We recently interviewed Josh Wonderly, Assistant Welding Foreman, to learn more about welding aluminum and what makes New Age Industrial’s welds better than any of our competitor’s. Find out how our combination of skilled welders and state of the art robotics allows us to maintain our industry recognizing high standards in welding aluminum. Watch the full video interview on YouTube!
Josh is our Assistant Welding Foreman on the day shift. He began welding when he was in high school. When New Age was looking for some welders, he applied, and has been at New Age Industrial for 20 years now. When asked what it takes to be a good welder, he said “It is an artform. It takes a lot of practice. You’ve got to be able to see. You have to be able to maneuver and adjust and be able to adapt.”
One of the most common questions people ask about welding is the difference between good weld and a bad weld. According to Josh, a good aluminum weld has the dime-on-dime effect. Josh said, “If you put dimes together and put them down, you will see ripples. That is a good weld. A bad weld would be something that has no ripples. It’s basically someone pushing the trigger and going down the seam. That is a bad weld.”
Another frequently asked question is the difference between welding aluminum and steel? We asked Josh about this, and Josh shared, “With steel, there’s a lot of splatter. A lot of what we call frying bacon. A lot of really high-pitched noise. You don’t have that with aluminum. With aluminum, you don’t have any splatter. It’s just a nice tone. That’s how you can tell if you have a nice bead going, with the tone. Aluminum doesn’t spark.”
There are various types of welding utilized by manufacturers including MIG, TIG and robotic welding. At New Age Industrial, we mostly we do MIG welding. According to Josh, “MIG is basically a welder pushing the wire through our gun. That is what creates the arc which creates the bead.” In TIG welding, a torch is used. Josh said, “You have what they call filler rod. You manually fill in on the puddle as you go through the seam.” We also have four, 2 headed Yaskawa robotic welders in our factory. These robots use cold metal transfer (CMT), which is a technologically advanced type of MIG welding.
At New Age Industrial, we have over 50 welders on staff. We are able to use both robots and hand welders simultaneously and on the same products. Josh commented, “For example, we can use the robots to weld a bunch of shelves or sides or something, but they can’t necessarily put the racks together. So, the robot will get the parts done if we have a huge quantity of them.” Our team hand-welds and assembles the products, then sends them to the shower fully assembled.
We have many strengths in welding compared to our competitors, and there are many reasons why. We take a lot of pride in our products and the way our welds look. We care tremendously about what the customer thinks and we want them to be happy. We will always go the extra mile to make sure our products are as scratch free as possible with as good of a weld as we could possibly create. Josh said, “We want the customer to be happy, because they are the reason that we are here.”
New Age Industrial is the leading aluminum extruder and fabricator of storage and transportation equipment in the United States. We design and manufacture heavy duty, yet lightweight aluminum products to meet your exact needs. We work with various industries including foodservice, supermarket, and material handling. For more information, feel free to visit our website or contact us today, and our team will help find you the perfect product that fits your needs.