Your Shark as a Business

[Consultingwoodworker]

Steve,

I consult to the woodworking trade, as well as creating written and video content for retailers, manufacturers and publishers like Rockler, Micro Jig and Woodworker's Journal.

I do make money with my Shark. I have used it to create prototypes and repair parts for clients, and I create Shark projects for Woodworker's Journal. (I create and test them, then send the files to WWJ, and they make the video from that)

I also use it to create jigs and templates for 'traditional' woodworking projects around my shop as well. It is a source of income for my shop, but not the primary one.

Ralph

[milo30]

Sure you could. Some people on here do. I am right now....actually just getting started trying to really sell more than just to friends and such. If you just want to make some extra money to finance your habit or recoup your outlay of cash it would be easy enough, if you can find your niche. Check out ebay and craigslist and you'll see several selling things that they make on comparable machines. IMHO, it's a little small, slow and flimsy to be too serious with but I think that it will get me into a larger more commercial grade machine eventually.

If you are like me, the learning process will be full of trial and error, during which time it cost me more to make something than I made. It is hard to get a good feel of pricing on forums because of so many factors. I basically price the raw material and multiply it by 3 (helps cover your mistakes) then figure an hourly rate for machining, sanding and finishing. It gives you a ballpark but somethings will be more valuable than that and others, will be less. It would really depend on what your market will support. If something is more time consuming than I am able to charge for, I generally just won't do it. Pricing is the hardest part of the entire process. I see some advertised signs like your "The Smiths" that people sell so cheap, it isn't worth my time making the file, let alone the electricity for the machine.

I would never buy this to make real money on without having a business plan in place but for just some extra coin you will do fine. Besides, you'll want to make your own things for yourself and family at the beginning anyway not be busy making something for someone else.

[Steve Wojo]

Thanks Milo and Ralph. Theres always the what if running through my head and we are pretty much limited by our own imaginations when it comes to what can and cant be done.

My first run in with a CNC was at a Broadway Scenery shop I worked in for close to a decade ago, the table was easily big enough for a sheet of ply, never would I imagine Id own a smaller yet more capable one years later.

Obviously a lot of this is based on my abilities and time spent at it, but asI wait for my machine my mind is running. Ive been playing with the trial versions of VCarve and Vcarve Photo for a few days now so I have the basic ideas down and I know I can make the Smiths' in minutes with minimal effort.

Thanks again, just trying to see where my future could go with time and effort.

Steve

[REG]

Steve, using the Shark or any smaller hobby sized CNC system can be a business. Not much different than vinyl sign shops and shirt screening. You start as a hobby for yourself and family and then word gets around. CNC is custom work and folks like that. I have a family member that owns a cabinet shop and I have done a number of custom projects for him for his clients. We like the "WOW" affect that clients experience when they know they have a one-of-a-kind design.
Problem is, it can be real hard to make a decent living at it. It's not just about turning on the machine and pulling a finished product out. Many of my custom designs take hours creating in Vectric software. Then you have to make a test run, tweak the file and test again.
My most recent was making 16 stiles for a outdoor louvered fence. I believe I spent around 4 hours in total setting up the louver spacing and angle before I got to actually have a winning test. Of the 16 stiles I had 2 rejects. It was about another 4 hours to carve the 16+ stiles. All the customer sees is 16 slotted boards and not all the other work that went in to get that finished result.

I've done just about everything from 7 foot signs to business card holders. I still have my day job - but I still get request.

I wish you success in your future with your Shark. You will get a lot of satisfaction from it in just what you can create for yourself.

Bobby

[McBuster]

As mentioned "Don't quit your day job ... "

I have a side business of making some products. Mainly drilling holes and text. No Signage nor Plaques.

Here is the Product ...

http://www.cncsharktalk.com/viewtopic.php?f=4&t=3149

So far, lots of scrap due to wood chipping between holes, learning, and of course mistakes.

I have two areas where my time is spent.

Vectrix Designs and Revisions. I have spent weeks on the computer. Creating, revising, redesigning. It is good software, but when one has over thirty designs and when one change affects all of them, it gets boring really fast reworking them.

And, attempting to maintain the surface of a Plate parallel to the XYZ things happening above it using Jigs and adjustments etc ....

