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

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241–250 of 428 posts

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

#241

Earlier quoted context omitted.

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

This is a hippie ideology that seems to only be held by people who live in secure circumstances that they take for granted and are oblivious to what it costs other people to create. Hippies were the children of WW2 vets and were an entire generation who seemingly failed to understand that the world they lived in was forged at great personal cost by the previous generation and the anvil upon which it was forged was Th…

My country was actually raped, pillaged and involuntarily ruled by the British for a very long time. I am no child of a WW2 vet. There is a world outside of the United States of America. Please take your derogatory chat elsewhere. In another comment in this thread I pay respect to those that have fought in wars. You are reading too much (or perhaps too little) into my original comment and combining that with small minded pessimism.

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

#242

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…

> I think Anduril is a great example of the possibilities in the "new" defense space. With "Anduril," are you referring to Toykeeper's (technically deprecated) LED driver (flashlight, torch) interface? If not, then what? If so, then please give me some idea how a flashlight interface may be employed in national defense. Thanks.

I think by Anduril, the parent meant Anduril Industries, founded by Palmer Luckey (formerly of Oculus), which is producing drones

https://www.anduril.com/

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

#244

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…

> I think Anduril is a great example of the possibilities in the "new" defense space. With "Anduril," are you referring to Toykeeper's (technically deprecated) LED driver (flashlight, torch) interface? If not, then what? If so, then please give me some idea how a flashlight interface may be employed in national defense. Thanks.

I’m pretty sure they’re referring to the defense contractor named Anduril[1].

1: https://www.anduril.com/

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

#245

Earlier quoted context omitted.

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

We're gonna have a global hegemon, that's just how 21st-century geopolitics is, and I'd certainly rather it be USA than PRC.

Lesser of two evils I guess.

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

#246

Earlier quoted context omitted.

This is a hippie ideology that seems to only be held by people who live in secure circumstances that they take for granted and are oblivious to what it costs other people to create. Hippies were the children of WW2 vets and were an entire generation who seemingly failed to understand that the world they lived in was forged at great personal cost by the previous generation and the anvil upon which it was forged was Th…

My country was actually raped, pillaged and involuntarily ruled by the British for a very long time. I am no child of a WW2 vet. There is a world outside of the United States of America. Please take your derogatory chat elsewhere. In another comment in this thread I pay respect to those that have fought in wars. You are reading too much (or perhaps too little) into my original comment and combining that with small mi…

I wasn't suggesting you were the child of a WW2 vet. Just disagreeing with the idea posited and doing my best to explain my reasons why, which is always a risky exercise on the internet.

Have a good day.

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

#247
post #13

The 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.

Yeah it has been weird to me how many HOAs explicitly call out hairdresser as something you can’t do from home.

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

#248

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…

sssssjhhhhh, the next rfp for afwerx closes in August:p

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

#249

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Not understanding what the benefit to the taxpayer is for this, when right now plenty of entrepreneurs willingly take on these startup costs themselves?

Huge benefits: Increase competition, overthrow incumbents, equip populace with basic skills and manufacturing capacity in case of when shit hits the fan, cheaper parts. Downsides I can think of: Exploitation of the program through various means by bad actors. It is no different than SBA low interest loans, just instead of capital, you get machines for specific purpose. Another one is injection molding, the entire ind…

How would this possibly be achieved when everyone in congress has pockets lined with defense contractor lobby money?

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

#250

Earlier quoted context omitted.

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 reaso…

Of course, and you are right on many/most accounts.

However, it is worth mentioning that it is definitely a dangerous game to play, even if the government doesn’t do anything.

Government contracting world is pretty cut throat and all it takes is a competitor, a partner, or an employee catching wind of the foul play and you make your company pretty vulnerable to a few things:

1) extortion for work share (e.g., a partner company threatening to out you to the contracting officer if they don’t give more work share % or some other form of monetary compensation)

2) A competitor contesting the contract award due to the awarded company not meeting the set aside requirements. This can be very costly and lead to the government being forced to look into things more thoroughly. It’s also public record and could seriously damage a company’s reputation in perpetuity.

3) A company employee filing a qui tam suit under the False Claims Act. This can lead to at best, a costly settlement, and at worse, repaying the government even after the work has already been performed.

It’s definitely not a route I recommend taking!

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