JH-Q
Aluminum
- Joined
- Mar 17, 2008
- Location
- Tampere, Finland
Some years ago i used to run a modern day cnc job shop in the city and made some fair money, but the overhead (rent & machine payments) were taking their toll on me. I couldn't get any time off the shop and was always worried about finding enough work to pay the next months bills. I bet most of you know the feeling, especially with the rising costs. Ended up selling my shop in 2014 after six years. Tried it again in 2015-2019 with a bit different recipe, less overhead but still wasn't content with all the stress.
Don't get me wrong, i love making parts and machining in my own shop is still the thing i want to do as a career. Now i've had a four years off the trade and finally figured out how to put the parts together. Nothing new under the sun, but i don't see many people in this trade going this direction..?
So i have fount myself in a fairly rural place, with a nice plot of debt-free land under my feet. Then i built a small (but nevertheless insulated and well-built) shop for myself. Here's the fun thing. I have no electric grid connection, so partly for challenge i've been building the shop to run on an 1930's stationary hot bulb engine and lineshaft. Maybe i should write more about it on the antique machinery subforum later on. However, it's not a museum i'm building, this stuff is for making profit! I don't frown on modern technology either, i do have a solar panel&battery setup as well.
So i'm starting with bunch of (antique, some call it obsolete?) machinery. Mostly because it was very affordable to buy and when overhauled, they should be good enough for the parts i'm aiming to make.
This far i have;
-18"x50" cone head lathe, ca 1915
-20" shaper, early 1900's
-Camelback drill press, 1910's
-Sturdy, soviet-made pantograph copy miller, from the 1970's, NOS (haven't made a single chip since new)
-Power hacksaw, stick welder and a small tool grinding machine for support equipment, also some miniature (quality) machines for making tiny, precise parts.
Obviously, these cannot compete spitting out VMC-style parts, i know how darn fast they can be, and i used to run older 90's japanese cnc's, which were slower than machines nowadays.
How it's possible to make profit with century old machines you might ask?
I figured out it's easy to find modern day country "blacksmith" work over here, which seems to consist of making parts for obsolete equipment. Most of the old-timers are gone and rest are retiring fast! They knew how to make it do. Farm stuff and forestry machine parts, which i used to make but having a cnc shop meant the machines were a bit clumsy and overhead too big to compete on that kind of stuff. There's also some small industry around, which certainly needs all kind of tooling and short run stuff to keep their production running.
The aim is not to be a cheapskate and race to the bottom, but rather offer a friendly, local machining service, while putting emphasis on life quality. If there is no work at fair terms, i close the shop door and go fishing instead as there is no overhead. The shop can be heated with firewood from my own woodlot and everything is paid for.
This far the biggest drawback i've encountered is that rebuilding old machines and building a shop with own hands means a lot of non-paying work when beginning, it doesn't bother me since i like saving old machines. But it's not like buying used VMC, plug it in a wall socket, buy a computer and a dozen of BT40 holders and and start making chips.
TLDR;
Would be nice to hear if others have been succesful in small, work-at-home machining craftsman business, trying to minimize overhead and the costs they cannot control themselves. How did it work out?
Don't get me wrong, i love making parts and machining in my own shop is still the thing i want to do as a career. Now i've had a four years off the trade and finally figured out how to put the parts together. Nothing new under the sun, but i don't see many people in this trade going this direction..?
So i have fount myself in a fairly rural place, with a nice plot of debt-free land under my feet. Then i built a small (but nevertheless insulated and well-built) shop for myself. Here's the fun thing. I have no electric grid connection, so partly for challenge i've been building the shop to run on an 1930's stationary hot bulb engine and lineshaft. Maybe i should write more about it on the antique machinery subforum later on. However, it's not a museum i'm building, this stuff is for making profit! I don't frown on modern technology either, i do have a solar panel&battery setup as well.
So i'm starting with bunch of (antique, some call it obsolete?) machinery. Mostly because it was very affordable to buy and when overhauled, they should be good enough for the parts i'm aiming to make.
This far i have;
-18"x50" cone head lathe, ca 1915
-20" shaper, early 1900's
-Camelback drill press, 1910's
-Sturdy, soviet-made pantograph copy miller, from the 1970's, NOS (haven't made a single chip since new)
-Power hacksaw, stick welder and a small tool grinding machine for support equipment, also some miniature (quality) machines for making tiny, precise parts.
Obviously, these cannot compete spitting out VMC-style parts, i know how darn fast they can be, and i used to run older 90's japanese cnc's, which were slower than machines nowadays.
How it's possible to make profit with century old machines you might ask?
I figured out it's easy to find modern day country "blacksmith" work over here, which seems to consist of making parts for obsolete equipment. Most of the old-timers are gone and rest are retiring fast! They knew how to make it do. Farm stuff and forestry machine parts, which i used to make but having a cnc shop meant the machines were a bit clumsy and overhead too big to compete on that kind of stuff. There's also some small industry around, which certainly needs all kind of tooling and short run stuff to keep their production running.
The aim is not to be a cheapskate and race to the bottom, but rather offer a friendly, local machining service, while putting emphasis on life quality. If there is no work at fair terms, i close the shop door and go fishing instead as there is no overhead. The shop can be heated with firewood from my own woodlot and everything is paid for.
This far the biggest drawback i've encountered is that rebuilding old machines and building a shop with own hands means a lot of non-paying work when beginning, it doesn't bother me since i like saving old machines. But it's not like buying used VMC, plug it in a wall socket, buy a computer and a dozen of BT40 holders and and start making chips.
TLDR;
Would be nice to hear if others have been succesful in small, work-at-home machining craftsman business, trying to minimize overhead and the costs they cannot control themselves. How did it work out?