Custom fabricated parts- any desire?

[76c12091520h 3,624]

4 hours ago, oliver2-44 said:

Axles first the 3 piece transmission used on the Suburban and 58 59 RJ are not hardened and are fairly simple to make. Throttle and choke levers for the suburban also are getting pricy. 
mid you could come up with a way to Repair the 3rd gear on the cluster gear there would be a demand 

Someone is doing axles for these, they are available (evilbay has em)

[oilwell1415 563]

I don't want to discourage you because I think there is a market, but I think by the time you figure in everything that you have to do to make it work you will find that it's very difficult to make it worthwhile for yourself.  It will have to be a labor of love and there's nothing wrong with that. 

 

I have a small, but well equipped, shop at home and I have access to a mill at work.  The only way I can make building things for other people worthwhile is if they want something that is not available, but even then most aren't willing to pay for it.  I can offer a few examples. 

 

The first is my father in law's grill brush.  He has a grill brush that he loves.  When they quit making replacement brushes for it, he went on a nation wide search to find them and ended up buying a whole carton of them that should last him the rest of his life.  Then he broke the part of the handle that the brush clips to.  He showed it to me and it was a simple part, so I told him I would make him one from billet aluminum.  It was an easy part to make, but by the time I nickel and dimed myself on a few minutes for this and a few minutes for that it ended up taking 3-4 hours.  I put the brush back together and gave it to him and he was blown away.  It was far better than the original brush and he told me I should make the parts to sell.  The material is a piece of aluminum about 1.5x2x1/2, so the cost of that is negligible.  Maybe $1.  But to pay myself minimum wage to make it I would have to charge around $25 for one.  Granted, if I had 10 to make I could cut the time needed per unit by at least 50%, but we are still talking about a part that costs $10-15 and is still comparable in cost to a new grille brush.  There are two ways I could make it profitable for me and both would grossly increase my overhead to the point that I would need to sell thousands of units to break even.  One is to buy 4 or 5 mills and set each one up to do one part of the machining to save set up time.  The other would be to cast the part so that only minor finish machining was required.

 

The second example is a dumbell rack I am currently making for one of my wife's friends.  She has an oddly shaped area in her garage she wants to put the rack in and a commercially available rack won't fit there.  I couldn't by the materials to make the rack for the cost of an off the shelf rack, or probably even double the cost, but this is what she wants so I got volentold by the wife to make it.  It's already a financial disaster because of the materials cost, and I'm not getting anything for my few days of labor to build it.

 

The last example I'll give personally is airplane rockers I build for the "grandkids".  I've made 6 or 7 of these and each one goes faster than the last, but it's still a lot of hours.  If I really work hard on one I can crank it out in about a month and probably have 80-100 hours in it and about $250-300 in materials.  I've had people ask me what it would cost to make them one for their kids and I tell them I would have to charge $1000 for it for me to make minimum wage.  I made one for a charity auction and there were almost fist fights over people running up the bid.  It sold for $250.

 

As I said, I don't want to discourage you.  But unless you have something you can crank out quickly and sell a bunch of them I think it will be really hard to make it profitable for you.  Using the tie rod example, a decent pair of heim joints will cost you $10-15, so you'll have $20-30 invested in those.  Then you need the material for the tie rods on top of that.  Maybe $5 for both.  To hit your $40 price point you're left with $5 for your labor and that's with no paint or powder coating.  What is your time worth to you per hour?  Are you willing to cut corners on materials to hit your mark and make it profitable?  I know Speedway Motors sells the stuff to make these for about $40/set finished and ready to go.  What can you do to make your product more attractive than that?  

Edited January 12, 2021 by oilwell1415

[AMC RULES 37,132]

The W-H hobby is and has always been a labor of love and not a profit making venture.

Typically speaking, the very best you'll ever do is break even. 

Unless, of course, you are...that guy.

[oilwell1415 563]

23 minutes ago, AMC RULES said:

The W-H hobby is and has always been a labor of love and not a profit making venture.

Typically speaking, the very best you'll ever do is break even. 

Unless, of course, you are...that guy.

I agree, but I don't begrudge someone the ability to make a few bucks on their work.  In this case the suggestion was that it was to be a profitable venture involving paying money to be a vendor and the whole 9 yards.  If someone wanted to make parts for $50 and sell them for $60 I have no issue with that, I just think for a market such as this there aren't a whole lot of things out there that's possible with.

