Who is making money with their CNC... - Page 4


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. #61
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    I have to tell you that I was quite dis-hearted to find so many people in the same boat. I'm spending much faster than... anything.

    Someone speak some calming words to me please!

    I have 2 CNC mills and 1 CNC plasma table. I have only made a few parts on them. I've never set foot into a shop, ever. Everything I've learned it's been on the web and by breaking tools. (I have lots of lovely scraps of ruined metal if there ever becomes a market for them) I'm in a small town with little industry, and hope to make something of my determination in manufacturing.

    I'm still in newbie stage, but I'm hopeing that someone tells me their is hope? No, I'm not making money on my machines, but plan on it. Is that too much to hope for. Can I do this without working for someone else? I have 5 kids and a wife hopeing I make it too... should I stop the "hobby" stuff and get a job, or press forward? Some of you more experianced CNCists chime in!

    Last edited by borrisl; 03-04-2006 at 02:17 AM.


  2. #62
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    It's just a question of marketing, I suppose. The first decision would be what to market, and the two basic choices are goods vs services. In either case you have to make known that you have something on offer.

    If you go with services, you have to offer them in a format suited to the local economy. Here it's agriculture and most of the machine shops advertise services tailored to that... irrigation hardware, farm equipment repair parts, etc.

    Goods is easier; you can shoestring your way into the marketplace with ornamental stuff for home and garden. Next to no liability risk if you use your head on what you make, and people will shell out faster for cute feel good items than for something functional.

    Either way it comes back down to identifying a niche in the local economy that you then figure out how to fill


    Tiger



  3. #63
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    There is hope which you can actualize by "bidding and landing your first job where you utilize your machinery."



  4. #64
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    yes but how do you land a job to utilize your machinery .. you have to be a salesman and a markateer 1st in order to 'close the deal' ...

    and what sources for contracts .. govt or other wise .. things that yield consistent , steady work , not onesy twoesy every couple weeks..



  5. #65
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    Well have you heard of craigslist.org......I would start by placing a small advertisement....it's free.....



  6. #66
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    hey man all that stuff looks like frisco bay area stuff .... and all jamed into a tiny space ow ,, my eyes hurt too high of density in links ...



  7. #67
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    Quote Originally Posted by chronon1
    hey man all that stuff looks like frisco bay area stuff .... and all jamed into a tiny space ow ,, my eyes hurt too high of density in links ...
    There are links for most major cities in the US as well...

    (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. #68
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    Hello again,

    I weighed in on this thread back at page two and thought I'd throw in another two pence. For borris in particular.

    When I started my shop some twenty odd years ago, I tried a lot of marketing angles. They all failed miserably. The only thing that really worked was reputation by word of mouth. Of course, when you're trying to get established, there is no reputation or word of mouth. (See Catch 22) Getting that first job can be excruciating. The first years in general are painfull. You end up taking a lot of crap work from customers that are seeking nothing but the low bidder. A lot of my early work was hours away.

    That being said, if you have talent, there will come a time when you don't just look for customers that suit your machinery, but customers seek you out because they know you can get it done for them. As you reach that point, you start collecting tooling that conforms to your customers needs. Synergy. You get to pick and choose your clients. I always was good at being a primadonna .

    As stated in my earlier post, I built my machine mostly to do stuff that has gotten entirely too tiny for manual machining. Here are a few pictures of the latest item to come off my Taig. It's a welding fixture and is fairly typical of things that I develop for this customer.

    http://www.chicobritish.org/CNC/Weld...e/DSCF1509.JPG
    http://www.chicobritish.org/CNC/Weld...e/DSCF1510.JPG
    http://www.chicobritish.org/CNC/Weld...e/DSCF1511.JPG
    http://www.chicobritish.org/CNC/Weld...e/DSCF1512.JPG

    Regards,
    Walt



  9. #69
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    Looks pretty intricate .. how long does this thing take to grind out ?