I have found, imho, my HD 2.0 is a good CNC Thingy - within limits. You -have- to work within the limitations of the machine flex. And, whatever bench you put it on, you will save yourself alot of headaches, if, the top is flat and very very strong for the entire footprint of the machine. Specifically the Y Axis Guide Rails.

I am retired, and enjoying this little Project and maybe make a little money from it once the Marketing is figured out.
.

[KarenW]

Can a Shark and an ambitious person make a business out of it, and even more importantly how would one even price projects from an animated machine like this?

Absolutely.
If you've got the time and the devotion and your area is right for it, it can certainly be a business.
I've been a professional finisher/woodworker for over 30 yrs so adding a new tool (the Shark) and a new branch (arts/crafts type of woodworking) wasn't too much of a stretch for me. It was for my partner Wade who was a professional soldier/medic for 22 yrs then a contractor for 20. It was a totally new world for him.

Took about 3 months of every day, slogging through the software, making some really fantastic mistakes ( ) and another 2 months of giving away a lot of "promotional" items to get to the point of doing first a Facebook page then on to a separate website. In about 8 months the machine and all the items associated were paid for. That included a major overhaul of the shop, adding a whole shop dust collector, a separate lumber storage room, lumber to fill that room, and all the bits and pieces.
Then a lot of added hours.
I still have a full time business separate from the Shark. Wade is retired which helps with the mundane things like keeping a house and a yard up but from the time I get home in the early afternoon till well after dark, we're in the home shop a minimum of 5 days a week. We do at least one show, fair or expo per month and are now to the point we can pick and choose the ones we do and have begun to get invited to do certain others.
When my other business took a major hit in this economy, income from the Shark filled in for it. A bit slimmer but doable.

Doing the fairs/expos is a LOT of work in the beginning -- learning the process, figuring out what might sell, creating displays and stockpiling inventory. Expect late nights, some disappointments, sore feet and back, some insult and some success. When you figure out the routine then it's just a matter of keeping up inventory, culling out what doesn't sell and getting on a schedule, keeping that schedule and planning for the next one. We're about to do our last show for the year this weekend then we don't do another until March. Planned that way because the March expo is specialized and none of our current inventory will fit the theme so we'll have enough time to do all new stuff.

In the meantime, online selling has grown and is now steady with orders being shipped all over the country. Took our first Canadian order today.

I found a niche item that is the centerpiece for this business - we specialize in portraits - so after a show it's a matter of follow-up contact with the customers and filling their orders. Shop days are planned the night before with a certain amount of stock items being cut first then the longer portrait cut to finish up the night. Last night I did the last of the 11 special order portraits from our last show in November and the last piece of inventory item for this weekend's show. Today we'll ship out that portrait, pack up for the weekend and head out Friday morning. When we return, we have three more ordered items to finish and ship and that will be the last of the CNC work till the first of the year and I'll concentrate finishing up the scheduled items in the other shop. It's a routine that works for us because while I'm in the furniture shop with my main business, Wade is here doing all the prep work for the CNC stuff. He keeps to a schedule here planing, sizing and prepping lumber according to the list that we constantly monitor. And, bless him, he keeps the laundry up and the trash out so I don't have to split my time a third way.

It's a lot of work but yes, it's very possible to create a business with your Shark. Your major investment will be time. Don't expect to rake in the money - you won't buy a new truck with your profits but for a determined person with a good schedule you can make a living at it depending on where you live. It wouldn't be realistic to think I could live in a major metropolitan area, carry a big mortgage and a couple of car notes and do it all on income from the Shark - that's not happenin'. But for where we live and what we need, yeah, it's possible. And of course I haven't given up my "day" job yet but if the right things fall into place and I'm able to expand the way I want then it's just a matter of time.

[Scottart]

I am a painter, gallery owner, and wood carver. I got a shark a little over a year ago. It is already hands down the most profitable component of my business. I have added signs, cribbage boards, carved wine racks and much more to my offerings. I was also surprised to find out that i can actually sell some of my designs to other CNC users. ……. I am hoping that Shark comes out with a larger table…. the Tiling works fine, i just have some grand and very large plans. I got an order today for a 36 " x 60 inch carved sign… fun addition to any business or hobby.