[Superiorwelding]

The first day of FABTECH 2014 is in the books. Being my first time, I was overwhealmed at what the show actually is. It is HUGE!!! I walked around all day in one part and didn't see everything. It is sensory overload. There are a lot of great products and I was able to talk to great companies for solutions to our unique needs. There were quite a few new products and products that I have never seen before. Here are a few of them and I hope to share more as well.

But first, I had the honor of meeting Jody Collier and his lovely wife today and want to first express my thanks to both of them for meeting with me and to thank them and the others, that work hard to provide the weekly videos, the TIG Finger and other great products and this forum for us to share and gain knowledge on. While our meeting was short I can see first hand the great character they both posess and can honestly say I hope to call them true friends as time goes on.

The first product is ESAB's new TWECO Velocity MIG consumables. For those who have TWECO style guns I encurage you to check these nozzle systems out. They feature a drop-in style contact tips and introgrates the gas discharge in the tip itself. The claim is better cooling of the tip and increased life of the tip itself. Also one style has a stepped nozzle to allow the tip to change between recessed and flush in 4 variations. I have never been a fan of traditional style TWECO consumables but these look promising. I will order some when I get home and give them a try.

Next is a few products from CK Worldwide. My jaw hit the floor over their new products. The first is the brand new not on the market Steady Grip amperage control. It straps on your tig torch handle like most amptrols and allows (in my opinion) a unique and possible better control of the torch. I tried to buy one on the spot but they don't even have a part number for it yet. Bummer. But next is even better. They had a foot pedal that was 3D printed as a prototype and claimed that I was the first customer at the show that they showed it to. At first I thought it was just a regular pedal but they flipped it over and lo and behold there was a Steady Grip intrograted into the pedal. When you want a foot pedal you put it in, when you want the grip on torch you pull it out. Very unique idea there. I will order one of these as well. Very friendly folks at CK Worldwide.
-Jonathan

[Superiorwelding]

CK worldwide products.

[soutthpaw]

That's cool. I know there are thousands of amazing products on display, Keep the pics coming....

[Superiorwelding]

I will prob upload the majority of pics when I get back home. Kind of a pain to load on the iPhone and a VERY slow tablet/WiFi.
-Jonathan

[79jasper]

Woah. That is cool!

Sent from my SM-T537R4 using Tapatalk

[admin]

The first day of FABTECH 2014 is in the books. Being my first time, I was overwhealmed at what the show actually is. It is HUGE!!! I walked around all day in one part and didn't see everything. It is sensory overload. There are a lot of great products and I was able to talk to great companies for solutions to our unique needs. There were quite a few new products and products that I have never seen before. Here are a few of them and I hope to share more as well.

But first, I had the honor of meeting Jody Collier and his lovely wife today and want to first express my thanks to both of them for meeting with me and to thank them and the others, that work hard to provide the weekly videos, the TIG Finger and other great products and this forum for us to share and gain knowledge on. While our meeting was short I can see first hand the great character they both posess and can honestly say I hope to call them true friends as time goes on.

The first product is ESAB's new TWECO Velocity MIG consumables. For those who have TWECO style guns I encurage you to check these nozzle systems out. They feature a drop-in style contact tips and introgrates the gas discharge in the tip itself. The claim is better cooling of the tip and increased life of the tip itself. Also one style has a stepped nozzle to allow the tip to change between recessed and flush in 4 variations. I have never been a fan of traditional style TWECO consumables but these look promising. I will order some when I get home and give them a try.

Next is a few products from CK Worldwide. I almots wet my pants over their new products. The first is the brand new not on the market Steady Grip amperage control. It straps on your tig torch handle like most amptrols and allows (in my opinion) a unique and possible better control of the torch. I tried to buy one on the spot but they don't even have a part number for it yet. Bummer. But next is even better. They had a foot pedal that was 3D printed as a prototype and claimed that I was the first customer at the show that they showed it to. At first I thought it was just a regular pedal but they flipped it over and lo and behold there was a Steady Grip intrograted into the pedal. When you want a foot pedal you put it in, when you want the grip on torch you pull it out. Very unique idea there. I will order one of these as well. Very friendly folks at CK Worldwide.
-Jonathan

Hey Jonathan,
it was great to meet you yesterday. Glad you are enjoying the show.
I will also try to capture lots of pics and video clips and post here and on youtube for all the folks who couldn't make it.
kind of a highlights reel if you will.

best,

jody

[rick9345]

Not being able to attend, this thread will get real interesting.
Thanks to those who went and are willing to share.