[roadapples 6,983]

Would be nice to have a muffler that was actually quiet...

[SylvanLakeWH 25,606]

10 minutes ago, roadapples said:

Would be nice to have a muffler that was actually quiet...

[Maxwell-8 4,277]

19 minutes ago, roadapples said:

Would be nice to have a muffler that was actually quiet...

double stack, the longer the tubing behind the muffler, how harder the muffler has to work.

Maybe a bit extreem, but i always listing to this source for my exhausts.

 

 

[Pullstart 62,922]

4 hours ago, AMC RULES said:

Never having seen it done, I'm not sure if it's possible, but I've always imagined a twin stack that exited both side of the hood would look/soundpretty cool.

 

 

Here you go...

 

 

[OldWorkHorse 3,045]

9 minutes ago, pullstart said:

 

Have any more pics of this build or info thats a awesome looking set up!

[AMC RULES 37,132]

Are they functional?

11 minutes ago, pullstart said:

 

Here you go...

Are they both functional?

[lynnmor 7,315]

1 hour ago, pullstart said:

 

Here you go...

 

 

 

 

 

 

Just to change the subject for a minute.  Last summer I has 2, yes two drawers open on a triple stack Craftsman box much like those in the photo.  In Milli-seconds the whole darn mess toppled on me.  One drawer was heavy with Onan starters.

Edited January 12, 2021 by lynnmor

[Pullstart 62,922]

16 minutes ago, lynnmor said:

 

Just to change the subject for a minute.  Last summer I has 2, yes two drawers open on a triple stack Craftsman box much like those in the photo.  In Milli-seconds the whole darn mess toppled on me.  One drawer was heavy with Onan starters.

 

Wow, That brown and blue box was mainly open, huh?

[ebinmaine 67,696]

2 hours ago, Maxwell-8 said:

double stack, the longer the tubing behind the muffler, how harder the muffler has to work.

Maybe a bit extreem, but i always listing to this source for my exhausts.

 

 

Thanks for sharing that. Very interesting.

[rjg854 11,389]

Can these hood ornaments be made

 

 

 

 

 

[76c12091520h 3,624]

10 minutes ago, rjg854 said:

Can these hood ornaments be made

 

 

 

 

 

We've discussed making the original style hood ornaments,  the question would be who's willing to pay the $30-$50 that each would cost(and that would be for polished aluminum, not chrome which would be more)?

[rjg854 11,389]

I suppose that would depend if you wanted that bit of bling for your  tractor or not  I've spent overboard on a few items for my tractors. 

[oilwell1415 563]

The hood ornament could be done with 3D printing and then painted with chrome paint very reasonably.

[Pullstart 62,922]

2 hours ago, oilwell1415 said:

The hood ornament could be done with 3D printing and then painted with chrome paint very reasonably.

It could...  We could all just go to the box store for a new mower too but we don’t...  Would I pay that much for an aluminum hood ornament?  Probably not.  I’d rather search through the barn for something suitable, even if it’s not quite right.

[ebinmaine 67,696]

48 minutes ago, pullstart said:

it’s not quite right

I RESEMBLE THAT !!!

[Horse Newbie 7,075]

4 hours ago, 76c12091520h said:

We've discussed making the original style hood ornaments,  the question would be who's willing to pay the $30-$50 that each would cost(and that would be for polished aluminum, not chrome which would be more)?

Exactly...and there's your dinner...

[Pullstart 62,922]

9 hours ago, AMC RULES said:

Are they functional?

Are they both functional?

[Greentored 3,216]

Ok fellas, too many questions and ideas to reply via 'quote' , so they're gonna get grouped together on replies eh?

Mufflers- I tried making one 25 years ago for a V8. It was louder than the original cherry bomb, but it DID have a very 'mean' exhaust tone. I dont know poo about how to design a muffler. Kemp and WHX are the men for that job!

Hood ornaments, cables and controls, things of that nature- I think this is where this plan goes from 'profitable' to 'loss'- I am just not equipped or experienced to do those kinds of things. Basically- if it cant be done with a mill, lathe and welder, I'm most likely not going to offer it.

