Home Made Hinges

i had planned to to some painting .but when i got my trestle ladder out one of the hinges had broken .i had inherited them from my grandfather so they were at over 40 years old probably more, so a bit of maintenance is to be expected. i thought it would be easy to fix , so of to my local hardware store .where i found that no one has that type of hinge. so time to get the welder out and make some custom ones.

Step 1: Items Needed

items needed :
bolts
washers
locknuts
flat bar

tools needed:
welder
grinder
cutting,grinding,flap disks
wire cup wheel
drill
drill bits
clamps
ruler
sharpie
center punch
hammer

safety equipment :
ear muffs
gloves
goggles
welding mask
welding jacket
fire extinguisher

Step 2: Remove Old Hinges

cut along old welds with grinder.a hammer helps in removing. clean up any daggy bits with grinder ready to weld on the new ones.

Step 3: Fabricate Hinges

mark out flat bar stock . ( i'm not going to specify measurements , feel free to make to any size )
secure with clamp and cut your pieces.
now weld together forming an L shape . this is so the trestle will fold flat .
mark ,centre punch and drill holes for pivot bolts .
bolt together , i added a washer between the hinge leaves,to reduce friction.

Step 4: Tack Weld

position hinge on trestle. clamp and tack weld ,rotate trestle and repeat. now open ,close trestle to make sure it doesn't bind . if happy we can move on to next step .if it binds cut tacks ,adjust as needed and re tack .

Step 5: Fully Weld It

crank up the welder and lay down some beads .once fully welded clean up wire wheel and flap disk ready for paint .

Step 6: Paint ..

shake your spray can and give your finished product a lick of paint .
once painted my trestle should last another 40years .
feel free to adapt these hinges to suit your application. cheers