Making a Living Doing What I Enjoy

During my senior year of high school when everybody else was deciding what university they would go to I decided to apply to technical school and learn a trade that I knew I would be able to find steady work in after I graduated. I had always enjoyed working on cars, so that’s the road I took. I also took classes in welding and got specialized training inaluminum welding. Putting all these together I was able to find an excellent job as an auto mechanic and then incorporate my specialized training into that trade.

Perfecting the techniques of aluminum welding helped me to repair difficult engine oil leaks that are generally very time consuming and costly. I wanted to be able to do these types of repairs in a way that is not as expensive as other mechanics might be. I felt it was important to give customers a better service without them having to pay an arm and a leg to have the repairs done.

It didn’t take long for me to move up the ladder and be successful in the business I worked for, but I wanted more. I wanted my own business even though I knew that would take a lot of long hours and hard work. After working for somebody else for five years, I finally decided it was time to start my own business. I knew which repairs were the most expensive and those were the types of repairs I would specialize in, charging much less than every other shop in town. I was able to do this because those expensive repairs required the use of aluminum welding in which I was very specialized in. My business grew by word of mouth. Satisfied customers told their friends where they could get repairs, such astransmission housing repair and aluminum cylinder heads repair, done for almost half the price as the other shops charged.

I’ve had my own shop for more than 10 years and I employ five other mechanics. My shop has grown from a one-room garage to a five-bay garage. I still think about my classmates who decided to go to college and how many of them are now out of work because of the economy. My simple decision to learn a trade and then specialize in aluminum weldingwas the best decision I ever made. I know I will never be out of a job because as long as there are people there will always be cars. And as long as there are cars, those cars will need repairs.

Back From The Brink

While walking through an old junkyard, I came across a motorcycle that had been left for dead. It looked to have a few years of rust and considerable damage to the motor and frame and actually didn’t look to be at all salvageable. It was perfect for what I had planned. I bought it for fifty bucks, loaded it into the bed of my pickup, and took it home. I was going to tear it down and built it back, eventually; I just needed to figure out how. I wasn’t very knowledgeable aboutaluminum welding and didn’t know if I was going to be able to repair the many aluminum parts that were so badly broken. I did some research and found that it was quite possible to do these repairs without having to buy all new parts.

After locating an aluminum welding supply store, I began learning the necessary techniques I would need in order to put this motorcycle back together to make it a running machine. It took me a few weeks to understand what I needed to do and after I had the supplies that I needed I began the work. To repair aluminum as strong as or stronger than it originally was, I had to use specialized aluminum welding materials. They were easy to work with; much easier than the typical welding materials I was used to using. Little by little I began putting this motorcycle back together.

Motorcycle fuel-tank repair is not always an easy task. Generally it’s easier to just buy a new one but I was determined to use as many of the original parts as I could. I was able to fix the fuel tank by aluminum brazing, which sealed the tank well. I was actually very surprised at how easily I was able to repair the tank; I really thought it would be a lot more difficult than what it was.

I had to do a lot of work to the engine; I had to take it completely apart and then built back with working parts. It was a time consuming job but I knew it was well worth it. The job would have taken at least twice as long if I hadn't learned aluminum welding. Being able to fix those parts instead of buying them new saved me a great deal of money. Sure, it would have been faster to buy them new, but it was the challenge of fixing the old parts that kept me going.

After eight months of work, I finally completed the job. I was assured that the aluminum brazing I used to fix many of the parts would withstand a lot of punishment. I didn’t want to find out just how much punishment it would take; I just wanted it to run like new. After getting it painted, buying a new seat, I took it out for the first ride. It rode smooth as silk and after three years of service, it still runs perfectly. That was the best fifty bucks I ever spent.

Old Boat Like New Again

A friend of mine mentioned she was trying to get rid of an old aluminum boat that she and her husband had. She said it had a leak and they didn’t think it was worth fixing and they just wanted to get rid of it. I told my husband and he thought he could get it fixed pretty cheap. He knew somebody who did boat repair work and was certain he could get it seaworthy again. I called my friend and made arrangements to pick up the boat the next day.

My husband picked up the small aluminum boat and took it to his friend who looked it over. I thought it was difficult to repair aluminum but my husband said his friend has a special type of aluminum welding that fixed aluminum stronger than new. We got the boat for free so I guess it wouldn’t hurt to give it a try. We were really hoping we could get this boat repair done so that we could use the boat on the small lake that is just a half a mile from our house.

I had no idea what aluminum brazing was or how it actually worked but my husband seemed to think it was going to work just fine. He left the boat with his friend and told him to call when it was finished. The next day his friend called and said the boat was ready to pick up. He had fixed the leaks and put it on water to make sure he had gotten them all. The boat was watertight and good as new.

That was three years ago and after many, many fishing trips, the aluminum brazing has held perfectly. My boys have spent countless hours in that boat that would have ended up at the dump if we hadn’t salvaged it. It was after that boat repair that my husband looked into aluminum welding as a side business to fix old boats and resell them. Over the last couple of years he’s done pretty well keeping busy fixing up old boats and even some cars to make a little extra money on his spare time. It really is amazing how easy it is to weld aluminum and how quickly a job can be completed. He even taught our oldest son the aspects of aluminum welding so that he can also make extra money on the side doing aluminum repairs.

Sink or Swim

My husband and I enjoy spending the summer and early fall boating on the lake that is just an hour from our home. We spend almost every weekend at the lake fishing or just sight-seeing. We decided to take one last trip this past weekend and then store the boat until next season. All was going well until we began to take on water. We quickly made our way to the loading bay and got the boat out of water. Once out of danger we began calling around to find somebody who could do boat repair work.

My husband is a gifted mechanic but this was a bit out of his league; the boat needed specialized repairs that my husband had no idea how to deal with. The gentleman we called met us at the marina and inspected the boat. He told us he could do the boat repair work but it would take several hours to finish. He said it needed special aluminum welding which isn’t as easy as typical welding. We really had no choice in the matter and felt we should not put off the repairs until next season as the cold weather might make the structural damage worse.

We pulled the boat to his repair shop and then headed back to the lake to get a room for the night. We decided to enjoy our last weekend at the lake even if we couldn’t be on our boat. The next morning we had a very nice breakfast and then took a long walk along the lake to look for driftwood. Late in the morning the boat repair mechanic called and told us the job was completed and we could pick up the boat any time we liked. He told us it would be best not to launch the boat for a few days just to make sure the aluminum welding hardens correctly. I know nothing about welding and neither does my husband, so we took his word for it and took the boat home. The cost of the repairs was a little more than we might have expected and we wondered if we had been taken for a ride.

When we got back home my husband called a couple of friends who are in the welding business and asked if the price we paid for the boat repair was typical or not. It seems we actually got a really good deal as repairs such as we had usually cost twice as much as we paid. After this experience my husband decided to take a maintenance course on boat repairs so that he can be prepared and knowledgeable about typical repairs. I suppose the moral of the story is, if you are going to own a machine, you should at least know some basic things to maintaining and fixing it.