Hacker News Board Hacker News, browsed like a classic message board
Live data from Hacker News

Ask HN: Should I try to manufacture toasters?

news.ycombinator.com

Post reply on HN
Print view View original

41–50 of 464 posts

Re: Ask HN: Should I try to manufacture toasters?

#41

Post by dylan604 »

quacked wrote: post #16

I've had a similar idea, except in addition to toasters, it's midsize pickup trucks, washing machines, dryers, dishwashers... What I've found is that regulations make it impossible to sell simple machines, labor costs make it impossible to compete on price, lawyers make it impossible to go to market without being sued, and consumers who say they want reliable, well-made goods will balk and buy cheap stuff en masse wh…

>lawyers make it impossible to go to market without being sued,

This would be my biggest concern. The potential field full of landmines that is the patent process would give me pause. Not spending the money to properly research because of bootstrapping the process could ultimately be more expensive if some other company comes after you for patent infringement.

Whatever your idea is, I would definitely do some investigating before investing too much time and effort getting too far down the road to ultimately hit a patent caused dead end.

Re: Ask HN: Should I try to manufacture toasters?

#42

Post by User23 »

YPPH wrote: post #20
kstenerud wrote: post #10

It would be nice to have an AI powered toaster that can provide me with early morning toast and light conversation.

Go on, start imagining. You wake up to make your toast, press the button down, and see: * Sorry, you must complete a critical system update before proceeding. * Wi-Fi unavailable, please check the network. * Your AccuToast (TM) subscription has expired. Please update your details on the web. * Non-genuine bread detected, please ensure you purchase AccuToast (TM) certified bread. * Tampering detected, contact manufact…

This happened with Pantelligent, except it just went dark because of a patent lawsuit. The app stopped working and the device became useless.

Re: Ask HN: Should I try to manufacture toasters?

#43

Post by methodical »

vturner wrote: post #31

Wish I could offer more than best wishes, but I am in a similar boat: pondering some product ideas while working as a SWE. This line caught my attention - "I also love learning about mechanical engineering and manufacturing" How do you go about that? Have you found any good books, YouTube videos, etc. that are accessible for us SWEs?

This may be a difference in learning preference, but I've always found the easiest way for me to learn about new topics was to jump into them directly. Supplemental reading could certainly help of course, so I apologize that I have nothing to provide in that area, but if you're interested in it I'd recommend just jumping in with simple projects and learning on your own from there- with assistance from just searching around for fundamentals on google. I hate to be the quote person, but I think this one fits perfectly; "The best time to plant a tree was 100 years ago, but the second best time is now" or "A journey of a thousand miles starts with a single step". Ignoring the cliche quotes, I'd just say the best thing you can do is dive in without any direct guidance and navigate the unknowns yourself. At the end of the day, starting off in the wrong direction is better than not starting at all. Good luck on your adventure!

Re: Ask HN: Should I try to manufacture toasters?

#44

Post by throwup238 »

lazide wrote: post #35
photoGrant wrote: post #6

I'd say you've found a slightly slower way of setting fire to your money

Than what? Hardware burns capital way faster than software (in general). Though it’s easier to spin BS reasons to burn billions on software maybe, since no one is expecting to actually hold the thing?

> Than what?

It's slightly slower than starting an airline or just making a giant money bonfire.

Re: Ask HN: Should I try to manufacture toasters?

#45

Post by ska »

Dig1t wrote: post #38
MattGaiser wrote: post #12

I have seen the lack of an American made toaster appear in several venues, so there is pretty clearly some interest in this topic. How many would buy one is another matter. I worked for a company that made customized versions of relatively basic electrical devices and they didn't spend much money on it (couple thousand for the prototypes and the devices they disassembled to copy). The one pitfall they did note was th…

That is really interesting and it mirrors my intuition: there are 0 toasters on the market that have "Made in the USA" stamped on them. I think that there may be a decent sized market of people who will pay extra for that stamp on a normal household toaster.

In the UK context, there seem to still be at least on "local" company: https://www.dualit.com/collections/toasters

You can get NA versions, but they aren't cheap.

I'm not sure why that company survived and US variants didn't.

Re: Ask HN: Should I try to manufacture toasters?

#46

Post by eru »

People might _say_ they want something made locally, but when it comes to _spending_ money, they mostly care about price and quality, less about patriotism.

Compare the paper 'Prejudice is Free, but Discrimination has Costs' https://cdn.mises.org/14_2_3_0.pdf

In any case, if you are interested in fancy toasters, you might like to have a look at https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=1OfxlSG6q5Y

Re: Ask HN: Should I try to manufacture toasters?

#47

Post by 6510 »

YPPH wrote: post #20
kstenerud wrote: post #10

It would be nice to have an AI powered toaster that can provide me with early morning toast and light conversation.

Go on, start imagining. You wake up to make your toast, press the button down, and see: * Sorry, you must complete a critical system update before proceeding. * Wi-Fi unavailable, please check the network. * Your AccuToast (TM) subscription has expired. Please update your details on the web. * Non-genuine bread detected, please ensure you purchase AccuToast (TM) certified bread. * Tampering detected, contact manufact…

> Sorry, you must complete a critical system update before proceeding.

backup systems!

> Wi-Fi unavailable, please check the network.

Ethernet and satellite connectivity!

> Your AccuToast (TM) subscription has expired. Please update your details on the web.

bread delivery service! (like hp ink)

> Non-genuine bread detected, please ensure you purchase AccuToast (TM) certified bread.

Right, you cant just laser the images onto anything.

> Tampering detected, contact manufacturer.

A flying toaster that returns to the mother-ship when poorly treated.

edit:

The true American toaster:

It slices a whole loaf of bread, deep fries it then sugar coats the slices in randomized blue white and red patterns with stars. It should be gold with a picture of Trump on the side.

Re: Ask HN: Should I try to manufacture toasters?

#49

Post by eru »

quacked wrote: post #16

I've had a similar idea, except in addition to toasters, it's midsize pickup trucks, washing machines, dryers, dishwashers... What I've found is that regulations make it impossible to sell simple machines, labor costs make it impossible to compete on price, lawyers make it impossible to go to market without being sued, and consumers who say they want reliable, well-made goods will balk and buy cheap stuff en masse wh…

> [...] and consumers who say they want reliable, well-made goods will balk and buy cheap stuff en masse when it comes down to the wire.

And I've never really had much of a problem with cheap toasters being unreliable in the first place. But I guess there are people who do?

Re: Ask HN: Should I try to manufacture toasters?

#50

Post by eru »

throwup238 wrote: post #44
lazide wrote: post #35

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Than what? Hardware burns capital way faster than software (in general). Though it’s easier to spin BS reasons to burn billions on software maybe, since no one is expecting to actually hold the thing?

> Than what? It's slightly slower than starting an airline or just making a giant money bonfire.

Compare https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/K_Foundation_Burn_a_Million_Qu...
Post reply on HN