How To Start A Welding Business In Nigeria(2022)

Understand How To Start A Welding Business In Nigeria

Having a welding workshop now is one way of ensuring that your source of income is not under anyone’s control, like the case of those employed in industries.

Due to the increase in the import tariff which had made many imported goods to be costly, many Nigerians now prefer domestic and locally made products. The evidence of such is the increased rate of demand for iron doors and gates from the welders and the reduced rate in the selling of imported doors.

One of the requirements for opening a welding workshop is to know how to weld metals because that is where most people find it difficult and may see reasons not to venture into the business.

A good entrepreneur should develop the mind to learn skills of the trade he or she wants to venture into which welding is one of them.

The best way to learn welding skills is by working with a welder or going for a short time of welding training, some welding training centers can charge as high as N100, 000 or as low as N50, 000 for the duration of three to four months of training.

How To Start A Welding Business In Nigeria

To set up a welding workshop the following are the things needed;

WELDING MACHINE

A welding machine is a major tool if you are planning to know how to start a Welding Business in Nigeria because that is the place the two electrodes actually used for the welding are fixed.

One way to identify a good welding machine is to check for its voltage output rating not the size of the welding machine but this criterion is only for the imported welding machines since there will be no way to easily access the coil inside.

Meanwhile, to get a locally made welding machine of good quality, the type popularly made by the electrical technicians located at Onitsha and other places you must pay more attention to the type of coil they were made with.

The two popular wires used for the making of the local welding machines are copper wire and aluminum wire.

The coil of a welding machine made with copper wire has higher quality in terms of voltage output, durability, and smaller size but its disadvantage is that it costs more than the aluminum type of the same rating.

However, the aluminum type has the advantage of operating with less heat and it can be cheap depending on voltage output rating but it also has several disadvantages ranging from the discontinuity in the coil when operated to a high temperature, to the big size it makes to get good voltage output thereby occupying space.

So when buying local welding machines consider the coil made with copper wire and concentrate on its power output in terms of voltage and current.

Also, note that some technicians do use an aluminum wire electroplated with copper to make welding machines and will sell it at the price of a copper coil welding machine.

The best way of ensuring you are not a victim of this trick is to scratch any visible part of any coil of the welding machine with a sharp object if the inside revealed a different color from the copper brownish color at the surface then it is a fake copper coil welding machine.

This aspect is very important because once you have bought the machine from them and they tested it at your front they will not accept it back once you that it to your workshop.

The coil of the welding machine is made with copper wire and has higher quality in terms of voltage output, durability, and smaller size but its disadvantage is that it costs more than the aluminum type of the same rating.

However, the aluminum type has the advantage of operating with less heat and it can be cheap depending on voltage output but it also has several disadvantages ranging from the discontinuity in the coil when operated at a high temperature, to the big size it makes to get good voltage output thereby occupying more space.

But, the imported welding machine would have been a good option if not for its extreme cost.

The lowest grade of imported welding machines will not be less than N50, 000 currently while the locally made type of copper coil is between N10, 000 to N40, 000 while the locally made aluminum coil type will be from N9, 000 to N20, 000.

DIESEL GENERATOR

To know how to start a welding business in Nigeria you should be considering getting a quality diesel generator. A quality diesel generator with a copper coil has a range of voltage output up to 7.5kv and more, such a generator can be found in recent S-series of diesel engines such as S195 and the upper range of such machines.

But for the economical purpose, you may decide to buy the diesel engine separately and buy a fairly used generator coil made with copper wire and can give from 7.5kv voltage output and above any value, less than this cannot weld properly, especially if the coil is made with aluminum.

The new diesel engines of S-series example S195 cost within N150, 000 with its kick and battery for automatic ignition.

While the generator of it which is usually fixed costs N100, 000 so the setting up of the base and coupling with the machine transport may cost more than N50, 000 depending on the location it will be transported to.

Meanwhile, the fairly used the same engine can be obtained at N120, 000 with its generator already attached to it so all you will pay for is the transportation fee.

But note, that most of the fairly used does not have the kick for automatic ignition in them.

HAND POWERED MACHINES

You will need hand-powered filing and grinding machines of two different sizes, one will be the largest size while the other will be of small size.

