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Ask HN: What can you realistically manufacture in your garage?

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Re: Ask HN: What can you realistically manufacture in your garage?

#131

Post by wnolens »

1-6 wrote: post #119
wnolens wrote: post #104

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Isn't a job a solution to the problem of needing money? You take stock of your skills, hit the job boards, ...

Came here to say something similar. First, the ask is to help find things that can make money in the garage. I think that would be like finding ‘problems’ then applying a ‘location:garage’ filter to narrow the choices down. Then, after choosing the product, it’s to tool the garage to manufacture the ‘solution’

New framing:

the problem is "convince partner that I need a sweet shop in the garage", solution is "become entrepreneur requiring sweet shop in garage" ;)

Re: Ask HN: What can you realistically manufacture in your garage?

#132

Post by mrandish »

If you want to create an economically viable business, focus first on how you're going to profitably locate, attract and sell to a growing pool of new customers. The vast majority of businesses which fail, do so due to a lack of Customers not a lack of Product.

Re: Ask HN: What can you realistically manufacture in your garage?

#133

Post by convolvatron »

HeyLaughingBoy wrote: post #111
SpikedCola wrote: post #89

Earlier quoted context omitted.

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

FWIW, one of the benefits of Fastenal is being able to walk in and browse the shelves (just ask them when they're not busy. Never had a problem)

idk. they made me get a commercial account. and their stock for my local shop leans heavily towards grade-8 construction fasteners and not the smaller machine screws that I generally use.

Re: Ask HN: What can you realistically manufacture in your garage?

#134

Post by smm11 »

at-fates-hands wrote: post #102
csteubs wrote: post #53

I started making jet ski tread mats out of astro turf in my garage last year. Dead simple to cut, margin is super high ($60 for a standard set of three on ~$8 worth of material), and time spent per unit from roll to package is something like 15-20 minutes. It was fun and made about $30k over the summer months but I stopped when I moved back to the west coast. I could have handled the whole operation in a spare bedroo…

My buddy did something similar. He lived near a town where a mine had shut down a few years earlier. Him and his buddy went out and found a ton of heavy duty, industrial conveyor belts. They took as much as their two trucks could haul. Went back and cut them into lengths suitable for truck beds. Sold them at $100 a pop for any truck. Same thing. They'd just told the customer to measure their bed and they'd cut them t…

"Found" a ton of heavy duty, industrial conveyor belts.

On my way to the rust belt with a hackszall right now.

Re: Ask HN: What can you realistically manufacture in your garage?

#135

Post by primax »

fxtentacle wrote: post #97
fortysixdegrees wrote: post #8

Gin

Isn't the distillation process prone to explosions? How would one get started? How much capital is needed?

It's fairly safe if you operate in a well ventilated environment, have fail-safes in your still in case there is a pressure build up, and use electric elements instead of gas.

Plenty of people use gas, but I don't see why given the increased risk and cost.

For gin you need to make or buy neutral spirit first. Buying it is ideal as larger providers can make it cheaper and cleaner than you, but needs a license so you won't do this while you're developing a product.

Then you will likely use a pot still to make your final product. You can use the same equipment to do both processes if you have a modular design.

None of the above is set in stone - gin is a bit like jazz and breaking the rules is common.

Re: Ask HN: What can you realistically manufacture in your garage?

#136

Post by bombcar »

SpikedCola wrote: post #90
bombcar wrote: post #69

Earlier quoted context omitted.

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.

Those also don't usually allow "package" delivery (think UPS) but maybe something can be worked out. Some small post offices will accept a UPS delivery to "unit PO BOX number" but I don't think they're supposed to.

Re: Ask HN: What can you realistically manufacture in your garage?

#137

Post by JohnBooty »

northwest65 wrote: post #107
JohnBooty wrote: post #47

Here's a tour of the late Grant Imahara's workshop. He worked on robotics and, I believe, props in there? He's got a pretty significant amount of capability -- "CNC mills, laser cutters, lathes, paints, electronics, work tables, and, of course, multiple 3D printers" -- built into a space that looks closer to a 1-car garage than a 2-car garage. edit: here's the actual link https://youtu.be/hsCSTO8SaQU

I think that's more 4 car garage than 2 or 1 car. It also has quite a tall ceiling and industrial power and ventilation hookups.

I have a workshop/gym in my 2-car garage and his space doesn't look much bigger than mine. (It is, however, infinitely cooler than mine)

He's got the tall ceiling, yeah, but he wasn't using it in any way that I can see.

Power hookups likely wouldn't be an obstacle if one was recreating this in a residential garage. Would just need 220V for some of the machines I bet. Key here is that for Grant's line he surely you running all of the power-hungry machines at once as he was (to the best of my knowledge) working on bespoke one-off projects.

Re: Ask HN: What can you realistically manufacture in your garage?

#138

Post by 12ian34 »

Panther34543 wrote: post #63

I'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…

hmm facilitating war, even if it means defence just doesn't sit quite right with me. shame we live in a world where this is even a thing

Re: Ask HN: What can you realistically manufacture in your garage?

#139

Post by StillBored »

lrvick wrote: post #98

I would suggest looking at the mechanical puzzle community. A quick look around https://puzzleparadise.net/ will reveal many people willing to pay hundreds or thousands of dollars for bespoke homemade sequential discovery puzzles made with laser cutting, woodworking, 3D printing, CNC, mill, lathe, custom PCBs, etc. To go further down the rabbit hole see: https://docs.google.com/spreadsheets/d/1j5V0nECn9hqUCmPmxPqi...

I stumbled on this place, https://puzzledabq.com/, in Albuquerque earlier this year.

Probably one of the busiest establishments in the area from what I could tell.

So the retail side is probably pretty solid right now too.

Re: Ask HN: What can you realistically manufacture in your garage?

#140

Post by qbasic_forever »

primax wrote: post #70

Get a commercial dehydrator. You can make dehydrated fruit and veg, trail food, jerky, dried herbs, tea and lots of other things. You can grow gourmet or medicinal mushrooms with a handmade flow hood, a pressure cooker and two grow tents.

I'd do a lot of research in the market before starting a food business at home. Rules and regulations are pretty intense and if you're selling stuff for people to consume it usually has to be prepared in an approved and inspected kitchen, which is very difficult for home chefs. It's not impossible but prepare for a _ton_ of roadblocks. Most folks end up renting time in commercial kitchens that take care of crossing all the t's and dotting the i's so they are properly inspected and certified for commercial food prep, but you'll pay a premium for their service.

And the next major hurdle is actually selling product to stores. Good luck getting into real grocery stores, if you don't have a relationship with them or some kind of major in they won't even give you the time of day. You'd have to start small and super local, like an indie grocer that is willing to take a chance (and almost certainly have you take on 100%+ of the risk and pay to take back any unsold product).

I've listened to some folks on cooking podcasts that tried successfully (and unsuccessfully) to get into selling their own sauces, condiments, etc. and it is a hell of a difficult journey. They all spent easily six figures of their own cash to get it all bootstrapped and off the ground too. I don't think a single one ended up being happy in the end or felt like it was worth the trouble.

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