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    Quote Originally Posted by chronon1
    Looks pretty intricate .. how long does this thing take to grind out ?

    Looks like a stainless steel vacume brazing heat exchanger fixture. Lots of carbide cutters. I bet it gets a pretty penny for the intracies. Nice work. Real nice.

    You should try this in molebdinum. Total PIA. Worst mother material I have ever worked on. Cutter life was Pffft.



  11. #71
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    Quote Originally Posted by chronon1
    Looks pretty intricate .. how long does this thing take to grind out ?
    5-1/2 hours.



  12. #72
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    Quote Originally Posted by MrWild
    Looks like a stainless steel vacume brazing heat exchanger fixture. Lots of carbide cutters. I bet it gets a pretty penny for the intracies. Nice work. Real nice.

    You should try this in molebdinum. Total PIA. Worst mother material I have ever worked on. Cutter life was Pffft.

    Actually it's 7075 aluminum. The 64 posts get little bits of tube place on them. A 1/16 dowel pin goes in the two round holes to locate a circuit board on the fixture. The slots are for access for a laser welding beam which welds the tubes to the board. No idea what it's all for.

    True position on the posts is +-.0005. Diameter tolerance is +.000, -.001.

    Walt



  13. #73
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    Wow, thats some very precise work. Very nice. Looks kinda like a weird heat sink....but yet very not like a heat sink....

    Last edited by diarmaid; 07-11-2006 at 10:27 AM.


  14. #74
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    for fun i made an ammunition holder - just a simple small number of holes (most targets are about 5 shots) and many high end target rifles are single shot bolt action -
    Attempted selling this simple thing and of course it didn't happen -- I just thought I have
    make something that can sell with this damned machine - it's upsetting that it's just for fun, for prototypes and family/friend stuff and that you can't really market something that sells !!! (the machine is a jgro I beleive with the skate bearings and gas pipe).

    I guess I just have to keep trying and try harder until it happens ... I should not be upset at the first couple failures, how many trials did poor edison go through before getting tungsten in a vaccuum for the incadescent lamp ? thousands ..
    If he would have thought like Tesla, he would have been far ahead, Tesla was the AC guy and also the inventor of the flourescent light.



  15. #75
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    Don't give up on your dreams. What you have experienced is a marketing issue. That's altogether different than a production issue. Remember, marketing is everything when you want to make money.Think of it this way, if you had a cure for cancer, but couldn't market it properly, you would go broke. No one would know what you offer. The same is with your shell holders. find the market for your product and then fill the need.

    never set a pace that you can't maintain
    Traveler


  16. #76
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    Well, I tried to see that there was a market for little wooden stamps - the kind you ink your stationary or envelope with .. so i made a pattern on a small block of wood and tried that -- no go either -- i wonder if it would have been much more desireable to have the rubber mounted (guess i would be cutting rubber and glueing to wood) -- somehow this doesnt seem to be a fruitful endeavor either ....



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    Well I haven't even finished my first cnc router yet but I am already making heaps of money with it !!!

    Heaps of money dissapear that is...

    Russell.



  18. #78
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    The Japanese ( or some Asian country) have a saying "Making money is like digging with a nail - losing it is like pouring water on the sand" .. so it is with cnc .. making something with your machine someone will pay for is like pulling teeth ... it is a real massey furgesson to do.

    I met a guy that has 60 watt laser machine that says can gut through 3/8" lucite..
    he's in the sign making business .. I don't think I could begin to compete with that and my mini-dremel pro !! ha.. I would have to leverage something indirectly.. still working on it !!!!



  19. #79
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    Well, so long as my router makes timber lures when it is finished, I'll be happy. Actually at the moment if it moves without catching fire I'll be happy. lol

    Russell.



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    If I could make 1 piece of **it that I could receive even pennies for with my machine I would be happy, so far nothing has been sold directly for currency, just like exchange stuff.. I guess because I have not become good enough with it yet to make something of enough value to someone else..



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