In this episode of the Dusty Jobs Podcast from FABTECH 2025, we talk with Beau Wigington from WELD.com. Beau shares how WELD.com is making welding easier to learn with simple, accessible content and dives into their plans for machine comparisons, video podcasts, and more. We also discuss how automation and clean air solutions are changing the future of welding and making it safer for the next generation.
Narrator: Welcome to the Dusty Jobs podcast from Imperial Systems. Industry knowledge to make your job easier and safer.
Donovan: Hello, welcome to another episode of the Dusty Jobs podcast. Fabtech 2025.
Beau: 2025.
Donovan: And guess who I found at Fabtech 2025? Beau from WELD.com. Surprise, surprise.
Beau: Surprise, surprise. I didn’t know I was going to be here.
Donovan: Every year it’s a surprise.
Beau: Well, you guys were across the street from us that first year.
Donovan: That’s true.
Beau: Because that was like my break into, like, podcasting, because I came down here on a whim. Well, it was Atlanta.
Donovan: Yeah.
Beau: And I interviewed, like, 27 people. You guys were just like, “You’re working hard over there. You want to come on our podcast?”
Donovan: That’s right.
Beau: I was like, that’d be a good change of pace, I think.
Donovan: So that year you guys had that really cool table that you guys had set up. Now you guys are here doing it again this year.
Beau: We’re here doing it again.
Donovan: And you guys are partnering with…
Beau: So, we are here. We have a booth with the American Welding Program—
Donovan: Yep.
Beau: —who is our education partner. So, we show a lot of, like, the kind of textbook stuff that they do. We translate it into video and try to make it digestible for normal people. Maybe if you’re not a welder and you don’t understand fancy terms, we try to make it simple.
Donovan: People who are just getting started, just trying to figure out what they’re doing. Maybe they bought their first welder from Harbor Freight.
Beau: Yes, that is actually a big thing we’re going to try to focus on next year, is, like, all of those machines. There’s a lot of really cheap machines out there, but how good are they? You know, how long will they last? What kind of welding can you actually do with them? Those are the kind of questions we want to answer with the channel over the next year.
Donovan: Well, that’s cool. So that’s some new stuff you got coming up over the next year. Product review, it sounds like. Is that…
Beau: It’s going to be more like a… have you ever watched, like, a guitar pedal shootouts or amps? Like, they’ll have… They’ll put them side by side.
Donovan: Oh, yeah.
Beau: And just, just put them up to each other and see what happens. And then maybe blow them up, you know? I, I want to see how far we can push some machines and see if we can get some to blow up.
Donovan: That’s awesome.
Beau: We got really into blowing things up this year.
Donovan: Well, and you guys, you guys did a lot of traveling this year, too, right? You guys kind of took it on the road.
Beau: I think this is my 13th trip of the year.
Donovan: Oh, man. Put some miles on.
Beau: Yeah. Lots of miles.
Donovan: So, up to… for maybe some people that haven’t been following you, which they should. They should go out there.
Beau: Come on. I’ve been on this podcast every year! Got to be following by now.
Donovan: Well, we encourage everybody from our group to go see your group. So, hit us with some of the highlights, where you guys ended up this year.
Beau: Okay, so some of the highlights: we did Florida. Florida’s always fun. We got to go out to Utah, and we saw a, like, a gigantic, like, beam manufacturer called BZI.
Donovan: Okay.
Beau: They make a bunch of structural steel. So, we got to see how that’s done. And then they trained us on some seismic welding, and we got to do some fly fishing on our day off.
Donovan: Nice.
Beau: Been to multiple welding competitions. Went to the Yeti welding competition out in Utah.
Donovan: Okay.
Beau: SkillsUSA, the national competition. Got to go to that.
Donovan: Oh, that’s great.
Beau: I hosted Clash of the Grinders here. I did 3 hours of commentating straight.
Donovan: That’s great.
Beau: It was a lot, but it was fun. And then we, we’re going to be going up to New York again. We do this event called Maker Camp where we teach makers, which is like a hardcore DIY person.
Donovan: Yeah.
Beau: People that are like, “I want to learn a bunch of different skills.” We go up and teach them welding. This year we’re going to be doing a welding competition up there. I guess we’re just in the competition mode this year.
Donovan: There you go. Now, there was, there’s a scrap festival? Do you guys go to that, too?
Beau: So, I went to that two years ago, but actually tomorrow I’m doing a panel with some of the artists at our booth.
Donovan: There you go.
Beau: But, yeah, I’m hoping we’re going to go next year. I really want to build something for ScrapFest.
Donovan: Nice. You?
Beau: Yeah.
Donovan: Yeah, you should do it!
Beau: Yeah. Have you heard of the event before?
Donovan: Yes, I’ve heard of it before, and I, I’ve seen your guys’ other episodes on it.
Beau: Yeah. No, it’s, it’s very cool. Like, it’s close to here, so hopefully some Chicago people, if you’re watching, you can go and be part of it.
Donovan: Yeah, anybody local should go to it. Even, even travel. It looks like it’s a great time. Looks like a lot of fun. A lot of cool stuff gets made.
Beau: So, like, the city of East Lansing, as it grew throughout the years, it grew around a scrapyard, right? Like a metal recycling yard. So, every year that, that plant, they give all these artists 500 lb of free metal to go make a sculpture. They have one month to do it, and then they have to bring it back up, and then they close down the entire, like, downtown street and put the sculptures all the way down the street and have a big street festival. It’s amazing.
