Finding Work For Milling Machine

[ChandlerJPerry]

Good luck. Since you blurred the contact info on your cards, I can’t tell if you put your city where you are. These days it’s hard to tell when a business is located by phone number anymore. And you never know how far your cards may travel.

It’s always funny to me when I see blacked out license plates on pictures, because what can anyone benefit from it. It’s already out there for everyone who see the car in person anyways.


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I didn't think to put my city, bit of a miss on my part. I agree about the license plate thing, I get a chuckle out of it. The only reason I hid it here is because I am trying to avoid spam. Seems like they scrape basically everywhere for info to send spam to anymore. Ultimately it's probably a futile battle, but since it's a fresh email and phone number, I'm trying to stave it off as long as I can.

 

[verbotenwhisky]

I thought I would consult the brain trust about this.

Currently my lathe is in pieces, it needs spindle bearings, some other repairs to the spindle, and I need to convert it to a VFD as the electrical panel for it is a mess (missing correct contactors etc), parts no longer available.

Not having a lathe is a big handicap, but I'm in the catch 22 situation of needing to make some extra income to get the lathe working.

Does anyone have suggestions for what kind of customers to target that would have mostly mill work? I've run an ad on Facebook marketplace that recently got flagged and taken down. Apparently promoting services is against the rules. Same story on our local Craigslist equivalent. Craigslist is dead in my area, the prevailing platform is a local service called KSL. I did have some small success doing so, I made around $100 over the course of a month prior to ads getting removed.

Possible projects/tchotchkes to sell wouldn't be a bad avenue as well.

The mill in question is fairly capable. It's a 1400~ lb knee mill, dovetail sliding ram with rotation and nod on the head, 9x42 table. Think 3/4 scale Bridgeport.

I'm not exactly looking to go pro here, but making a couple hundred bucks would greatly enhance the war effort, I'm sure many of you can relate.

Talk to local wrecker services and small hot shot companies, those guys are stretching equipment life as much as possible. If you are in a farming area post an ad on the board at the local feed stores and coops. Your lathe being down does represent a problem as I have made money turning special bushings and pins and typically use both machines in concert. Good luck.

 

[ChazzC]

Thought I would give a quick update and show off the business cards I worked up with help from my wife. I drew the logo, she did the overall design using a tool called Canva, they also offered printing that I used.

View attachment 510353
I like the simplicity (and the inspiration!)
View attachment 510355

I'm going to go try and sell myself and hand them out at some local businesses. Wish me luck!

Always carry a stack with you, particular when visiting suppliers: proves you are a business and they see lots of potential customers for you every day. Trade shows are also good, not only foe one-on-one, but drop one in every goldfish bowl you see at the booths – not only might you win something, but these vendors can also be a source of leads. Good luck with the adventure!


Developing logos is often a challenge; I decided earlier this year that I "needed" golf shirts with a logo for a local show and found a local shop that didn't have any minimums and reasonable rates so developed this:

Embroidered in silver on grey shirts.

When I had my full-time consulting business in the 90's I worked up this, which I put on everything:


While I though this was a good idea since Iwas able to deduct the cost of the balls, I sometimes got corned when playing on a hole where there were breakable objects (and people) nearby.

 

[animal12]

Go to yer local Maker-space & toss a add up on their bulletin board . same with local hardware & auto parts stores . Theres even a bulletin board in most Post Offices . As far as snowblowers go Friction wheels & belts are probably the most common & easiest to fix . A rock between a impeller & the housing can mean a 2-3 piece gear on the front gearbox . Then gears are expensive . Lawn mowers & other stuff with engined from the dump normally have a clogged main jet . When they decided to make the main jet non adjustable that when ya started seein these engines just a hunting & a pecking just trying to keep running . Guitar strings & welding tip cleaners are yer friend . There's a lot ya can do just ned to find the nitch . One of the best things I bought for my shop was a motorcycle lift from HF , I think I got mike in the 229.00 hood . There is always something on it gettin fixed or looked at . Work smarter not harder . I pulled apart a lectric bed up at our hospital before it made it to the truck , gonna see ifin I can use one of the lift motors to raise & lower my motorcycle lift . When not using my lift i slide it under a pallet rack I have that has al my hardware bins on. it .
animal

 

[Pevehouse]

Also, you could hand out some cards to the lawn maintenance and landscapers in the area and probably get swamped with small engine work

 

[ARC-170]

Would anyone doing this have to worry about liability if/when a part fails? If I'm making a bushing and it fails, am I liable? Fixing up broken machines seems okay, but are there any issues someone doing this would need to be aware of?

 

[verbotenwhisky]

Would anyone doing this have to worry about liability if/when a part fails? If I'm making a bushing and it fails, am I liable? Fixing up broken machines seems okay, but are there any issues someone doing this would need to be aware of?

There are those that will sue because they do not like the color of your toenails. Every part has a max cycles to failure, you simply need to choose the proper alloy for the application.

Realistically if you understand the purpose of the bushing and the service limitations then NO, Oilite covers probably 50% of the possibilities (low temp and load) with 642 more severe cases are a few that are actually alloys of chrome molly but they are rare. Look at the application and what ever the original bushing was and go from there, the exception to the rule is if you are making a bushing to take up wear, then you want something close to the original material.....

 

[matthewsx]

When I ran my repair shop I found fixing up old lawn equipment was a loss maker. Even if given a mower free and with only half an hour work and $5 in parts it still wasn't worth it. Problem is someone buys it and it becomes your problem forever.

When I did it I only sold push, not self propelled mowers and I always had to have three on hand so when someone brought one back I could just give them another one rather than trying to fix the one they bought.

Also, this is pretty far from machine work on a mill or lathe.

John

 

[RaisedByWolves]

Would anyone doing this have to worry about liability if/when a part fails? If I'm making a bushing and it fails, am I liable? Fixing up broken machines seems okay, but are there any issues someone doing this would need to be aware of?

Avoid things that move people at speed, need to stop, and/or support a load.

Everything else can be considered operator error.

 

[ChazzC]

Avoid things that move people at speed, need to stop, and/or support a load.

Everything else can be considered operator error.

In our litigious society, people will sue regardless of who is really at fault:

“I tried picking up my power mower by lifting under the deck and it cut my finger off!!”

“I put a paper cup of boiling hot liquid between my legs while driving and got burned when I slammed to a stop.”

Get a lawyer to draft up a statement to print on the bottom/back of your estimate/contract sheets saying the buyer accepts all liability; you’ll still need liability insurance and may get sued, but it can cushion the outcome.