I make pine bookshelves using 1"x12"xN" boards with dados.
Ask HN: What can you realistically manufacture in your garage?
201–210 of 428 posts
Re: Ask HN: What can you realistically manufacture in your garage?
#202About a million things? Art, furniture, metal gears, food, seedlings, chickens, printed t-shirts, shoes, electronics, bicycles, pottery, brooms, woven fabric, a bespoke suit. A car.
It'd be easier to list what you can't manufacture in a 2 car garage.
Re: Ask HN: What can you realistically manufacture in your garage?
#2033D print tabletop game pieces. Lots of tabletop games use cards. Having physical pieces adds a nice touch.
Re: Ask HN: What can you realistically manufacture in your garage?
#204Earlier quoted context omitted.
Note that the "minority veteran woman" thing can be gamed a bit (and is) - I know of a few small businesses that are officially owned by the spouse of the actual leader so that they can qualify higher. So even if your spouse doesn't check all three boxes, having the company officially be owned by your wife can help.
There is a bit more to the requirement than the company being owned by a woman, namely the requirements for women to be in control of the day to day operations of the business. It is a similar requirement for veteran owned small businesses and I imagine “gaming” this would be tantamount to fraud. About as far as I’ve seen be acceptable for “gaming” things is to use a joint venture that is 51% owned/controlled by what…
Yeah, see my other comment here, but you make a good point about the definition of "owned" - it can't just be a name, it has to be a legally binding level of control over the operation s and finances. Unfortunately there's not really any standard metric for that which is enforceable.
Claiming a preference can be fraud, and is often abused, but... in reality, nobody's really checking unless there's a justifiable reason to. Not that I'm endorsing such fraud, and you're right, 51% is usually the safe way to go, but many LLC type setups don't have any easy way to help determine that. It's really quite time consuming and intrusive to determine "control" as the person writing or signing the contract. It's very much based on the assumption of honesty, unless there's some clear indication otherwise (and yes, due diligence is performed and documented, at least to some extent - it isn't just a Google search for "companies that sell widgets near me").
For an extreme example, I won't know that a company is a sweatshop using undocumented drug addicted children if their representations and warranties documentation says they don't.
Re: Ask HN: What can you realistically manufacture in your garage?
#205I'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…
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Re: Ask HN: What can you realistically manufacture in your garage?
#206I've a good few friends that either started or run small mnufactruing businesses out of a garage or spare room. Those that moved to dedicated premises only did so once it made sense financially and were already supporting their family. Some moved rural, supporting a bigger workshop.
I have 3 car garage, with one car in it, the rest is workshop. That fits ample tracking, several metalworking machines, bench space and tool storage. I don't run a full fledged business, just hobby jobs, but it could easily support as much.
I've seen clean rooms, home built automated manufacturing rigs and labs I'd wish for at work, all in people's sheds. I truly believe a small workshop can do wonders. The capabilities of small modern equipment, and the ability to outsource jobs/parts by email only makes this easier.
(edit: formatting)
Re: Ask HN: What can you realistically manufacture in your garage?
#207Re: Ask HN: What can you realistically manufacture in your garage?
#208Earlier quoted context omitted.
This is what my Dad does...and he has a lathe in the garage typically producing things for helicopters and airplanes.
There should be a program that's easily accessible (not behind lawyer language) that DoD sponsors: We'll buy you a CNC machine, a laptop and a bunch of bar stock on our dime if you produce these parts as per these quality requirements by this date and of this quantity. If we're happy, you can keep the equipment for your next DoD project and you'll get a priority as an experienced vendor (that we invested in).
Not understanding what the benefit to the taxpayer is for this, when right now plenty of entrepreneurs willingly take on these startup costs themselves?
Re: Ask HN: What can you realistically manufacture in your garage?
#209A family member of mine did motorcycle trailer hitches and other related things for years out of a two car garage. Eventually they got big enough that they needed to expand and did so, at least to some success.
Re: Ask HN: What can you realistically manufacture in your garage?
#210I'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…
I just finished Dan Carlin's Hardcore History episode series titled "Supernova in the East". It details the context and history around Japanese involvement in World War 2.
It was absolutely fascinating. I highly recommend giving it a listen, even to people who think they aren't interested in war history.