I have been repairing metal gates where the hinges have seized due to rust (not being oiled or greased). I cut off the seized hinges with an abrasive wheel on an angle grinder, and weld on new hinges. To help eliminate the lubrication issue, I use two-piece hinges that have a captured pin inside. I drill out the top part and tap it for a grease fitting. Once greased, very smooth and will never again seize up due to rust.
I have a friend that works for a delivery company and now I have side work repairing hand trucks. Pricing is difficult but since I'm a newbie welder any little bit of work is welcome and I get paid for play. Happy Birthday sir!🎉
The Diopter glasses are nice (and I've used them now for years); but a 'nicer' option which are ballistic rated are available on Amazon, and are UV rated and have FULL view magnification vs the impeded, minute view of the Milwaukee's at the lower end. Great vid, thank you Brandon, just sharing so this following is aware of other styled viewing options.
Good informational video Brandon thanks for always wanting to help us get things figured out and guide us along the way!! Have a great day!! Take care!
Good video. It's good to see simple welding jobs that us ordinary people might encounter. Thanks for the head's up regarding those safety glasses. I'm 73, and those are just what I need.
Stuff like that and mowers are always freebies for me, those little free jobs sometimes bring loyal customers with bigger stuff, Ive done a mobile job to fix a simple mower deck mount (2 hour minimum $120 mobile fee) Did it for free after I got there, 10 minute job. Guy ended up calling me about 3 months later to build him a steel bridge to go across a creek for his tractor and fourwheeler. Made more than enough on that one, and have worked for his friends and family off and on ever since.
Nothing is free. Charge a fair price for every service means you get paid a fair wage for everything. What you are doing is giving out free loans on the hope they will pay you back... at some point... before you die. I like the customers that expect to pay for services... not the ones that hope it is discount day at the Failure shop.
Good job, good repair, good price for the customer!!! I am going to get me a pair of those glasses!!! As always, great tips and suggestions. What would we do without you!!! Be well, be safe, be Blessed!!! Serve God, Love People!!!
Thanks Jim! Honestly, I can't take credit for the glasses, my wife found them at Home Depot all covered in dust. I almost didn't bother to get them...im glad I did because they are awesome! It's a game changer for sure
I understand how & why you would/should charge for doing repairs. I too run a handy man repair business. I just focus more on auto repair. But I also do welding work... But for something like this, being a friend/coworker of your wife? I wouldn't have changed anything for this repair. I've gotten 10 times the amount in return business from word of mouth for little stuff like this. I've also lost good customers for charging what is fair for these little things. To me 15 minutes out of my time is not worth losing a customer that more than likely will brag about how good a person/handy man you are to all of their friends.
@jeffallen3382 correct. If I were to charge, it would be somewhere around 25 to 30 . I thought I mentioned it was a freeby but I also could have forgotten to mention it also.
I do get asked often times how much I charge the customer especially for welding aluminum. People know that tig welding Al is a little bit expensive than mig welding or stick. I don't charge by centimeter of weld. I always charge what I think would be fair enough for me and the customer, and never had problems to be too expensive for people.Ex: I weld a 5 cm cracked alloy rim for 20 euros or less. If I have 2 cracks on same rim I charge 30 euro only instead of 40 euro to make a good price. When I have a big repair I'm going to evaluate the consumables and my time, and then make a price.
I was close? Humm, I wasn't aware you were adding additional fees. Yep, you're right. I could add that I'm a nice guy, who does favors for customers. I only bill the cost of materials used. I don't mind the labor. ( I'm retired and don't bother with taxes) 😂
Hi Brandon, I’m a new hobby welder. I have a 120v Titanium 140 MiG and .030 YesWelder stainless steel flux core wire. I’m helping my neighbor out with his sailboat. The safety stays that run the perimeter of the boat to keep you from falling in are bolted through the hull at the bottom, the original set up was stainless bolts and just single nuts on the other side. We are upgrading it to a threaded plate for the two bolts that pass through the hull to eliminate the need to get a wrench behind it. The space is very very limited inside the hull so I want to tack weld some thin steal on to the bracket we made to hold it in place while running in the new bolts. We are using thin steal flashing from a heating duct because it’s nice and flexible. Any suggestions on how to not blow through the thin metal but get just enough of a tack on it so it can be removed after? The bracket is 1/4” stainless.
I'm thinking getting the two welded would be hard because duct is so thin and duct is usially steel or aluminum and your plate is stainless, I would lean towards gorilla tape to hold the duct to the metal, then give it yank once you get the bolts through.
I've been hanging led lights up in my welding area off of the 2x4 section of the trusses. Just using a small piece of thin plate cut the exact size of the 2x4 with a piece of angle iron coming out from that, hanging the light with an eye bolt and chain. That way all the light is not hitting anything. I didn't charge myself. Years ago with my first wife her girlfriend had a car that always needed something. Once was the radiator which I did have to charge her because it cost me money otherwise my ex made me fix for free.
Bet those safety glasses are already scratched, and missing at least one nose piece. I was at their booth in MI where they had some on display. I scratched five of them and handed each to a booth rep. How did I scratch them? Wiped my clean finger across the lens. I'm a big Milwaukee fan, but their eye wear is shit, and has been for years. I removed them from our company supplied PPE list three years ago.
I havent had them long enough to say the same. So far i've been really happy with them. I'm usually pretty easy on safety glasses anyways. My biggest complaint with safetly glasses is fogging up. These havent done that so I'm happy so far.
I fix lawn chairs, barbecues, and random steel stuff around the house for people for free. It takes so little of my time, and there's just one of me. If it breaks again, they're back in the same situation they were in. That crappy furniture has 22 sketchy welds just like the one that broke, and there's no point in me guaranteeing the one or two that failed before I showed up. They're like $10 a chair if you break down the Home Depot pricing. If I was a CEO managing a thousand welders, I'd worry about how much it's worth to a customer to fix a worthless lawn chair, and set my price just a penny higher. But I have a few hours a day to work on things and money doesn't rule my life.
@zapa1pnt God Bless you! I appreciate that! 🙏Funny story. I brought my daughter to the dentist back when she was a teen still in school. The lady sitting across from us recognized her because apparently her daughter and mine are friends at school. The following day my daughter comes home from school mortified. She said to me that her friends mom that saw us at the dentist wanted to know who my daughters new boyfriend was. My daughter was like "that's gross, that was my dad"! 🤣🤣🤣 I still get a kick out of that story to this day.
Wonderful explanation how you take on this job. The goggles are new to me🥸. Now there are specs with readingglasses +1.5 in it. What an invention! Going to buy me a few so as to keep my goggles on under my helmet. Enjoyed your whole lesson how to charge and liability. Evenmore if it fits within your range of knowledge/crafsmanship. Thanks a lot Brandon and greetz from Holland...😀💯💯💥💥👌
Thanks Marcel I appreciate it! Yah those safety glasses are a game changer! When my wife found them at Home Depot I wasn't completely sold but figured I'd give it a try. Now im sold! They are awesome!
