Ray Berlin is a 58-year-old machinist at Universal Precision Products in Akron, Ohio. He's also an alumnus of the "Junkyard Wars" television show on cable network TLC. (For a primer on the show, read "'Junkyard' junkies" or visit www.tlc.com.)

Last year, Berlin and buddies Jay McKinney and Tom Gough traveled to England and competed as a team on the hands-on, design-find-build-compete TV show. Berlin's team, dubbed the "The Rusty Juveniles," battled "The Young Guns," a Palo Alto, California, trio, in a contest to create an air cannon capable of launching pumpkins at a structure 60 yards away. The contraption built by Berlin's crew lost in an accuracy competition.

MRO Today editor Paul V. Arnold recently caught up with Berlin and discussed the "Junkyard Wars" experience.

Arnold: Ray, you brought factory smarts to "The Rusty Juveniles." How long have you been in the manufacturing industry?

Berlin: I've worked at Universal for 33 years and have been in industry a total of 38 years. At Universal, I'm a journeyman machinist. I mostly do assembly work on large equipment.

Arnold: How did you get involved with "Junkyard Wars"?
Berlin: My good friend Jay McKinney happened to run across it on the Internet. The show's producers were in Washington, D.C., taking applications. Jay eventually got into a phone conversation with them. They sent us a form to list who we were, what our professions were and what we felt our capabilities were in specific mechanical areas, like welding, machining, all that stuff. We had to rate ourselves (fair, good, excellent) for those areas. After we filled that out, they got in contact with us again and asked us to create a short video of us explaining how something works mechanically.

Arnold: Sounds like an audition. What did you do for your video project?

Berlin: Believe it or not, our topic was a push lawn mower. They wanted us to explain something so a 14-year-old could understand it. So rather than getting real technical with engines or whatever, we just picked something simple. The three of us enjoy life and we enjoy each other and always have a good time. So we kind of made the tape a little foolish, and I think that appealed to them. I don't think they wanted a bunch of stick-in-the-mud guys. They wanted people who just enjoyed life  happy-go-lucky people, I guess.

Arnold: After the producers saw your video, did you have to go through any other testing or screening process?

Berlin: At first we thought there was going to be like a regional contest, but they called and told us we were on the short list of 12 teams that they were going to choose from. Afterward, we found out it was our video and the way we explained the mower, as well as our antics  we sent them the outtakes, too  that sold them on us.

Arnold: So your team was picked to be on "Junkyard Wars" and slated to compete against a team from California. Talk a bit about the project the producers selected for your particular show?

Berlin: They didn't inform you what you had to build until the day of the show. On that day, the teams had to build a human-powered air cannon to shoot pumpkins.

Arnold: You're old friends with your teammates. Did those long-time relationships help the team in terms of mapping out what you wanted to do? Did you set it up so each would use his particular skills?

Berlin: For the program, they assign you an "expert." The expert on your team knows in advance what the project is going to be. He is familiar with the construction of what you have to build. He helps with a lot of the work. He basically knows what you need to do to approach this task.

Arnold: So he acts as the sounding board for ideas?

Berlin: Right. You are left to a lot of your skills as far as building the device. It is somewhat scripted for you because of safety reasons. They have to make sure that some things are safe that you are going to go out and find. As far as the three of us, we've been friends for 30 years. We pretty much know each other, what each can do. We are all familiar with machinery and equipment. I did the machining and the majority of the welding.

Arnold: For the show's junkyard area, do they seed it with the parts and equipment a team would need to build a show's chosen device?

Berlin: Like I said, it is somewhat scripted. The experts tell them kind of what would be needed to complete the task. To some degree, parts are planted out there. Obviously if you watch the show, you don't normally go around a junkyard and find a working automobile engine. But you still have to go out and find it. They don't point things out. They have some people that if you are having extreme difficulty, they will help you. It is a business. They must have a show. It's not taking anything away from the show to have it scripted a little bit. It's still quite a challenge.

Arnold: Where was this set, this junkyard, located?

Berlin: It was actually in a very, very large junkyard in London. They had a 70-square-yard section cordoned off. It was truly a pile of junk. In that pile of junk would be the things needed for your project. But it was in a real junkyard in London.

(The 2000 and 2001 seasons were filmed in England. The 2002 season will have a British version filmed in London and an American version filmed somewhere in California.)

Arnold: Talk about the final design for your team's pumpkin launcher?

Berlin: The expert knew that we had to find a tank that would hold air. We had to find a barrel that we could use. We chose a piece of pipe. We found a butterfly valve for the quick release of the compressed air. But then we also had to come up with a way of pumping up the air tank. We found some old bicycles and put two of them together. We took the wheels off and fitted them on a stand. We put a pulley on the back and made it connect to an axle that we set up. The contraption went through a Ford transmission because we thought that as we built pressure in the tank, it would be too difficult to pump the bicycle. The transmission, it was thought, would help ease that. But we found out it didn't take as much air pressure as our expert thought. He had told us it would have to go up to 60 pounds per square inch in our tank. We had success at 22 psi. Even without the need of the transmission, it was still quite a chore to pump on this bike for 10 minutes to build up the air pressure.

Arnold: How did the other team approach the project?

Berlin: To launch their pumpkins, they built a catapult type device.

Arnold: How was the winner judged?

Berlin: A castle was constructed 60 yards out from where we were shooting. If one of your pumpkins made it inside the castle, you got 100 points. If you hit the castle, you got 30 points. "The Young Guns" had one of its pumpkins come up short, but it exploded and some of the pieces hit the castle. The producers gave them 30 points for that. We had a different strategy and it backfired. We get asked, "Why didn't you lower the cannon and shoot the castle?" We went for style. We were trying to launch it inside the castle. We were told to try to get it inside the castle. It was their show, so we tried to do it like they wanted. We could have lowered it and shot at the walls of the castle and won. We came close but we didn't score.

Arnold: Has your team been asked to come back for a rematch?

Berlin: They said they might bring us back. Jay really wants to go back and try again, but we haven't been contacted yet.

Arnold: Have you gained a little bit of notoriety for being on the show?

Berlin: My friends and some old school acquaintances have made a big deal of it. We were interviewed by a few local newspapers. After the show aired, Jay got 10 to 20 e-mails a day from people who watched it. People congratulated our efforts and felt that we were cheated.

Arnold: What is it about this show which has struck a chord with manufacturing-type people?

Berlin: For most males, it's the mechanical, tinkering thing and the challenge of starting with nothing, going out in a junkyard and finding a way to make something work. It's just fun. I like to work with my hands. I've been in the trades all my life. Being a machinist, you develop lots of skills  machining, welding, fitting, designing. That life experience teaches you lots of stuff.

MRO Today. Copyright, 2001.

Back to top

Back to Web-exclusive articles archives