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Hey guys I have been just playing around with my diy machine lately and really want to use it for good. I really would like to try and make alittle money to help pay for college expenses while going to school but really have just hit a wall. What types of buisness' have you guys created with your diy cnc machines or what have you had success building and selling with it?
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I was at the flea market in Anderson,SC yesterday. They had a guy selling cnc laser cut wood craft signs (names, etc).
You could do something similar, custom keychains or signs with names, etc...
I think the guy was charging $15 per sign (maybe 12" by 12"), he couldn't have had more than $4-5 invested per sign..
That sounds like a cool idea, although the winters here in minnesota are pretty harsh, not many flea markets going on during the winter time..
have you tried making any lithophanes? I'd never seen one till I started reading about CNC. I can only imagine that they would sell decently at craft shows, flea markets etc. LEDs are super cheap now to make backlighting, and actually, having your own website is very cheap and easy nowadays, and with a paypal or google checkout system, the whole money transfer thing is easy too.
Some people are allergic to the plastic on keyboards and mice. There are some horrible mouses and keyboards for them that sell for around 50 bucks, the plastic equivalent is a 10 buck set. Looks like something from Ab Lincon's days. For any office worker or executive it's a real embarrassment. However, higher end keyboards, Logitech and MS keyboards, outfitted with wooden keys and form fitting cases can sell up to $500.00 each. You investment would be about 100 for the keyboard and mouse, (depending on the model) and about 20 or 30 in wood materials and safe glues etc. Maybe more if you ruin you first key board or 2. The downside is you're going to have to do a ton of cad designing, unless you have a laser scanner. You will also need to provide your own warranty because the manufacturers will be void for sure. You would also need a website of course.
The good news is, it's easy to get other tech/ allergy sites to publish articles about your products. So getting the word out to those with the money and the need isn't hard. Another good thing is, it may be a little hard to get something perfect perfect perfect done in 3d on a cnc machine at first, but once you got it, you could do it a thousand times.
the real trick is marketing. A lot of people can make stuff, but building a brand and a steady flow of business is tough.
I'm glad to say that I've got back the investment from my first machine with my website (see sig), but business has been slow since the holidays.
Ultimately I'd like to do something that's completely automated - ie. customer designs stuff on the website, g-code is automatically generated, and the machine can just run by itself.
I've been thinking of doing that model for countertops, but the margins are rather thin in that market, and warped walls are a big problem. Are laminate countertops still popular these days?
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Originally Posted by Jack000
bingo!
if you can do decent marketing anything you make can be sold. if not it does not matter if you crap gold it is useless unless you can find some one to buy it!
on a serious note though automated machining is not a common thing so anything you start making I am sure you will find people wanting to buy especially if you can make it custom like those signs. Just put out some adds in craigs list there locally!
plexiglass lettering is a great money spinner. we do it here www.southlondonsigns.com on our K2 machine and get great results and feedback.
goodluck!