T-shirt printing, leather craft, 3d printing long-tail plastic parts for things where spare parts are no longer available, small-scale electronics manufacturing, hydroponic production of fresh ingredients for local restaurants, embroidery, concrete countertop/sink production, glass work for smoking, classic car restoration, kit car production, hobby steam engine production, tiny wood shop, CNC production for sale on Etsy, jewelry crafting. Those are ones I can think of off the top of my head.
Ask HN: What can you realistically manufacture in your garage?
11–20 of 428 posts
Re: Ask HN: What can you realistically manufacture in your garage?
#12Jet engine https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=nJr-RmJxtDc
OP did ask "realistically".
Re: Ask HN: What can you realistically manufacture in your garage?
#13The legality should interest you. I saw someone have their small business shut down by police because they were running it out of their basement. It wasn't the noise or pollution (which realistically are the nuisances you're going to be inflicting on neighbors) but the excess cars parked and delivery trucks coming and going down the street. One neighbor ratted them out.
The problem with the space isn't really the capital but noise abatement, waste disposal, and inventory. The ideal product would be quiet to make, not use tough chemicals to dispose, and materials you can buy in bulk and small enough not to take up a ton of space in the worksite.
Re: Ask HN: What can you realistically manufacture in your garage?
#14I currently manufacturer a fairly niche product with nothing but a 7 year old $250 3d printer, some off the shelf parts, and a bit of custom electronics. Very high profit margin, as I am the only producer of this item (!). I'd love to move to a more "robust" process, but options for materials and widespread access to 3d printing provides a lot of versatility for a single-person business where I want to control the en…
How did you discover the market for this product? Are you part of some interest-based-community whose members want/need this part?
Re: Ask HN: What can you realistically manufacture in your garage?
#15cutting gemstones has a pretty low capital cost to get started, a couple of workbenches worth of grinding and polishing equipment plus a diamond-saw
there's lots of tutorials on youtube, seems like a gratifying hobby with a potential for profit if you take it seriously as a day job
Re: Ask HN: What can you realistically manufacture in your garage?
#16No post body was provided.
Re: Ask HN: What can you realistically manufacture in your garage?
#17Gin
Weed
Re: Ask HN: What can you realistically manufacture in your garage?
#18I have a dream of producing custom recumbents. I don't know where to get thin-walled pipes, but a start capital is roughly as you have described.
McMaster-Carr supplies thin-wall chromoly tube [0] suitable for fabricating bicycle frames. [0] tube is measured by the outer diameter; pipe is measured by the inner diameter
bicycle tube for making bikes out of chromoly can be bought from many makers. The good stuff doesn't have uniform wall thickness but has thinner sides and thicker top/bottom for lower weight/stiffness. It should also have butted ends, meaning that it has thicker walls at the ends.
Re: Ask HN: What can you realistically manufacture in your garage?
#19probably jewelry like this https://patrickadairdesigns.com/collections/all-products
Re: Ask HN: What can you realistically manufacture in your garage?
#20The legality should interest you. I saw someone have their small business shut down by police because they were running it out of their basement. It wasn't the noise or pollution (which realistically are the nuisances you're going to be inflicting on neighbors) but the excess cars parked and delivery trucks coming and going down the street. One neighbor ratted them out. The problem with the space isn't really the cap…
In reviewing neighborhood covenants whilst searching for a new home, I was surprised to see some of them make explicit the fact that running a business in your home is allowed, provided that it doesn't generate significant traffic/parking.