Niche, NLA car parts for older cars. 3d print to prototype, machine with a mill and/or lathe. Or better, CNC mill.
Ask HN: What can you realistically manufacture in your garage?
81–90 of 428 posts
Re: Ask HN: What can you realistically manufacture in your garage?
#82I 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 does making your own product on a home 3D printer compare to the cost per unit of having something like Shapeways or similar do it? Out of curiosity, I took my design for a Dremel gig that is about 4 - 5 hours of total printing time (biggest part is 3 hours, and several 1/2 hour pieces), and a single unit cost from an online quote was roughly $35. Plus there is a good selection of materials, including metal optio…
For my application, it's much cheaper and I have the added flexibility of being able to adjust my design and rapdily prototype should the other components need to change due to unavailability -- I have already had to do this.
For something that costs me $0.17 at home, Etsy people want to charge upwards of $4 plus shipping and Shapeways or the like are $20+.
Re: Ask HN: What can you realistically manufacture in your garage?
#83I guess at that scale your not looking to beat anyone on price. Your going for bespoke quality, I'd say. So you want something that people pay a lot for already so you can charge more and put the word "bespoke" in front of it.
One idea I had was bicycle frames, if you know arc welding. Custom size frames or of unique design go for a lot. I guess it depends on how fiddly they get, but if you can bang out the standard fittings then the main part should be quite quick to put togther.
Re: Ask HN: What can you realistically manufacture in your garage?
#84>not particularly interested in the legality
Counterfeit board games.
Re: Ask HN: What can you realistically manufacture in your garage?
#85well, you can manufacture a gun [0] from materials procured from your hardware store. Of course that would likely be illegal in many juridictions first to manufacture, then to sell.
[0] https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Philip_Luty#Firearms_design
Re: Ask HN: What can you realistically manufacture in your garage?
#86I know of at least a few businesses that got off the ground in a garage with a little 3-axis CNC mill and a few ideas. Find an area thats underserved and come up with a better idea.
Re: Ask HN: What can you realistically manufacture in your garage?
#87Seeds, saplings, etc. Small houseplants and barely sprouted houseplants sell for a lot on Etsy and other sites and require very moderate amounts space and money. The difficulty is skill. Plants can be hard to grow and it’s easy to make a mistake that ruins lots of your crop!
Or, you know, marijuana. > ...not particularly interested in the legality of this...
Selling cannbis clones and support etc could be very lucrative.
And potentially legal, depending on locale.
Re: Ask HN: What can you realistically manufacture in your garage?
#88I've given this advice elsewhere, and I'll give it here. Go look at the small business initiatives by each branch of the U.S. military; many are now posting lists of open contracts that you can bid on for an incredible array of things. Browse through those lists and find something you can build. I really believe the U.S. military is in the midst of a large scale transfer of military spending from traditional large de…
You're not the first person I've heard this from; when you say "many are now posting lists of open contracts you can bid on" where are they posting these things? https://sam.gov/content/home is what my cursory Googling found, is this what you mean, or is there some other, more relevant site involved?
I just searched "CNC", a bunch of contract opportunities showed up: https://sam.gov/search/?index=opp&sort=-modifiedDate&page=1&...
Re: Ask HN: What can you realistically manufacture in your garage?
#89Earlier quoted context omitted.
McMaster-Carr won’t sell to small companies, my friends and I have tried several times, only to have orders cancelled for the above-mentioned reason. It’s a shame because their website has a wealth of information (CAD drawings, measurements, etc.), one of the best I’ve seen.
Did they explicitly tell you that's why the order was cancelled? I've placed many personal orders with them and never had issues.
Their reply, verbatim:
Hi xxxx,
We only ship to large businesses and schools in Canada. We can't accept your order. I'm sorry for the inconvenience. You might want to try Fastenal or Motion Canada.
Lauren
Re: Ask HN: What can you realistically manufacture in your garage?
#90Earlier quoted context omitted.
We are in Ontario, Canada, if it matters. I know Quinn from blondiehacks orders from them without difficulty, so I’m not sure what it is about us that they don’t like. They tend to be very curt/nearing unfriendly in their responses.
There may be difficulties shipping cross-border (customs is hell) - so maybe you "need" to find an address just over the border in the US to ship to instead?
I do have a US PO Box, so I will try this next time. Thanks for the suggestion.