Fancy French Security Door

[MAC702]

Probably just in the right place for the right amount of time. My work is exclusively word-of-mouth, and a lot of both my electrical and welding work come through a friend of mine that I've known for 25 years who's a framing contractor. I do all the electrical for him and he has lots of customers that ask him for welding services, too. They can either afford my quality or not. I got away from doing the cheap stuff because I just personally can't make the shortcuts that make it cheap.

My buddy did a huge porch for them and they mentioned they wanted a fancy room divider. After I did that, they gladly paid my premium for the door.

Same thing with my electrical work. He tells them he has two electricians that he uses. I'm the expensive one that always passes inspection on the first shot. The other guy is pretty good but doesn't know all the codes and has to go back and redo things every once in a while. They usually pick me.

[fdburner]

That is nice stuff. Are you a freelance welding contractor? I was just curious what type of work you do, and specialize in where you are lucky to get customers seeking that type of quality.

[MAC702]

Hey Mac realy nice doors whats the cost on somethig like that? keep up the good work thanks for the post

I charged them $1250, and I was quite the perfectionist during fabrication. I don't think I made much per hour, but I was happy when I was done. I still have a half-built set in my scrap pile somewhere from abandoning them and starting over, even.

The castings ranged from $5 to $20 each, depending on size, and the steel is all .065" wall, and this was back when steel was much cheaper, so the material cost was maybe $250 - $300, and $80 of that was the top-grade Schlage lockset.

There is also a footbolt and header bolt that were from McFaddendale Hardware, and you'll see I made a special receiver for the footbolt because of where the threshhold was. The doorknob on the left is a dummy, just fastened with #8-32 screws into tapped holes.

[MAC702]

Mac, .Nice job .looks great .they should get years of use out of those doors.

Thanks. I just took that picture last week. They've been hanging for 4-1/2 years so far.

[Richard]

Mac, .Nice job .looks great .they should get years of use out of those doors.

[garth]

Hey Mac realy nice doors whats the cost on somethig like that? keep up the good work thanks for the post

[MAC702]

This was for the same folks for whom I did the room divider.

By this time, I was doing this more full-time, and had invested in a bunch of new equipment. This was welded with a MM175 with CO2 gas.

The outside frame is 2" square tubing. The door frames are 1x2" rectangular tubing. Finish is Rust-Oleum gloss almond with the same metallic gold for the castings.

The big bolt heads are decorative only. If you look closely, you'll see tabs next to them with security-head lags.

Also, on the right-side frame, top and bottom, you'll see some stops that I put in to keep the door from swinging into the porch light.

The 24-ga perforated sheet is attached after painting with rivets.