Donovan: Yeah, it, it just, it looks cool. If you’re in the area, or just willing to, you got a couple extra vacation days to burn, you should go check it out.
Beau: Burn them up. Burn them up.
Donovan: So, you guys talked about, you’re going to be doing some upcoming, kind of product review. We talked about that. Anything else new coming out on WELD.com this year that…
Beau: We’re switching to video podcasts.
Donovan: Okay.
Beau: Like, we’ve been mainly audio podcasts.
Donovan: Yeah.
Beau: But we’ve been traveling. So, I never really like doing the video podcasts over the Internet because it just felt like recording a Zoom call. I don’t think it’s that cool, you know? But I’ve been traveling to people’s shops or different businesses, and, like, I did a, I did a podcast in the middle of a $6,000 laser cell, like, with it just spinning on a five axis earlier this year. Like, just trying to show people the cool stuff, but then talk about it in the middle of it, you know, because I feel like that’s the hardest part with the industry and all. Like, it’s hard getting the younger generations to see the cool things.
Donovan: Yep.
Beau: Like, you can tell, but you have to show, right? And so that’s a big part of, like, our podcast. We’re trying to show really cool things you can do and then teach you how to do it on the channel, you know?
Donovan: Right. Yeah. Because, I mean, I think we’re still at a shortage.
Beau: Yes.
Donovan: That’s it. As a nation, we’re still at a shortage of people who are welding. I mean, if you stay, if you come around the show, there are a ton of people here in the metal working industry, but we still need more.
Beau: Yeah.
Donovan: And if someone’s at home listening to this, or someone’s at home thinking about it, or maybe they’re thinking about “What could my children be successful at in America?” Welding is an area you can still do a lot and have a good living at it.
Beau: And it’s fun. A lot of people are afraid of welding because of, like, the reputation it has. You know, people think it’s dangerous, dirty, and, like, you’re going to just be in the nastiest conditions ever, right? A lot of that’s changed with technology, you know, and, like, a lot of welders don’t like the word automation, but automation is making our trade a lot safer. So, you know, the parents out there that might be kind of scared of their kid getting into the welding industry, sometimes they’ll be doing it with a robot. You know, they’ll have a robot that’s doing that, like, nasty, if they’re welding something super corrosive that’s throwing off, like, hexavalent chromium, you know, it’s like you, you don’t want to be breathing it in. So have a robot do it, right?
Donovan: And then we can take that air here in Imperial Systems and clean it so that you’re still not even standing in an environment that that robot’s producing that weld fume.
Beau: Yeah, that’s very important part of the equation.
Donovan: Yeah.
Beau: Because that’s something, like, I talk to a lot of people overseas. So, in Europe, the standards over there for welders, you have to wear a PAPR, and it’s, like, very hardcore on safety, and they call us cowboys over here because the one kind of welding mask, if you’ve ever seen a pancake hood, right, like, it’s just, like, a big, big circle, and they, they can’t wrap their heads around what those are all about. They’re just like, “What is this even about?” But the reason people wear pancake hoods is you can talk to your helper, you know, and they can understand you.
Donovan: Yeah.
Beau: But it’s not really that great for breathing in those.
Donovan: Yeah. Yeah. So, here that’s what we’re trying to do is help people to go home healthier and safer to their families every day. And you guys are doing the same thing over there, trying to educate people on what the, the benefits and the, the ways to, weld, but also you guys are helping people learn how to stay safe, too.
Beau: Oh, yeah. Safety is a big part of our business. Like, we are making it our business to keep people safe.
Donovan: Yeah.
Beau: More people out there doing it, better everybody’s going to be out.
Donovan: Yeah. Yeah. It’s just going to be better for our economy, better for our industry, better for our country
Beau: And people can work in the industry longer.
Donovan: Yeah.
Beau: If they’re not having to retire for medical reasons, you know.
Donovan: Exactly. Yeah. Well, once again, it’s always great talking to you.
Beau: Four times in a row.
Donovan: We’ll see. We’ll see what next year brings.
Beau: We’ll see.
Donovan: Maybe we’ll have to come your way. We’ll come be on your podcast next year, maybe.
Beau: I’ll just come and bring it here.
Donovan: That’s true.
Beau: That’s my thing. I bring it to you.
Donovan: That’s, yes. Very fair. Very fair. My booth is not quite as full as this booth. You guys go out every year.
Donovan: Yeah. Our team here does a great job. I’m sure whatever we have next year will be phenomenal, too. They come up with a great idea every year.
Beau: The best carpet in the gang, people. The best carpet in the game.
Donovan: When you got to stand on it for four days, it’s nice to have.
Beau: I know. That’s why I love coming here. It’s like my, like, rest time. I can lay down and take a nap if I want to.
Donovan: Yeah. If somebody’s having a hard time at the show, come on. We can get you, get you a nap.
Beau: Yeah. Get you a good nap.
Donovan: But, all right. Well, once again, appreciate you coming by, of course, having a good time with us. And, you know, go over to WELD.com, follow you guys on Instagram, Facebook, you guys are on everything, right?
Beau: Yeah. Anywhere you want to be, we’re probably there.
Donovan: There you go. Same with Imperial. Look us up on our social media. We appreciate it, and like and subscribe. I think that’s what I’m supposed to say on these.
Beau: Like, subscribe, and hit that bell if you want to get those notifications.
Donovan: There you go. So, but until next time, stay healthy and stay safe. Um, thanks.
Beau: Thank you.
Narrator: Thanks for listening to the Dusty Jobs podcast. Breathe better, work safer.