The purpose for such is because the big size is used for thick metallic welding works while the smaller type is for plate and light metallic welding works, but any of the two can be used as a grinder, power brushing machine, power sandpapering machine, or filling machine by just changing its disk that is usually rotated by the electric motor inside the machine.

The disks used for these types of machines are grinding disk, cutting disk, sandpapering disk, and wire brushing disk, at the industrial level there are other disks usually attached to these same machines for different purposes but we shall limit this post to its use for welders only.

The disks used for these types of machines are grinding disk, cutting disk, sandpapering disk, and wire brushing disk, at the industrial level there are other disks usually attached to these same machines for different purposes but we shall limit this post to its use for welders only.

A new big size of such machine will cost not less than N50, 000 at the electro-mart, market in Onitsha and the price depends on the quality.

While the fairly used type of the same size will cost not less than N15, 000 depending on its quality such as soil strength and speed during testing.

On the other hand, the smaller type of these machines can be held with one hand to perform any work and has its brand new cost from N15, 000 and above, while the most quality type of the same size may not exceed N25, 000.

The fairly-used mainly sold at the bridgehead market at Onitsha costs from N5,000 to N10,000 depending on the same factor with the big size fairly used for its price increase i.e. power output and type of coil. Note that the same market is where the big size type is sold.

WELDING MASK

Having a welding mask is the best way to curb some of the problems coming from arc welding, according to our previous article in this category. A good welding mask should cover the entire face, not just the eyes.

But many welders do not like using welding masks because it creates a kind of discomfort and causes heat due to their black color but otherwise it is safer than the sunglasses that some of them do wear because, in the end, they get their facial skin color changed due to the heat absorbed by the skin during the welding works.

If for economic reasons, you want to use the sunglasses then consider using a thick handkerchief to tie the remaining part of your face before welding to avoid damage to the color of those parts.

The difference between welding masks and welding glasses in terms of cost is not much, from the prices I obtained from Bridgehead market at Onitsha, a quality welding mask is about N2, 500 while the lower quality type is N1,500, N 1000, and N800.

A quality welding glasses is N1,500 the lower quality type is N1000, N600, and N400. It is up to you to decide what you can afford according to your capital for such a budget.

HAND SAW

Hand saw also called a hacksaw is used for manual cutting of metals especially if the metal thickness is very small. It is a tool used by every welder to limit the frequent use of power machines. A quality hacksaw costs within N1000 to N600 while the blade is N100 each.

LEATHER HAND GROVES

Leather hand gloves are mandatory for this type of work because, without them, one wouldn’t be able to handle hot metals which is a mandatory case in welding, having a dozen of high-quality leather hand gloves will ensure the safety of your palms.

Depending on the quality, leather hand gloves can be counted in pieces price from N500 up to N1000 for one multiplied by 12 pieces for a dozen.

FACE SHIELD

Though a quality welding mask has the feature that enables it to be adjusted, such that it can use ordinary transparent glass which makes it function as a face shield during the cutting and filing jobs but in the absence of the example.

If you will be using welding glasses then you will need a face shield for the purpose of securing your face from flying particles of hot metals during cutting and filing operations.

Face shields do not cost much in the same market you can get them within N500 to N800.

QUALITY COVERALL AND SAFETY BOOT

Features of a good overall for welders are; fire resistance, good thickness, low heat generation, and good body fitting, such can be seen in shops where PPE tools are sold and coveralls generally cost from N5000 to N1, 500 in the same market depending on the quality you are looking for.

The same is applied to safety boots, most welders with enough money buy RED WINGS safety boots because it has higher quality and provide more safety to the feet as well as upper parts of the legs but there are still other brands but the disadvantage of these boots is that they cost very high up to N40, 000 for new ones.

While normal safety boots can be within N5,000 to N15, 000, it is important to buy according to your current financial capacity first maybe later you may upgrade your quality standard.

The above-mentioned items are all you need to set up a successful welding workshop in Nigeria if you encounter any problem or need any additional information use the comment box to drop your question and if you also have an additional contribution to the above-listed items it will be welcomed and appreciated through the comment trend.