My first job was in the Hughes welding research lab and I loved it. But my lab experience started as a youngster going to my mom’s radiation mutation genetics lab at UT Austin. My job was pipetting mutated drosophila (moving fruit flies from one test tube to another by sucking them up in a straw). Laboratories are in my blood.

We built our lab at ARC Specialties years ago so we could determine project feasibility and optimize process parameters BEFORE we build a machine.

In our lab, we have answered questions such as can you weld MoRe? Pure Tungsten? Make bullet-resistant coatings on Ti? Clad pipe 40′ deep? Use ESW for additive? Create wear-resistant coatings for aluminum? Maintain bond line flatness +/- .005′”? Too much fun!

This week’s challenge was to make .02″ thick metal to metal wear-resistant coatings for mud motor transmissions with a metallurgical bond, minimal cracking, and useable in the as-welded condition without a laser. With a little help from our friend Jean-Marc Tetevuide we succeeded.

If you have a manufacturing problem you would like for the ARC team to investigate contact me. If it is interesting we won’t even charge you!

At ARC Specialties we thrive on problems, send us yours!

– Dan Allford