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I spent 3 years working on a coat hanger [video]

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Re: I spent 3 years working on a coat hanger [video]

#221

Post by konschubert »

fxtentacle wrote: post #183
jackdoe wrote: post #181

I just love the maker's mind. > I want something that does not exist, I will make it. Making things has never been so accessible, if you don't know how to start, join a community and ask, if they are hostile, just ask chatgpt and start from there. 3d printers are 200$, esp32 is the same cost as arduino nano. Want to make AI things? Make them. Want to make coat hangers? Make them. Want to make a book stand? Make it. I…

To me, this really shows that marketing is now the most crucial skill. It has become easy and affordable to design products, the process is now almost fully commodified with all those OEM and production services. The only thing that now stands between your idea and financial success is your ability to reach the target market, i.e. marketing. Also, such a slick KickStarter campaign typically costs $10k plus ad spend i…

Making a product, certifying it and making sure it’s safe is also hard.

But marketing is extremely important and it’s just a very different skill than tech.

I make these epaper calendar displays.

https://shop.invisible-computers.com

I have invested thousands of hours into making them as good as possible. You couldn’t tell from my website :D

I would probably profit much more if I just stopped improving them and focused on marketing. But I just feel much more drawn to improving the product.

Re: I spent 3 years working on a coat hanger [video]

#222

Post by Timshel »

ipsum2 wrote: post #119

I used to like her videos, but found out that she takes other people's work and passes it off as her own. This video is a good example. Anyone reading the title and watching the video, it appears that she's done all of the work iterating on the prototypes. No one else is mentioned in doing any of the work. Only in the comments does she post "If you have any technical questions, my co-inventor @stumcconnel will be her…

At the end we can never know but the fact that she may have now delegated the handling of the production to someone else does not exactly mean she did not work on the original idea/prototype.

As a single data point someone linked one of her previous video (from 2years ago) on her bed and funnily enough in it you can see some coat hingers prototype : https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=inVvXS6gA8c&t=984s

Re: I spent 3 years working on a coat hanger [video]

#223

Post by konschubert »

jackdoe wrote: post #181

I just love the maker's mind. > I want something that does not exist, I will make it. Making things has never been so accessible, if you don't know how to start, join a community and ask, if they are hostile, just ask chatgpt and start from there. 3d printers are 200$, esp32 is the same cost as arduino nano. Want to make AI things? Make them. Want to make coat hangers? Make them. Want to make a book stand? Make it. I…

I think the best ideas come when you make something that you really want for yourself.

In 2020, I really wanted an eink calendar to hang on my wall.

Still, many people built one for themselves and never turned it into a commercial product.

It’s a lot of work and some of it is boring. And you have to pay for certification and worry about all that paperwork that comes with a business.

It took me 3 years:

https://shop.invisible-computers.com

Re: I spent 3 years working on a coat hanger [video]

#224

Post by mrweasel »

fbdab103 wrote: post #139
nighthawk454 wrote: post #88

Earlier quoted context omitted.

She has a video on that too: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=inVvXS6gA8c

I am upset she put in all that effort and did not stain the wood.

That might be because she's Swedish. As a Scandinavian it's always a bit weird seeing Americans staining wood, it's not really something you'd do, unless you're trying to make it lighter. Americans, and the British, loves staining wood, making it darker. That's kinda the opposite of what you do in Scandinavia. You keep everything light, bright and natural (if possible, pine has a tendency to yellow and that not really fashionable).

Re: I spent 3 years working on a coat hanger [video]

#225

Post by wongarsu »

fxtentacle wrote: post #183
jackdoe wrote: post #181

I just love the maker's mind. > I want something that does not exist, I will make it. Making things has never been so accessible, if you don't know how to start, join a community and ask, if they are hostile, just ask chatgpt and start from there. 3d printers are 200$, esp32 is the same cost as arduino nano. Want to make AI things? Make them. Want to make coat hangers? Make them. Want to make a book stand? Make it. I…

To me, this really shows that marketing is now the most crucial skill. It has become easy and affordable to design products, the process is now almost fully commodified with all those OEM and production services. The only thing that now stands between your idea and financial success is your ability to reach the target market, i.e. marketing. Also, such a slick KickStarter campaign typically costs $10k plus ad spend i…

Simone Giertz (the video's creator) is what you could call a professional DIYer. She has an 8 year old Youtube channel dedicated entirely to making weird or beautiful stuff. She happens to also be good at a specific flavor of marketing, but just because the maker part appears easy when she demonstrates it I wouldn't conclude that anyone with the right idea could have reached the same end result. There is a lot of skill and experience still involved.

