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A teenager’s welding hobby often leads to a profession, but sometimes it can provide a better future for someone else. This happened to Janne Juntunen from Kajaani, Finland. For almost a year, he welded a custom motorcycle to be drawn as a charity raffle prize. The profit of the raffle will be used to support free time motor vehicle workshops for the youth, which often act as a kick-start to working life for youngsters aged between 14 and 21 years.
Janne Juntunen has been an active free time welder and a motorcycle addict since a young age. Little by little, he cultivated an idea to use his skills in a way that could provide future possibilities for youngsters with the same interests. A self-welded custom motorcycle seemed like a natural project and ambitious enough, and it raised a lot of interest. After a short while, Juntunen had several sponsors participating in the project. His starting point was an Indian Scout 2019 motorcycle.
The custom motorcycle was revealed at the MP 20 Motorcycle Show in Helsinki, Finland at the end of January 2020. The annual exhibition gathers over 60,000 motorcyclists from all over the Nordic countries. Juntunen’s creation was drawn as a raffle prize, with each raffle ticket costing 10 euros. The profit will be directed in full to tool supplies used at free time motor vehicle workshops for youngsters. These over 30 workshops provided by Nuori Kirkko ry (a service organization formed by Evangelical Lutheran congregations in Finland) are located all over Finland, and they gather youngsters interested in motor vehicles. Currently, there are over 700 teenagers attending regularly.
“The motor vehicle workshops enable youngsters to find employment better. They learn to take control of their life and find their place in the society as their self-esteem grows stronger,” explains Veijo Kiviluoma, a workshop coordinator at Nuori Kirkko ry.
Collaboration takes further
Juntunen has received a lot of support and materials for his project from specialists in different fields. He already owns welding equipment, but the possibilities multiplied as Kemppi lent Juntunen a brand new MasterTig MLS 2300 ACDC. He used the welding equipment for all welds in the project, the most significant ones being the pulse welding of the cover set made of aluminum and the welding of the exhaust manifold made of stainless steel. Altogether, he used 3 pcs of 20 kgs shield gas cylinders during the project. As the work proceeded, Juntunen tried all the functions of the equipment with different voltages.
Juntunen is very satisfied with the welding properties of MasterTig MLS 2300 ACDC.
“There are welding machines and there are good welding machines. Definitely MasterTig MLS 2300 ACDC is one of the latter,” Juntunen chuckles. He is especially pleased with the ease of use and ergonomics of the foot pedal remote control and the TTC torch equipped with an s-shaped neck. Both tools allowed Juntunen to optimize his work. The welding became smoother as there was no need to adjust the parameters from the power source itself. The reliability and ease of use of the equipment were also worth to mention.
Happy to help
The future of motor vehicle workshops looks bright: There’s both demand and interest, and new youngsters are joining. The good results speak for themselves.
“In this scale, our activities require lots of resources, especially in developing the premises and training new volunteers,” comments Veijo Kiviluoma. Municipalities and congregations have a strong desire to further develop the activity.
How about Janne Juntunen, will he continue on the charity road even after the exhibition? “For sure I will join interesting future charity projects as well. However, I believe this has been an exceptional and a great opportunity, as I could use my dear hobby to help others,” describes Juntunen. Other than that, the future plans of Juntunen are still open. Practicing his hobby will not end for sure – a welder’s heart beats under the black hoodie.
