Who is making money with their CNC...


View Poll Results: Who is making money with their CNC machine?

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  • Not a dime! I use it for fun/my own projects.

    248 24.36%
  • Mainly a hobby, any money made is just gravy.

    207 20.33%
  • I make some on-the-side money, not quitting my day job!

    247 24.26%
  • I better make money! This machine IS my job!

    316 31.04%
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Thread: Who is making money with their CNC...

  1. #1
    Registered JavaDog's Avatar
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    Arrow Who is making money with their CNC...

    So who built their CNC Mill/Router/Lathe and is making money with it?

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    (Note: The opinions expressed in this post are my own and are not necessarily those of CNCzone and its management)
    Check Out My Build-Log: http://www.cnczone.com/forums/showthread.php?t=6452


  2. #2
    Gold Member Bloy2004's Avatar
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    I wish I could say .....I'm still in the spending mode-when I can.
    ....though i'm just a hobbyist.

    Bloy



  3. #3
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    lots of votes... but no comments..c'mon guys spill it!

    No money here yet...I've got something good being shipped on friday next week!



  4. #4
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    Here is some advice,
    "Don't quit your day time job"



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    well, while Im at college I have a little spare time to make parts, although I have only sold a few things, it is my main job setting up an online store right now

    Jon



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    Member RotarySMP's Avatar
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    I'm far too nice to my friends, and make them stuff for nothing. That what a hobby is for right?

    Regards,
    Mark


  7. #7
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    Quote Originally Posted by JFettig
    setting up an online store right now

    Jon
    Same thing here, once I get my machine finished.

    There are a ton of projects I want to build for myself, but I also have a variety of bits n' bobbles that I will be selling to try and generate some extra income.

    Speaking on online stores, I am using OSCommerce. If you haven't seen it, check it out. Far nicer than any 'Shopping Cart' program you could buy (OSCommerce is Free/OSS) and you can customize it however you want.

    (Note: The opinions expressed in this post are my own and are not necessarily those of CNCzone and its management)
    Check Out My Build-Log: http://www.cnczone.com/forums/showthread.php?t=6452


  8. #8
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    I keep justifying my continuous hardware acquisition with the "Someday..." excuse.

    "Someday, I'll offer steam or IC engine kits"

    "Someday, I'll invent some cool R/C widget which will provide some income"

    I always know, deep-down, that the chances of making money, for me, are pretty slim. I think a lot of the fun will go out of it when creating income is the primary goal.



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    Yep, I'm making money at it,now there are 5 of us and about 10 cnc mills/routers.lathes....but it all started as my fathers hobby about 23 years ago when he made his first cnc engraver, never looked back. Since then we've made many more machines with the largest been a 3Mx2M router.
    We still keep wanting to build new machines, currently playing around with ideas for our first 5 axis router.

    So if keep at it...you can make a very enjoyable living out of it!

    Simon



  10. #10
    www.joescnc.com joecnc2006's Avatar
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    Quote Originally Posted by Fozzy
    Yep, I'm making money at it,now there are 5 of us and about 10 cnc mills/routers.lathes....but it all started as my fathers hobby about 23 years ago when he made his first cnc engraver, never looked back. Since then we've made many more machines with the largest been a 3Mx2M router.
    We still keep wanting to build new machines, currently playing around with ideas for our first 5 axis router.

    So if keep at it...you can make a very enjoyable living out of it!

    Simon
    Any Pictures? of older and newer ones?



  11. #11
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    No problem, ive posted them into a new thread...here didnt seem the right location so look here.

    http://www.cnczone.com/forums/showth...3213#post73213

    Simon



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    Quote Originally Posted by Ken_Shea
    Here is some advice,
    "Don't quit your day time job"

    lol so true i have sold stuff but after counting hours and tooling cost, i could make more working at a tacobell hehe



  13. #13
    Registered JavaDog's Avatar
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    Wow, looks like it is a pretty even mix on here!

    Once my machine is finished, I hope to put myself solidly in the "I make some on-the-side money" camp.

    Last edited by JavaDog; 04-07-2005 at 06:09 PM.
    (Note: The opinions expressed in this post are my own and are not necessarily those of CNCzone and its management)
    Check Out My Build-Log: http://www.cnczone.com/forums/showthread.php?t=6452


  14. #14
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    I have made money with my CNC plasma table but it has mostly been a support machine used in conjunction with contracted fabricating projects. It's hard to separate exactly what to assign money to when you use several machines during a project. I can say however that if I didn't have the plasma table I could not have done several of the projects that I have completed and made money on. It's a strong spoke in the wheel of my shop.
    I want to convert my mill to CNC also but have little hope of the mill making me any money. I want to just do it for the enjoyment of having it.

    never set a pace that you can't maintain
    Traveler


  15. #15
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    traveler....you allocate costs based on run time and setup for each machine....your cost to run the machine on an hourly basis should have all the maintenance, etc. factored into it.



  16. #16
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    So initially my thoughts were to make money off running the machine.....but now I'm moving into a stage of designing solutions, providing parts for people who wish to design their own systems.



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    ViperTX
    Tell us more,..but now I'm moving into a stage of designing solutions, providing parts for people who wish to design their own systems. solutions for cnc ? or other stuff.
    mike



  18. #18
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    Solutions like:
    Kit 1 (Power Supply, 4U cabinet, Interface Panel). User adds Gecko or Rutex drivers.

    Kit 2 (Kit 1, Plus Servos with Encoders). User adds Gecko or Rutex Servo drivers.

    Those are the 2 solutions that I'll be offering in the next 30 days.



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    Thanks for the response Vipertx, I don't see it as that simple though. If I use my plasma table for 2 hours, my welding machines for 2 hours and my hand drill for 6 hours to complete a 10 hour job, it would be out of balance to give the plasma table only 20% of the total credit. It is a much larger contribution than the hand drill that takes 60% of the time.
    The set-up time is only the time to put the metal on the table because the design is in Autocad and is needed for all phases of the fabrication project. To allot any design time to the plasma table and try to separate it out, would be pulling numbers from the air. Then too how does one give credit to a machine that is a smaller part of the project but is required for the completion of the project. I see it as more complicated than it first appears

    never set a pace that you can't maintain
    Traveler


  20. #20
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    Quote Originally Posted by traveler
    Thanks for the response Vipertx, I don't see it as that simple though. If I use my plasma table for 2 hours, my welding machines for 2 hours and my hand drill for 6 hours to complete a 10 hour job, it would be out of balance to give the plasma table only 20% of the total credit. It is a much larger contribution than the hand drill that takes 60% of the time.
    The set-up time is only the time to put the metal on the table because the design is in Autocad and is needed for all phases of the fabrication project. To allot any design time to the plasma table and try to separate it out, would be pulling numbers from the air. Then too how does one give credit to a machine that is a smaller part of the project but is required for the completion of the project. I see it as more complicated than it first appears
    When you purchased the equipment you had a cost associated with that machine. If you figured that the machine could be used for some period of time (either usage hours or the time that you can amortize it's cost via the IRS). So, if the machine was $40,000 and it's life was 10,000 hours of usage. The machine is costing you $4 dollars for every hour it is used. If an operator can monitor 4 of those machines then you would take their wages&benefits divided by the number of hours they work and the number of machines they can monitor...let's say that the direct labor charge is $20 per hour per machine time, that would be your direct labor cost that you would add to the $4 + $20. Of course there is the overhead which is all the non-direct labor and costs to keep the doors open. If there is any interest, I could write up a business case.....Maybe the drill usage is $0.20 + $10 (labor cost).....before long you realize why it's sometimes better to remove as much of the manual labor as possible.



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