I paint. I don't take commissions and the stuff I've sold doesn't even come close to the total I've spent, but who cares, that isn't the point. I love coding, but doing something totally expressive rather than logical is a valuable part of my life too.
Ask HN: What is your money-making side project outside programming?
111–120 of 744 posts
Re: Ask HN: What is your money-making side project outside programming?
#112I build boats.
Re: Ask HN: What is your money-making side project outside programming?
#113Earlier quoted context omitted.
Clever. Do you have the intention to make more replacement parts for other products?
I would like to if time permits. There is a huge untapped market here. The difficulty is in locating the parts that are both unavailable and 3D printable. I keep it in the back of my head as I repair other items. So much expensive stuff ends up in a landfill over a tiny part. I could see someday having a github project for replacement parts, each one iterating and getting better an better -- far beyond the original.
> parts that are both unavailable
Depends on your pricing and margins. There's a huge number of parts that are available but ridiculously priced, often coming out an order of magnitude in excess of what seems reasonable.
Take for instance a kettle scale filter. OK you probably can't 3d print these, but for something so simple they're insanely priced - £5-£15 for a bit of plastic. A whole kettle with filter costs typically £15-£35. Dyson parts are even sillier.
e.g. https://www.amazon.co.uk/Genuine-Philips-Kettle-Filter-HD467...
There may be a far wider range of parts you could profit from than you may think. :)
Re: Ask HN: What is your money-making side project outside programming?
#114Breville coffee grinders are impossible to get internal parts for. I designed a 3D printed upgrade for the main wear-part in their BCG800XL and BCG600SIL Grinders. The storefront is through ShapeWays[1] and I use iFixit[2],[3] to drive the traffic. It passively makes enough to cover my own coffee needs forever. I spend about 20 minutes per month fielding questions. This all happened because my grinder failed and I co…
Would you look into teaming up? My father has an appliance repair company in Florida. He could be interested
Re: Ask HN: What is your money-making side project outside programming?
#115I make and sell staff paper notebooks for musicians: https://www.themusiciansnotebook.com/ I'm an avid saxophone player and am taking evening classes in theory, so I made this to solve a problem that I myself had. Nothing else like it on the market! Every part of this notebook is automatically generated with a bunch of python scripts: the cover design, the interior, the line placement, the margins. The program basica…
Can you help me understand why you need to use a bunch of python scripts to generate the PDF?
Couldn’t you just make it in Adobe InDesign? Cool item, btw. I used to play saxophone years back.
Re: Ask HN: What is your money-making side project outside programming?
#116I'm a lawyer who doesn't do much (any) marketing. But when someone gets referred and calls or sends an email asking for help with setting up an LLC, helping wind-down or sell their business, or even something small like reviewing an NDA, I can jump in. I'm solo, so I don't have any overhead and I can charge far less than anyone else. This is also entirely a side gig, so volume is so low that I can be responsive, help…
How do you keep your constant costs (e.g. mistakes and omissions insurance) down?
Re: Ask HN: What is your money-making side project outside programming?
#117I've written a couple of books that sell on Amazon and Apple iBooks - it takes zero minutes per month work for me, but brings a nice little side income. I won't get rich, but it's nice to have the money come in for doing nothing after I hit the "publish" button. Even the printed books cost nothing. I'm about to hit publish on a photo coffee-table book from my three years around Africa, and I'll write an Africa guide…
VERY COOL! So many questions:
Do you work on the road or take off years at a time?
Are you armed, or do you just avoid central conflict areas?
I take it no family? (hence the 'solo' bit) or are they undersganding?
Re: Ask HN: What is your money-making side project outside programming?
#118Invest in an S&P 500 ETF. This is probably the lowest effort side project you can have which still makes money. Also, if you learn about the stock market, it makes you more confident in how your savings looks, how your retirement will look, how to manage money, etc.
This is my side income as well. I buy VOO and SPY. I recommend investing in a normal trading account, a retirement account, and a robo-investor.
Re: Ask HN: What is your money-making side project outside programming?
#119I build boats.
Man, I am renovating a sailboat right now and it's so hard!
Re: Ask HN: What is your money-making side project outside programming?
#120Breville coffee grinders are impossible to get internal parts for. I designed a 3D printed upgrade for the main wear-part in their BCG800XL and BCG600SIL Grinders. The storefront is through ShapeWays[1] and I use iFixit[2],[3] to drive the traffic. It passively makes enough to cover my own coffee needs forever. I spend about 20 minutes per month fielding questions. This all happened because my grinder failed and I co…
Had a Breville expresso machine I repaired multiple times for my wife. The pump was decent, but the electronics were complete garbage for a $500 machine. The main problem were unsealed switches in a humid environment.
If you are someone that drinks no more than 1-3 cups a day, then I see no pointing getting an electric grinder over a higher-quality manual grinder, like the Comandante C40.