Start Your Welding Business With These Tools!

hey guys welcome back to wall comm so today we have a great episode for you we're going through some of the video request forms online that you guys submitted through the new welcome websites if you have been there go check it out today Jayden Lopez wants to know how to start a welding business so we're gonna go ahead we're gonna give you seven different tools you must have to start a welding business and then some additional bonus content at the end of the video so stay tuned alright so the first thing you want to consider I mean if you're gonna start a welding business you're definitely gonna have to have a welding machine so I highly recommend getting something that is small and portable and multi process type machine so I was fortunate enough to where I live I can have I can run a business out of my residential home there are certain places in the area where you cannot run your business out of your home so if you can't start your business at your house you're just starting out you can't afford a shop take your business on the road there's a lot of money to be made and mobile repair welding get yourself a small portable multi process machine that way you can do stick MIG TIG flux core spool gun and you know all that stuff get one of those machines couple that up with a small generator I say this because now a lot of people have enough money to go out and buy an engine drive machine right off the bat you know so if you can't go out and get an SI 200 or a bobcat or trail blazer or Ranger start off with a small multi-process machine and a generator you'll be able to do work around apartment complexes restaurants residential and commercial buildings there's I mean it's just unlimited the amount of stuff you can do also don't focus on one aspect of welding some people are really good at stick welding and that's all they know expand your horizons learn MIG learn TIG learn flux core because that way you're not turning away jobs because you don't have those abilities so especially if you're in school learn all the processes don't just quit at one so next up I'd like to talk about now that we have the welding machine let's get into some of the cutting tools that you're definitely going to want to have alright so next we want to talk about cutting if you don't have access to oxy fuel torch or plasma cutter I know those would be my two first you know opinions to get but a porta ban is a lot cheaper and pretty effective for what it is so if you're going to be going out doing repairs making new stuff for the most part you can cut everything up with a porter band so you can cut steel stainless aluminum whatever you get into cut down bar stock round round solid stock square tube I mean this guy's limit right with this one I have about a five inch cutting depth in here and that's what you want to look for you want to try to maximize the amount of cutting depth so I used to do a lot of stairs and handrail repairs this was like my go-to saw I would cut everything up to do all my repairs with that I can cut out the old stock and cut the new stock to the appropriate size and then put it it you know weld it back in so I highly recommend one of these I don't know too many shops that get by without one so these are a great piece of equipment that you wanted you know consider getting into your tool box and using this while you're out on the out on the road alright one thing you're definitely gonna need starting your own business is a grinder I recommend not specifically this one it can be any brand you want but I like this one because it's a four and a half inch grinder a five inch grinder and a 6 inch grinder and it comes with the different guards that are appropriate for it so this one is the foreign half-inch guard you can put a five-inch guard or a six-inch guard on there depending on what you're going to be using to cut or grind or detail or cleanup or repair you want to make sure you're using the guard on your grinder just for the simple fact that you're paying for your own insurance and you know if you get put down by one of these things you could be in rehab for months trying to get your hand back work and if you slip with one of these things so you want to make sure you use the guards on them don't throw this away as soon as you get it and a lot of people do we're gonna be doing a full video on grinder safety so check that out as well but in addition to the grinder you want to make sure that you have the appropriate accessories for the grinder so a good quality cutoff wheel I recommend buying a box of each of the different types of wheels that we're going to show this is a great one because it leaves smaller burrs you're able to cut thin sheet metal as well as thicker materials you definitely want to cutting a cutting wheel in addition to your port abandon this is a great accessory for your grinder next up for all your prep work detail work polishing you want to get some zerk wheels I recommend getting a box azarkh wheels doesn't have to be four and a half inch like I said you can get five or six depending on the type of work that you're gonna be doing zurk wheels are awesome and I recommend getting at least a box of these to start off with and then obviously a hardrock right everybody wants to use a zerk wheel for the most of the time when they could be using a hard rock to get rid of mill scale or you know prep things or take welds out or clean things up start off with these follow it up with a zerk wheel you know for your finished top coat these are going to be a little bit more expensive than your your solid rocks so kind of take that into consideration use these as much as possible detail finish work and prep work with these all right so you're no doubt gonna have to drill out some holes or put some fasteners in or remove some fasteners to get to the work you have to do any repairs on or once you fabricate something you're gonna have to install it so I would highly recommend getting yourself a good quality drill as well as an impact I would prefer a cordless version because that's one less cable that I have to run to do my job so of cordless versions battery-powered awesome just make sure your batteries are charged up all the time I usually throw a battery right on the charger as soon as I get to the job site and fire the Machine up while I'm welding I've got batteries charging with this I can drill out all my holes you know we run a unibit you know I mean there's just all kinds of different drill attachments you can run for this put screws in and then with the impact I can use this I've used it for lag