You mean you can make money in the home shop??? My first paid machining job...

Armor said:
That is some nice work.
I take it you do it for a living as well above the thing of hobby.

Kind of sucks that they don't sell the parts separate though, a bunch of crooks then.

Sweet job.

Jeff
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Nope. I'm just another HSM. My day job is Electronics Engineering/Engineering Manager. My company's primary line of business is Aerospace brushless motors, gearboxes, and actuators. I design motion controllers and motor drivers for military and space applications as well as electronic test equipment.

That said, we have a machine shop in house where I played around for years before getting my own machine tools. I make it a point to buy the guys in the shop pizza a few Fridays a year. They're always willing to mentor with a slice in hand!

My first job is where I met a fellow by the name of George Luhrs (http://www.minimodelengines.com). He did consulting prototype and development work for us. He is known jocularly as an "alien" because there is no way he can do what he can do otherwise. I've since become friends with him and see him a few times a year. He's won the Sherline challenge, and numerous shows for his model engines. Several are the world's smallest in their class. Seeing what he could do always fascinated me and gave me something to strive for. I've got several lifetimes worth of striving to get to his level!

John
 
Perfect John, Im just wondering If me after setup, myself I would make two. Makes sense to me.
There just have to be a market. samuel
 
george wilson said:
My whole shop and money for the down payment for a house,and partial downpayment for the next house,were made with my home shop. It USED to be about 10' X 8" !! I made all of the drawing dies for the bracelets they sell in Colonial Williamsburg in it. Also made many tools for collectors,and bunches of other stuff in it. I never used household money for my machines, they paid for themselves.
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Geepers, and all this time I thought a "Hobby" was supposed to cost you money! Excellent Info!!!
 
As with George, my entire shop has paid for itself many times over. I started out by taking a loan out for a brand new Hardinge lathe and went on from there. The lathe cost nearly as much as my first house, but paid for itself in a few years. Unlike most hobbies, this one can definitely make money.

Tom
 
Nelson said:
There are a couple of other ways you experienced machinists can make some fast bucks.

Clock repair tools. As some of you know, I am an apprentice to a clock repairman in this area. Any tools denoted as "clock repair" fetch some outrageous prices.
A bushing tool is a tool that turns a shaft by hand which has a cutter inserted in the shaft to make a precise hole in a clock brass movement plate. Then you change the cutter for a pusher, and install a bushing. This is to correct wear in the holes in a movement plate.

The bushing tools are Swiss and German made. They go over a thousand dollars ($1200-1500), used on Ebay, for $600 or more. The shafts often break, making it hard to hold the cutting and pushing bits. My mentor's KWM German made bushing tool has a broken shaft. It is a piece of round steel rod tapered at the end, with a slot cut into the taped end along its radius to hold a pin that is on the cutter to secure it. The shaft simply slides into the spindle. It would be a very easy part for one of you guys to make out of steel.

View attachment 38602

They get $55 for the shaft (see arrow in pic). http://www.perrinwatchparts.com/product/68.aspx You could easily sell a bunch of these to clock repair guys for $25-35 each. Not to mention making your own bushing tool for less than they cost commercially.


:tiphat:Nelson
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I hear that, Nelson. Check out this small tool:


http://www.perrinwatchparts.com/product/800.aspx


$433.00?

Great job, John.

You are doing about the same type of work I did, when I started my own shop. Always someone breaking car, boat, airplane, parts. "Word of mouth" advertising only.
 
$433.00???? OUCH!! Someone is making more than a healthy profit on that tool! But then, I bet they don't sell a great many of them.
 
Hey this project won the project of the month but I still don't know how to vote. I've looked but cannot find it.
Could somebody help me?

Congrats on the win jgedde!

Roy
 
Roy, at this point, there isn't any vote. I picked. We'll see how this plays out.
 
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