[Superiorwelding]

I met Jody and even got the pic to prove it.
-Jonathan

[MinnesotaDave]

I met Jody and even got the pic to prove it.
-Jonathan

Couldn't take looking at it upside-down

met jody.jpg (99.83 KiB) Viewed 1847 times

[GreinTime]

I don't remember him looking like that... I'm calling shenanigans

[Superiorwelding]

I dont know whats wrong. The pic is right side up on my phone but shows up upside down on the forum. Will try to fix it when I get home.

Day two down. Man my feet are killing me. I have to say it again, if you have never been make effort to attend in the future. One thing I learned is you need to know what you want to look at before you come. Otherwise you will kill yourself trying to see it all and miss the important things to you. Again, I will load most of the pics this weekend but will say that I was able to secure quite a few samples of products mentioned here on the forum. One being COR-MET's flux coated TIG wire. I was awarded a SS drip pan and promised them if they sent me some I would review their product here and send them the link.

I spent some time talking to Nick Peterson, AWS SCC Committee Vise-Chair for Skills USA. I was asked by a member to take pics and did but will have to wait until tomorrow to get pics of their actual test pieces as they were judging them while I was there. If you remember Jody did a video giving Skills USA a plug and expressed interest in promoting them in some way. I too have strong interest in promoting who they are and what they do and will have a thread started soon. I learned a lot about the competition and wish I would have competed years ago.

My favorite booth of the day was TRUMPF. We are looking into press breaks and burn tables and they are top notch. I talked to Thobias Reuther, Product Manager for the Automation Group and he gave me a complete tour of their booth. Lets just say they have the biggest booth at the show. I looked at their fiber laser machines and loved them. They are actally a bargain starting at $350,000. Wonder if I can fit one in my garage They had a robotic laser welder welding up SS cups. AWESOME!!! I was able to get one and there is no way a human will EVER be this good (pic soon).

Also, was able to meet Lanse Edwards (ChuckE2009) and Wyatt Swaim (Mr.TIG, TIG Time) and enjoyed talking to them.
-Jonathan

[Superiorwelding]

FABTECH 2014 is in the books and my feet are thankful. What an impressive show it was. There is a lot of effort put in by more people than can be named. I am truely hooked and hope to attend next year in Chicago November 9-12 (don't quote me on those dates). I am thankful for all the vendors I was able to meet and spend time with discussing their product(s). Today I spent some time talking to the volunteers and competitors of Skills USA. I can tell there is a lot of effert put forth by everyone for sure. I was able to get a behind the scenes look at a potentional video by Jody and don't want to put out to much until after his video comes out but I will say that Skills USA has agreed to give both of us the pdf's of the competition pressure vessels to share with everyone. This will give us a better idea of what it takes to compete. I plan on getting the pieces made and trying my hand at them.

Some of the companies I received product samples from are COR-MET, PFERD, Bohler Welding (mig wire), CK Worldwide, Walter Surface Technologies and MAGNATECH (Furick tig cup). I purchased some of Fit Up Gears products (www.fitupgear.com) Once they come in the mail I will post them as well. I was able to talk to the owner of Scrape N Burr about his quality product. If you don't have one and do any berry scraping, get one. I promise you will not be disappointed. He is going to work on designing a custom blade for 6", 8" and 30" for some of our applications. If you have any custom needs they are more than happy to work with you.

Also of interest to me was talking to Russ Shurtz, Technical Training Instructor for Hobart Institute of Welding Technology. I am still studying for my CWI/CWE and have had some friends encourage me to take my test at Hobart instead of Lincoln. It seems like their school might be where I end up taking my test. We will see.

