If you don't mind me asking, how much work was entailed with the $1100 order(s)? I mean, was it enough work to keep you busy for weeks afterwards?
John, I build inventory on speculative basis, so the big sales day that I had, was based on having a lucky mix of designs- I do have a few 'standard' designs that have proven popular at just about every car show that I attend, so I always make several copies of those. I also create designs that cater to the crowd, that is if I am going to a MG car show, I will make stuff to cater to that crowd- not much interest in the old school hot rod designs that also make. I also take 'custom' orders but those tend to be infrequent.
I imagine sign work would be a good place for plasma cutting. There's no real need for laser or high definition plasma accuracy in sign work, but a hand cut sign would probably end up looking a pretty bad without a lot of care.
I have not done any sign work. But on the same wave- I call my stuff 'art' and that too doesn't require the machine shop precision, actually customers seem to prefer the occassional squigly line- implying a true hand cut design.
I've been talking to a guy at Hypertherm over the last few days. I wanted to know why it is that the machine torches of the plasma cutters are rated at less than half the capacity of the manual torches for the same unit. He told me that it's simply the vertical piercing causing the machine torches to clog up faster.
I had to make a costly repair or buy a greater capacity unit last November. Bought the Hypertherm Powermax 600 with hand torch, which is wired off the trigger to the control box for computer controlled on/off; significantly expanded my options for thickness of metals in which I could work with.
BTW I bought my first plasma cutter to cut up a 1959 Ford Consul- need the parts from the saloon to make my convertible roadworthy again.
As this thread is about making money from plasma cutting, I thought this may be of interest.
John, you may also look at online auction sites as another venue for sales. I have done nearly half of my sales from this outlet.
My designs have as of last week been shipped throughout the USA and most recently to Holland!
So technically I am a global economy participant! 8-) LOL
cheers,
Frank  |