All At Once

Ups and downs are part of the balance of life, so it is no surprise that as soon as we start to slow down we get all kinds of contracts. Never can we complain about that though, the more work the better. Yesterday the guys brought in a big steel rolling gate from a parking lot in Pacific Beach that needs some tender loving welds. Some of you might have seen my Facebook comment that no one should try and beat automated steel gates with their car, it never ends up well. Accept for us because we get the pleasure of fixing them! This is the third occurrence that I have run into, pun intended, this type of repair. People tend to be in a hurry most of the time in San Diego so it comes as no surprise that they cannot wait for a minute till the gate opens back up. Maybe they think these big steel gates have motion sensors on them and they will stop, but they quickly find out that is not the case, and their cars pay the price. Ouch. So Sean was attaching some new brackets while Juan ground down and smoothed out the bent sections. Juan was working on modifying a thick aluminum radiator in order to make it fit under the hood of a classic show car after he finished up a couple steel gates. All was sent to the out for paint yesterday so they will be nice and clean when they come back. Juan was also repairing a cracked one inch square restaurant cart that came in a couple days prior. All in all it seems that our range of services keeps growing and that is what we need to keep the guys in the shop as busy as possible. Till next time, remember to wear safety goggles to save those pupils.

Welders are Helpful People

Everyone can use a talented welder for one thing or another. It is particularly convenient to have a welding business in the same building as another business. For instance, we share the building with Garage Door Enterprises Inc. and the owner of the business is developing a new fleet of service vehicles so he is having our guys weld some steel racks to hold the garage doors inside of a van. That is what Sean was working on today when I stepped back into the shop. Jose was grinding away on something in the back and since he is the type of guy who does a lot and says a little, I am not sure on exactly what he was working on. Juan was catching up on the finishing touches of a large two piece gate and two small handrails. He has been sick with a horrible flu for the past three days so he is happy to be back at work. The color has came back to his face and he is moving much better. It is hard to realize how much we depend on people until they are out for a couple of days. Yesterday I did not realize that Sean and Jose were out on a portable welding assignment so I invited a client in to get a small weld done. Luckily Emro was in the office so he went back into the shop and welded the piece himself. That is a dedicated owner. Just another way that Morena Welding Inc. goes above and beyond to make sure our clients are completely satisfied. Talk to you next time.

Catching Up with the Shop

Well, it has been a while. That is how the holiday season goes, it goes. The shop has been up and down and side to side completing all different kinds of work. All the guys where working on two handrails that had a very complex bend and pitch. These rails took at least a week of solid work and caused a couple hand burns and heated discussions. Now they are ready for powder coat only after so many tiny adjustments that the guys went cross-eyed.
Around the new year we had plenty of walk-ins and return customers who needed trailers fixed for the adventures of the new year. Juan worked on a tour bus yesterday, a horse trailer last week, and a van's automated seat the day before that. Juan always gets all the interesting walk-ins since he rarely leaves the shop. Sean and Jose are the travel duo and when work is busy they are usually out and about San Diego County working at the request of HOA's or apartment complexes. Today they got to stay in the shop and work on a couple of matching steel bench chairs that look like they are great pieces of a front yard landscape design.
While Sean and Jose worked on welding, grinding, and finishing those benches, Juan was bending steel tubing for a custom gate that is part of three for a new home design.
And for me the BlogMaster B, well I am working on the first Morena Welding Monthly Newsletter that will help our team communicate even further with our great clients. Look for it in your email inbox by the first week of February. And like always send me a comment or any questions that you may have to brian@mwelding.com. I would love to talk with you. Till next time, we will be welding.

Standard Applications

Today in the Morena Welding Inc. shop was all about two large residential handrails with mean curves and a solid steel gate. Juan and Jose were torching a curved handrail to bend it just right towards the end of the day. Earlier Juan was finishing up on a gate with custom curved and flattened tips. Sean was around earlier in the day to help with the curved handrails and clean up the shop a little as usual. The guys are really good about keeping the shop clean and it shows. I am always more productive when my workspace is clean so it is nice to see others that take the same care in their craft.

The Busy Holiday Week

With a short week because of the upcoming holiday, projects are in full swing. The guys are all in the shop today trying to tie up any and all small projects. First, there was a pair of black dinner chairs that needed to be welded back together. Jose took care of that within the first couple hours and moved on to a handrail with a mean curve on it. Actually there are two curved handrails in the shop right now in the beginning stages of fabrication. Sean was helping hold the rail in place as they did some preliminary welds to solidify the shape of the rail. By now they are probably both welding the legs on them. Juan is completing two detailed gates that he has fabricated from scratch with half inch square steel bars. The first thing he did was bend all the bars to match each other. Then he placed it all together and started on his spot welds. It is looking like they should be ready for galvanization or paint by the end of the short week. Juan also just completed some two inch square aluminum gates that look super clean and are so much lighter than their steel counterparts. The day is coming to a short end because today is our holiday dinner/lunch at the fabulous Olive Garden. With hearty food, great company, and a covered tab the rest of the day for Morena Welding Inc. will be filed with extra happy campers.

Tools for Repair Need Repairs Too.

Tools are a very important part of any shop. They can make your work much easier or much more difficult if used on the incorrect application. Usually these day to day tools of the trade are taken for granted. When we start a project it is expected that the tools we need will work, and when they don't the project doesn't move until they do. For instance, today one of our trusty grinders was on the fritz. Luckily it was towards the end of the day and of course we have more than one. This doesn't mean we get rid of it, just let Juan play Mr. Fix It for an hour or so and that grinder will be good as new. Other than the fixing the tools of the trade the guys were working on a large light post, a square tubed aluminum gate, and Sean went on a portable welding trip to reinforce a staircase with a half inch piece of steel. All in all, the day went by pretty quick and the shop looks squeaky clean for a fresh start tomorrow morning bright and early.

Big Trailers to Intricate Gates

With a rainy start to the week, us bloggers enjoyed staying inside and out of the cold. While the guys in the shop have to throw on the jackets and get things done, at least all the big projects we had going last week are completed and delivered. Sean did have to attach some steel bolts to a trailer but he used the fork lift to bring it into the shop. This trailer is used to attach fifth wheels and before the bolts were welded to it they just used, what looked like massive staples, to latch the female ends to a steel mesh covering. It is hard to explain but my point was that it was very unstable before. Sean powered through it in one day so he could go out and do some portable welding yesterday and today. Jose usually goes with him out on portable welding gigs but Sean must have been showing some extra initiative lately cause Jose has been staying in the shop working on a detailed steel rack. Juan has been fabricating a gate from scratch, putting all the separate pieces together one by one. You would think from an outsiders prospective that our large projects such as those stairs from last week, or those four massive ADA handrails, would take the most production time. That is rarely the case. The small projects are more difficult to work with and take up more time on the drawing table as well. Plus, the less surface area there is to look over the more we notice little errors. What can you say, doing things the right way takes time. Cutting corners only pushes problems and responsibility down the line and that isn't the way we do things around the Morena Welding Inc. shop. It just makes everything better when things get done right the first time.