Re: I spent 3 years working on a coat hanger [video]

#226

Post by shitloadofbooks »

irjustin wrote: post #146
pengaru wrote: post #90

Earlier quoted context omitted.

> You need the coat hanger but you also need the coat rack, more specifically - the dowel, to be really close to the wall. Curtain rods are a solved problem with widespread availability across the quality spectrum, this is a total non-issue.

ehhhhhhh i'm not so sure about it. I think the details matter. Curtain rods are typically 1-4" from the wall. This product looks like it works best Finding curtain rods that are that close is uncommon and limited in styles/options (I didn't see one on a quick amazon/aliexpress search). That's not to say you're wrong, but I don't think it's as simple as you believe it to be. [0] https://ksr-ugc.imgix.net/assets/043/06…

Are you misunderstanding something? Clothes Railings are "normally" fixed on the ends (to the wall of the cupboard) or from above and can thus, be positioned any distance from the rear wall.

Do an Image Search for "Clothes Railing U Bracket" for example.

Re: I spent 3 years working on a coat hanger [video]

#227

Post by vincentleeuwen »

konschubert wrote: post #223
jackdoe wrote: post #181

I just love the maker's mind. > I want something that does not exist, I will make it. Making things has never been so accessible, if you don't know how to start, join a community and ask, if they are hostile, just ask chatgpt and start from there. 3d printers are 200$, esp32 is the same cost as arduino nano. Want to make AI things? Make them. Want to make coat hangers? Make them. Want to make a book stand? Make it. I…

I think the best ideas come when you make something that you really want for yourself. In 2020, I really wanted an eink calendar to hang on my wall. Still, many people built one for themselves and never turned it into a commercial product. It’s a lot of work and some of it is boring. And you have to pay for certification and worry about all that paperwork that comes with a business. It took me 3 years: https://shop.i…

link is broken for me

Re: I spent 3 years working on a coat hanger [video]

#228

Post by thorncorona »

fxtentacle wrote: post #214
traceroute66 wrote: post #207

Earlier quoted context omitted.

> Want to make AI things? Make them. Want to make coat hangers? Make them. Want to make a book stand? Make it. Or, you could just, you know, buy them. My beef with people who say, like you do that 3D printers are cheap or you can buy an arduino/pi/whatever, is simple. People consistently fail to value their time, and the startup cost. The startup cost because your thinking works on the assumption that people know how…

Sadly, 3D printers are still cheaper. I once needed to make a few customized gears out of food safe plastic. I asked several online services for quotes and I called several on-location shops in northern Germany. The quotes I got were all around $1800 per unique gear shape. Since I needed 4 different shapes (i.e. $7k for outsourcing), it was much cheaper to buy a 3D printer, watch some tutorials and spend two working…

you probably get scheduled in the down time between actually important clients.

Re: I spent 3 years working on a coat hanger [video]

#229

Post by m_eiman »

fxtentacle wrote: post #214
traceroute66 wrote: post #207

Earlier quoted context omitted.

> Want to make AI things? Make them. Want to make coat hangers? Make them. Want to make a book stand? Make it. Or, you could just, you know, buy them. My beef with people who say, like you do that 3D printers are cheap or you can buy an arduino/pi/whatever, is simple. People consistently fail to value their time, and the startup cost. The startup cost because your thinking works on the assumption that people know how…

Sadly, 3D printers are still cheaper. I once needed to make a few customized gears out of food safe plastic. I asked several online services for quotes and I called several on-location shops in northern Germany. The quotes I got were all around $1800 per unique gear shape. Since I needed 4 different shapes (i.e. $7k for outsourcing), it was much cheaper to buy a 3D printer, watch some tutorials and spend two working…

> Plus I honestly don't know why Shapeways (for example) will always quote you multiple weeks in lead time

Because they can get you to pay more to skip the wait, probably.

Re: I spent 3 years working on a coat hanger [video]

#230

Post by dom96 »

konschubert wrote: post #223
jackdoe wrote: post #181

I just love the maker's mind. > I want something that does not exist, I will make it. Making things has never been so accessible, if you don't know how to start, join a community and ask, if they are hostile, just ask chatgpt and start from there. 3d printers are 200$, esp32 is the same cost as arduino nano. Want to make AI things? Make them. Want to make coat hangers? Make them. Want to make a book stand? Make it. I…

I think the best ideas come when you make something that you really want for yourself. In 2020, I really wanted an eink calendar to hang on my wall. Still, many people built one for themselves and never turned it into a commercial product. It’s a lot of work and some of it is boring. And you have to pay for certification and worry about all that paperwork that comes with a business. It took me 3 years: https://shop.i…

> And you have to pay for certification

This is the thing that got me down and it seems to be the biggest barrier to entry for commercializing hardware products. The CE/FCC certification is killer.

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