A few of you guys have made a very valid point about 'return on investment'- I appreciate that, and it is obviously consideration #1.   A couple years back, I 'came up with' a tool for clearing the pump passages on Coleman lanterns, something that was not accessible and rendered the fuel fount junk if it was plugged. Guys used sockets and extensions, wooden dowels, etc... and they worked, but I still whipped up a handful anyhow- out of aluminum, and cut each end to a different diameter so they would fit the two most common pump diameters and cover 90% of the lanterns made, and handed them out at a lantern gathering. The community went bonkers, and shortly after, one of the parts vendors and I struck a deal to sell direct to him, with an initial order or 20, followed by an order of 50. Between material costs and giving him room for profit, we both made about a whopping 3.00 a piece on them. Hardly worth it...... except I hammered out 50 of them on a Saturday morning. Thats 150 bucks I wouldn't have made sitting on my rearend on the couch watching youtube videos!!!

'Labor of love' is most certainly the reason for possibly doing this, but you're right- I'm not going to do it for free, or less....

[Greentored 3,216]

As of right now, I am going to pull the trigger on 5 sets of tie rods with 7/16" steel, zerk equipped heims and see how they go over. They will be RH/RH, cold rolled solid bar stock (most likely 3/4"), unpainted. I will have a better idea on pricing when I see how much time is invested by doing multiples versus one set like has been done. The goal is in the 50.00 area, possible shipping included.

Now I need something from you guys. The 4 or 5 machines times I have measured tie rods on, it seems 9"-9.25" center to center is a pretty common length. At your convenience, i'd love to hear some measurements 'from the field'. These tie rods will obviously be adjustable, but the less threaded portion we have 'hanging out there', the stronger they would be.

THANKS!!!!

Edited January 13, 2021 by Greentored

[DennisThornton 4,769]

11 minutes ago, Greentored said:

Ok fellas, too many questions and ideas to reply via 'quote' , so they're gonna get grouped together on replies eh?

Mufflers- I tried making one 25 years ago for a V8. It was louder than the original cherry bomb, but it DID have a very 'mean' exhaust tone. I dont know poo about how to design a muffler. Kemp and WHX are the men for that job!

Hood ornaments, cables and controls, things of that nature- I think this is where this plan goes from 'profitable' to 'loss'- I am just not equipped or experienced to do those kinds of things. Basically- if it cant be done with a mill, lathe and welder, I'm most likely not going to offer it.

A few of you guys have made a very valid point about 'return on investment'- I appreciate that, and it is obviously consideration #1.   A couple years back, I 'came up with' a tool for clearing the pump passages on Coleman lanterns, something that was not accessible and rendered the fuel fount junk if it was plugged. Guys used sockets and extensions, wooden dowels, etc... and they worked, but I still whipped up a handful anyhow- out of aluminum, and cut each end to a different diameter so they would fit the two most common pump diameters and cover 90% of the lanterns made, and handed them out at a lantern gathering. The community went bonkers, and shortly after, one of the parts vendors and I struck a deal to sell direct to him, with an initial order or 20, followed by an order of 50. Between material costs and giving him room for profit, we both made about a whopping 3.00 a piece on them. Hardly worth it...... except I hammered out 50 of them on a Saturday morning. Thats 150 bucks I wouldn't have made sitting on my rearend on the couch watching youtube videos!!!

'Labor of love' is most certainly the reason for possibly doing this, but you're right- I'm not going to do it for free, or less....

I think your initial question quickly got cloudy with me adding to the fog.  But now that we know a little better what you have and what you are considering to offer I think you pretty much answered your own question. 

 

Make a few tie rods and offer them here and maybe on eBay and see how it goes.  You could set the price where you think you could make money if/when you could buy in some quantity and setup for some production.  Do it when you got time.  Or not...

[Greentored 3,216]

38 minutes ago, DennisThornton said:

I think your initial question quickly got cloudy with me adding to the fog.  But now that we know a little better what you have and what you are considering to offer I think you pretty much answered your own question. 

 

Make a few tie rods and offer them here and maybe on eBay and see how it goes.  You could set the price where you think you could make money if/when you could buy in some quantity and setup for some production.  Do it when you got time.  Or not...

Bingo.

...and if the demand vs profit numbers don't work out, i'll yank the plug and have 5 of my own machines with a nice set of tie rods