bolts putting in mechanical fasteners so if you have self tapping screws and stuff you have to run in these things are just awesome for it also you can put different socket attachments on here and you know you can put nuts and bolts and all that good stuff you can put those in or take them out whether you're doing install or removal so I highly recommend getting a good quality set of cordless tools drill and impact all right so this next little bit is more of a category than it is a specific tool these are the things you're you should be collecting these anyway you can never have enough tools and if you or your wife or your husband says that you have too many tools as it is you don't need anymore just tell them the red beard told you it was okay to go out and buy new tools I'll deal with the wrath so you have my permission that's the first thing you want is I would get a complete wrench allen key and screwdriver set like I said before you're gonna be taking a lot of things apart put them together doing installs removals so you're gonna want tools to be able to do that with last thing you want to do is be on the field you got a bunch of half-inch nuts you got to take apart and the only thing you have to work with is a crescent wrench definitely need a crescent wrench right so that's a full set of wrenches all in one metric and standard so give yourself some wrenches different hand tools mechanics types tools next thing I would get a couple of speed squares and layout tools so speed squares tape measure Carpenters squares sliding T bevels gives you some levels recommend at least you know like an eighth inch level to footer and a four-foot you know depending on the type of work you're gonna do everything you're gonna put in it's got to be square level or plumb so make sure you have the tools to put them in correctly to where they look good and then they function properly obviously gonna need some different types of marketing equipment I prefer two different types of sharpies I like the thin sharpies and then ultra thin or permanent markers whatever you want to go with mark all pro I highly recommend those I use this this is my go-to now and then a soapstone soapstone marker you can get you know whatever you like if you like the round ones go with that you like the thicker ones do that whatever you want it's not it's not a one-size-fits-all definitely want some hammers because you're gonna be beating on stuffs trying to you know hammer it in place you know you cut it to fit and build you know beat it into suit different types of pliers you know for cutting wire cutting cable working on your your MIG welding and stuff you know definitely make sure you have a pair of well purrs in there and then obviously a bunch of clamps as a welder you can never have too many clamps so you need sliding clamps C clamps finger clamps finger clamps with swivel pads I've got some sheet metal clamps here or sheet metal vice grips here welding pliers you can never have too much so just start building up your your stuff now especially if you're in school just buy a couple of tools every week you know just start off with the small stuff get the basics down and then before you know it you know you'll have an entire collection alright last but not least I highly recommend getting a calculator construction type calculator everybody keeps asking about it this is an app I pretty sure you can get on the Android store you can also get it in the Apple App Store I think this one's like 20 25 bucks but it's worth it it's the same calculator they sell over a home depot it's called the construction Master Pro but this way you always have it with you you don't forget your calculator it doesn't get damaged you don't leave it out everybody usually pretty takes good care of their cell phone download the app he won't regret it always make sure you have pen and paper or pen and paper right I'm just lexing sorry make sure you have these two items because you're going to be doing material takeoffs you're gonna have to list out hardware that you're gonna need different contacts people that you've spoke to keep a record of all that good stuff so make sure you have something to write with and something to write on those are I mean these are probably some of the most important tools you'll have and the cheapest out of all these so as the viewers if you guys have anything that you think I missed in this video that would be great you know are an asset a tool a quick tip or a resource that might help somebody out starting their own business especially if you've started up a successful business you want to pass some information down to the young up-and-comers go ahead drop it in the comments section you know it's a learning community you know we're all here to support one another so drop that information in the comment section because it just might help somebody else get up off the ground a very important thing to note about having tools is don't let anybody borrow them because you might not get them back not gonna mention any names man-cub alright so obviously you're gonna need some PPE so you want to make sure you have the right stuff especially you're paying for your insurance you don't want to be decommissioned like I said before you're the only source of income and this venture to start off with so obviously you're gonna want a good appropriate welding hood for the type of welding that you're gonna be doing I recommend getting one that has adjustable lenses in it you can use a fixed shade whatever you have just make sure you have a good quality welding helmet that you can rely on especially for doing a lot of welding this thing goes down you're down for the day also I would recommend having a spare or a backup welding hood face shields if you're going to be doing cutting grinding rotor anything with rotary tools where you know you know stuff happens right material flies around disks come apart make sure you got a face shield hardhat right you might not you probably need these in residential areas but if you do any side work or subcontracting for construction firms you're definitely gonna have to have a hardhat you want to make sure you have that keep the top your great covered so you get a decent welding cap to put on tasks appropriate or task specific gloves right so whether you need general work gloves different types of welding gloves make sure you have those your disposal always safety glasses right you're definitely gonna need safety glasses so if you're doing a thermal cutting tenant safety glasses with the appropriate IR shade and then clear safety glasses for everything soon as you get