Erector set part number "HF" - Butt end plate

[BGHansen]

It's been an interesting ride making these parts for the last 25 years or so. Part of the "time management" is from the fact that I'm a dirty, filthy capitalist. Practically everyone on this forum has a skill set that most nonmembers do not have. So, we get asked by others to do the things that they can't do. There's a fine line between helping out a 'buddy' and being used. I made a lot of "onesie's" back in the day to help out members of the collecting club, but am a little stingier with my time nowadays. I'm trying to not be a d!ck about it, but I have my own projects to work on. Especially when I do a rhetorical request for a favor in return and hear crickets.

Long story: I got a call from a guy who wanted me to make him up some steel trays. He was buying up junky No. 7 1/2 White Truck Erector sets off eBay for under $200 and added the parts to make them into the next size up set (No. 8 Zeppelin set). A restored Zeppelin set was going for about $1500 at the time.

The inventory between the two is really close, the No. 8 is a No. 7 1/2 with pretty much just the Zeppelin parts added. He made a few of those parts and bought reproductions of the rest for about $100. The No. 8 box is a few inches bigger; he made those out of pine boards and plywood. The part he couldn't make or buy from other collectors was the top metal tray that parts are clipped to for display.

He called and asked if I'd made the trays before. The conversation proceeded like this:

"Yup."

He asked, "Where do you get your metal?"

"An HVAC company as I buy galvanized because my shop (at the time) is not heated, that lets me avoid rust. The sheet stock comes in 4' x 10' sheets, my shear is 37" wide, I buy a 3' cut from a 10' sheet to get a 3' x 4' piece. The gauge steel we're talking about is about $18 for a piece that big."

"Wow! Only $18! That's enough to make 10 trays! Hey, if I send you $20 can you make me up 10 trays!"

"Ah, no. It takes me at least 20 minutes to cut and bend the tray to shape. Then another 30 minutes to punch the 200+ holes in the tray. Then they need to be painted. These are going to be $40 - $50 each."

"Oh, that's a lot of money. You have the tools to do it, you should just want to help me out!"

"Well, here's my take on your position. You are buying $200 or less sets, adding $100 in other parts, making a box to turn it into a $1500 set. You live in the Columbus, OH area, population around 1,000,000, there's got to be a shop in your area who'd make the trays for you."

"There is, but they want $125 a piece!"

"And you are complaining because I'm asking $40-$50 a part so you can flip a set for $1000 profit?!? Here's where I'm at. I didn't buy all of my tools to work on your stuff, I bought them to work on MY stuff! I'll make them for you at $50 each if you are interested. But it'll be a while since I have my own things to work on. Or you can do like I did and go buy a Tennsmith shear, a DiAcro brake and a Roper Whitney 218 punch press. I picked them up used for a total of $1300. I don't expect to make that back on your job, but my time is valuable to me. An alternative is I'll make up 10 trays for you, and you send me one of your restored sets. You'll break even on it and I won't flip the one you send me until you've sold your stock."

"I don't want to do that. That'll cost me $1000 to give up a set."

"Well, sorry I can't help you out, I think you should call your local sheet metal shop."

Ah, great to be a grumpy old man! And people ask why after I bought an F600 dump truck, Case 580 backhoe and trailer why I sold the trailer!

Rant over!

Bruce


1929/30 No. 7 1/2 White Truck Erector set


1929/30 No. 8 Zeppelin set; parts were clipped to a metal tray for display.

 

[C-Bag]

Great story, and pretty much my experience. Minus the guy saying the real capitalist stuff out loud. I’m as cheap as the next guy but working and making stuff most of my life I get what people’s time and expertise is worth. It’s why I figure like with all my machine tools that if I could buy it for a price that made sense I wouldn’t have to pay the big shop prices.

I was at a local garage sale and got some great stuff like a 5gal bucket full of new gurney castors. Nobody wanted them, but they were perfect for me. He had a price of $80 and I offered him $35 and he jumped on it. It came out later his buddy was a maintenance man in a local hospital and took them off gurney’s that were being scrapped for free. But he acted like he was offended and was losing $$. WTH?

He asked me what I was going to do with them and I said I was putting all my machine tools on castors to be able to reconfigure my shop as needed. He asked if I had a lathe, I said yes. He said his side hustle was buying reloading equipment, rebuilding and selling them. His whole garage was full of them and parts. He said his problem was often the necessary dies were missing and he needed to find some hobby machinist to make them for him. I asked for details and he showed me some spec sheets and after a second said I’d probably need $10-$20 ea depending on how close of tolerance . His response was I can buy them for $5ea. Double WTH!? I guess he thought hobbyists do stuff for strangers because they just love to. That’s the closest I’ve gotten to doing work for anybody and reminded me why I don’t.

Thats why I’m not sure why you call yourself a dirty filthy capitalist when you are actually the guy doing all the work and buying the tools. These guys who want somebody to do something for nothing so they can make 1000% profit more fit that description .