and position videos are listed on the Internet page for the introductory video, and can be viewed by clicking on their individual hot buttons.

• Oxylance Inc. has a video that shows its burning bars — steel tubes filled with alloyed wire — that are used to cut metal. The video says that burning bars is easier than cutting with traditional torches, and much faster. For example, the video shows cutting an 18-inch in diameter bundle of steel tubes used in a heat exchanger, in 3 min., and cutting a piece of 26 in. thick steel at a rate of 1½ in. per min.

Online Contents

FELLOWSHIP IN WELDING AVAILABLE AT OHIO STATE UNIVERSITY

The Edison Welding Institute is accepting applications for a Graduate Fellowship at The Ohio State University.

The deadline for applications for a fellowship starting in the 2008-2009 school year is October 158, but the Welding Institute will accept applications at any time for future consideration.

The two-year fellowship is available to students who intend to begin or continue graduate-level work in welding engineering, material science, industrial engineering, or mechanical engineering at Ohio State University.

Details and application forms can be found at www.ewi.org/company/news_detail.asp?newsID=134

TOOLINGU OFFERING WELDING COURSES

The on-line training site — www.toolingu.com — has 15 classes for welding.

ToolingU's classes cover the basic components and common processes used during arc welding, and provide an overview of the various types of welded joints and how electrical variables affect arc welding.

Intermediate-level classes focus on the weldability of numerous metals and address the specific details necessary to begin hands-on training for the major arc welding processes.

The ToolingU welding department can be found at http://www.toolingu.com/dept-650-welding-training.html

HEARING PROTECTION SITE

Sperian Hearing Protection has launched a special Internet site for its new earplug field verification software.

The Sperian VeriPRO software is designed to allow safety managers to get an accurate, real-world picture of employees' hearing protection.

The software was designed with a user-friendly interface, and provides a Personal Attenuation Rating for the earplugs that each employee uses regularly on the job. The company said the software can help managers to determine whether employees require additional fit training or different style earplugs.

The new site is at www.howardleightveripro.com

ROBOT TRAINING AVAILABLE

Register Online for Motoman Training Classes You can register for all Motoman training classes in the U.S. and Canada on-line through Motoman's web site: www.motoman.com/support/training/us/Default.htm