out of the truck you should be throwing these on your face earplugs okay you're dealing with power tools you got a generator going you got all kinds of other noise going on man comes making noise in the background drown them out get you some ear plugs welding jacket so depending on the type of work you're doing you know make sure you got the right type of welding jacket a lot of times you can get away with a light type of welding jacket but if you're doing some heavy flux core or you know a lot of stuff that's gonna cause a lot of sparks or molten metal or anything like that cutting you know you might want to look into some leather sleeves I highly recommend welding jackets right the arc that you're dealing with and I've seen this so many times guys just go in here they put their gloves on and they weld all day ten 15 years from now they're getting patches of melanoma cut out of their forearms I met a guy the other day that you know he had cancer removed from his forearm from not you know from not wearing you know not covering up from the UV light while you're welding so mace make you look cool and everything right now but 20 years from now when they're hacking chunks out of your tattoos and stuff you're gonna kind of regret that you you're not wearing the covering everything up so make sure you stay covered up make sure you stay safe the only source of income in this venture to start with so you know stay safe do it you know you're supposed to check out the a NSI Izzie 49.1 that has all the information in there related to welding and cutting and grinding and all the safety equipment you're gonna need for that so make sure you invest in good quality safety equipment okay so that's pretty much the tools and equipment you're gonna want just to start off like a small business and now for some bonus content so one of the things that I found out when I started my own business a while back you're gonna need to become legitimate you want to be legal when you do all this stuff so some of the things that you might want to consider the first thing I did is I went out and hired an attorney to help establish my business and give me recommendations on whether I should start an LLC or an S corp or a sub S Corp it's gonna be entirely up to what your goals are so I will leave that up to you I would definitely hire an attorney I think it cost me like right around 400 bucks to get the articles of organization and some good consultation and good legal advice for starting my business so once you've spoken with your attorney another thing that I highly recommend is going to like I was fortunate enough in my area to have something called a Business Development Center and it's a free service provided by the county that you live in and they will help you start a small business and get it up off the ground they're going to help you build everything you need put a business plan together just in case you have to apply for a small loan so if you went to get a small loan from a bank they're gonna want to see a business plan basically it's all your stuff that's projected income gross you know all the type of work that you're gonna be doing all that stuff so you can actually apply for a loan once you apply for a loan you can get bigger better tools to do more work so that's one thing you want to consider is look for a local Business Development Center in your area the next thing you want to do is you want to reach out to your local insurance agent because you're going to need for most companies most jobs you're gonna be doing work for you're gonna need about a million dollars worth of limited liability insurance now that sounds like a lot but it really didn't cost me much to get up and going right off the ground so you want to look into that you also want to file for get your w9s and all that good stuff in order get some references hire a certified public accountant somebody you can do your taxes because once you start your business you're gonna want to file your taxes on a quarterly basis so if you're not too proficient with your taxes find somebody who is right there's people to do this stuff for a living hire them to do your business you know the legalities of your business and it's not that expensive to do especially when you keep up with it you know quarterly one thing I also recommend is get some folders together and business cards made up so word of mouth is gonna travel pretty fast you can also advertise on facebook for free in the little gig section so you can pick up work that way that's kind of one of the ways I picked up a lot of business also stopping by like we said in a previous episode stopping by restaurants stopping by grocery stores any of those places apartment complexes you know there's always hand handrail guardrail stuff by the pool that always has to be fixed because people are tearing it up easy fixes lots of money to be made there I made a folder that had a business card in there I had a copy of my w-9 you know proof of my tax stamp for the county that I was going to be doing work in insurance paperwork stating that I had a million dollars worth of general liability I would put all that stuff into a folder and I would go stop and talk to the manager the superintendent's of the various establishments that I went to drop the folder off kind of give them a little bit of background about what I do and say hey you know if you need some work done go ahead and give me a call I'll come out here and assess the job and then we can work out something from there but I mean that's that's pretty much that's a good way to get started so I hope that answered your question guys if you have any additional questions you want to see we can do special episodes just go ahead go to Welkom click on that request a video link type in your information submit your request and we'll be happy to do a video for you so we appreciate you guys subscribing make sure you hit us on hit us up on Facebook and Instagram until next time make it well better than your last

Channel: Weld.com

Views: 465,152

Rating: 4.9487453 out of 5

Keywords: welding, weld.com, mig monday, tig time, how to weld, learn how to weld, welding for beginners, welding tips and tricks, welding projects, welding machine, welding aluminum, welding table, welding cast iron, welding stainless steel, welding techniques, welding rig, welding school, welding videos, welding aluminum with mig welder, welding for begginers, welding tips adn tricks, welding maching, welding marching, welding matching, welding stainlees steel, Welding techiniques

Id: JwXmVDifBB4

Length: 16min 26sec (986 seconds)

Published: Fri Jan 17 2020