Well, will be a long 11 hour drive home tomorrow but looking forward to seeing my family!!! I will probably start uploading pics and videos tomorrow on the drive and the beginning of next week.
-Jonathan

[Superiorwelding]

I was asked quite a lot if I was on Instagram. I FINALLY got my phone to work and set up a profile. I chose "superiorwelding" as my screen name since I am already known by this. I hear there are great pictures shared there. I will share my work there as well. Are there any other members of the forum that are on Instagram as well?
-Jonathan

[Braehill]

Jon,
I guess you know by now that I'm on Instagram, Sam got me started so I could check out car stuff. Mainly I joined to see what kind of goofy crap my kids posted and now I go on there everyday checking out welding stuff, lots of great welders out there, makes me a little jealous sometimes. I like it, one more thing to expand your imagination by watching other's creative genius.

Len

[Superiorwelding]

Jon,
I guess you know by now that I'm on Instagram, Sam got me started so I could check out car stuff. Mainly I joined to see what kind of goofy crap my kids posted and now I go on there everyday checking out welding stuff, lots of great welders out there, makes me a little jealous sometimes. I like it, one more thing to expand your imagination by watching other's creative genius.

Len

Len,
Yep, I see you. Sad part for me is I had several invite me to follow them and I can't remember their names I am terrible with remembering names or screen names but I can remember technical junk about welding. Weird. You might have to point me in the right direction as far as who to follow.
-Jonathan

[Braehill]

Jon,
Maybe we should start a thread for Instagram suggestions. I, like you am terrible with names, especially screen names. I do follow Jody and zank of course, Toxicfab, weldporn, wickedwelding, mfurick, arczone, and a few others that I can't think of right now. I think you can search welding and find a bunch more, maybe some of the younger fellows here would be better guides than me on this for sure. I have to consult my kids on how to do half the stuff online.

Len

[Braehill]

I was thinking after I posted that maybe we could start adding our hashtags to the profile page or the signature line if we want others to follow us on other social media pages, just a thought.

Len

[Superiorwelding]

I don't understand the hash tag thing Always thought it was stupid. If put it in my signature what would that do? Bring it up in a Internet search?
-Jonathan

[AKweldshop]

I don't understand the hash tag thing Always thought it was stupid. If put it in my signature what would that do? Bring it up in a Internet search?
-Jonathan

Most times guys put a link to their Instagram page in their sig line.....

[Superiorwelding]

I don't understand the hash tag thing Always thought it was stupid. If put it in my signature what would that do? Bring it up in a Internet search?
-Jonathan

Most times guys put a link to their Instagram page in their sig line.....

Yeah, that would work wouldn't it? Now I feel dumb
-Jonathan

[weldin mike 27]

I don't remember him looking like that... I'm calling shenanigans

And I reckon Jono photo shopped his arms.

Noodle armed mike.

[Superiorwelding]

I don't remember him looking like that... I'm calling shenanigans

And I reckon Jono photo shopped his arms.

Noodle armed mike.

What, my arms are not pretty enough??
-Jonathan

[weldin mike 27]

Not that, they look huge. You chiseled specimen of a man.

Mick

[Superiorwelding]

I am finally getting around to posting more pictures, now that FABTECH is old news Anyway, I will start back with CK Worldwide. I spent a good amount of time talking with Sjon Delmore, Vise President of Sales & Marketing about their great products. I finally have a Flex-Loc Torch on order(http://www.ckworldwide.com/flex-loc.htm). I have wanted one for quite a while. I also pre-ordered the Pistol Grip shown earlier and am looking forward playing with that. I also received some of their Gas Saver front ends with the Pyrex cups (http://www.ckworldwide.com/gas_saver.htm). I plan on setting up a torch in the future on our Koike Max 3, to keep a consistant travel speed, and test the different brands and styles of gas savers/gas lens' for myself. Jody has done videos on different effects of gas lens verses regular style cups but I have been wanting to do one for myself. Of interest to me was in their Master Series, the CK80 and CK90 (http://www.ckworldwide.com/CK80R.pdf) series of torches. These are the air cooled versions. I honestly don't have a direct need for them but think they would be handy for certain situations. They were also displaying their ceramic nozzles. They claim longer life and less sensitive to cracking due to extreme amperages. What would be really cool to have in the garage is their Cold Wire Feeder. I drooled over this one. Someday maybe. They also have started to manufacture and sell trailing shields. If you are in a hurry and don't want to make your own, I recommend theirs. Well made and cost effective.
-Jonathan

[Superiorwelding]

More CK Worldwide products, Cold Wire Feeder and Trailing Shields.
-Jonathan