Have an idea and no shop?

[FMB42]

mdd0127 writes:
"We tried to hire employees, paid them $20/hour, but they did little stupid stuff like throwing cigarette butts everywhere and half assing jobs".

Ya, I can relate. I subcontracted one guy at a salary that, at times, exceeded my own (~$15 an hr IIRC). He, unfortunately, didn't last long after I came back to the shop only to find a prospective customer looking for help (while he was under the dash of his car working on his stereo system).


Well mdd,

I think you've got a good business head on your shoulders...you (and your wife) should do well.

BTW, I must say that my wife was a very important part of our business. She handled most of the accounting work and created many of my fliers and ads as well. I'm sure that your wife is every bit as important in your business world.

 

[mdd0127]

BTW, I must say that my wife was a very important part of our business. She handled most of the accounting work and created many of my fliers and ads as well. I'm sure that your wife is every bit as important in your business world.

I would be living in an old military truck in the woods and would not even have a "business world" if it weren't for her. :wink:

She's also an awesome helper in the shop! I definitely lucked out.

 

[Lessss]

Look at retired part timers for employees. Different era and work ethic.

 

[mdd0127]

Look at retired part timers for employees. Different era and work ethic.

Unfortunately, not many retired part timers want to swing a pick axe all day to build a trail down a mountain......or climb a 30 foot ladder with a chinking gun a hundred times a day for months on end...or build flagstone patios.....or dig drainage ditches....or shovel 3 yards of 2 inch gravel out of the back of a deuce and a half.

The only work around here is stuff people don't want to do. Also, my wife and I work like crazy people when were out there so even young strong guys get taken to school and learn the meaning of a days work. I didn't like having employees but occasionally one would stop and say, "Wow, look what we just did! We made that!" and that made the trouble a little more worth it.

Property maintenance can be a good gig but it's pretty tough to do it well.

I hear you on the work ethic thing though. Now if we could only make video games output some kind of important task....lazy guy thinks he's shooting aliens on a video game but in reality the game is controlling a robot that is swimming around cleaning up plastic in the ocean or something....anything constructive....

 

[RallySTX]

I like that last one, that made me laugh.
Two fresh drawings for you to peruse on my thread. I need the tourqe arms done in steel, the bike in aluminum. Width can be negotiated, but as I state in my thread there are several reasons why strength is paramount. Have you read my thread?
The link for it is included next to the pix in my signature, at the bottom of each post. I'm 48, do one arm pushups, lift weights, built a V8 S10 with one arm in a parking lot with hand tools, shoveled a yard of dirt out the back of that S10 into a flower box in 90 degree heat, with one arm. You got a garage loft appartment I can rent out? I'll help.
Brian L.

 

[amberwolf]

Well, first I'd need to find a non hobbyking supplier for the watts meters.

Since the Turnigy ones are made for/by them, then your only other option I'm aware of is the Watts Up, which is actually the original version the TWM is a ripped-off clone of. I don't know if the MCU in the WU is the reprogrammable version, or if it is the OTP version, though. If it is reflashable, then theoretically the code from the TWM will work in it, with whatever modifications are needed to work with any electrical changes in values/scales that were made to the WU to turn it into the TWM. You might even be able to get a bulk-order price from the manufacturer of the WU to get them cheaper, too.

 

[RallySTX]

Cool, MDD, I figures once you saw the load, you'd help me push! :lol: I'll get on the drawings very soon, but you have plenty of time before actual production starts. December is Christmas, January is Hub month, and February is wheel lace month. But it looks like March is yours, as by then I should have a finished wheel here for final measurements. Thereafter I will be bouncing back and forth between you and Hobbyking for battery box buildup. I hope to have finished drawings for you by the end of the week. It all depends on how much I have to fork over for a protractor thats true.
Brian L.

 

[mdd0127]

Cool, MDD, I figures once you saw the load, you'd help me push! :lol: I'll get on the drawings very soon, but you have plenty of time before actual production starts. December is Christmas, January is Hub month, and February is wheel lace month. But it looks like March is yours, as by then I should have a finished wheel here for final measurements. Thereafter I will be bouncing back and forth between you and Hobbyking for battery box buildup. I hope to have finished drawings for you by the end of the week. It all depends on how much I have to fork over for a protractor thats true.
Brian L.

I definitely know how budgeting goes! I'm hoping to be a bazillionaire prototype bike builder by march though.

To be up front here, if I don't find some paying work in the next few days we might be putting everything on hold and moving or something. That's what I meant by "limited time offer" in my first post. I've already spent an hour or so reading your thread and communicating back and forth with you and am willing to spend 5 or 6 more building you some awesome stainless torque arms. That's around $7/hour FYI. I think it's a pretty good offer and possibly good enough to warrant some budget reorganization/reprioritization??? I am pricing things so low to show my appreciation for the things I've learned on the forum and give back a little, move the e-bike movement forward a little, and most importantly, to make it possible for people to get things done NOW instead of saving up for months for machine shop rates at $70/hr.

I just need to bring in a small income over the next couple of months and thought I'd try this before relocating or something. If I were trying to make a successful full time business out of this, I'd have to charge about $350 for your torque arms to make it worthwhile. I'm trying to scrape together cash for generator fuel, welding supplies, some insulation and a heater for my shop.

I'm definitely not trying to give you a hard time and would love to help with your build, but for now, I really need to focus on finding a way to bring in some income. If someone needs something soon, please get in touch.

 

[mdd0127]

I edited the first post for clarity. I know I get a little....wordy..and can imagine that some details get caught in the mosh. My wife always jokes that no one reads past the first few sentences of my emails.....anyway, just trying to make things more clear.

 

[RallySTX]

Well, just for clarity, there are three designs that I need made. I created and posted the second and third drawings for the Runt, my OCC bike. The first cutout I showed you is for the Spoiler, the black bike with the springer forks. I realise that the measurements were poorly done for the first cutout. That was done for another gentleman from overseas who does exellent work. He asked me to translate the imperial inch measureements to metric units. I could go on about what happened after that, but you have better things to do than read my posts. I am sorry the cheap camera I have didn't show the measurements on the last drawing. My protractor is off by at least two degrees. I need to get a decent one before I can continue. I deeply appreciate your willingness to help. I would appologise for the crudeness of my work. I only have one hand, a vise for a paper weight, and still the straight edge moves. At any rate, I would expect anyone who was interested in helping out with a project to know what they are getting into. On a custom build like this, with two bikes involved, attention to detail is crucial. Knowing what the customer wants, and needs is mandatory. In short, reading the thread should have happened before you tried to tell me what would work. You haven't asked me about the pinch hole at the end of the dropout, which makes me wonder if you saw that. I could go on, but I have wasted enough time here already. You have no right to pressure me into paying you for work. You are rude sir. And I will have no more to do with you. Good luck
Brian L.

 

[mdd0127]

I definitely saw the pinch hole and am very familiar with torque arm design. In fact, you could probably be fine with thinner material. Your drawings were fine other than me not being able to see a dimension or two. I was going to send you cad drawings for verification and everything. At this point, from your posts and reactions, I can see that you aren't someone I'd want to do work for anyway. I'm sure that Valy will do an excellent job on your stuff when you're ready.

So now I've offended another member by being completely honest and up front. I'm getting really tired of that.

I'm really sorry....and flat out disappointed... that you're offended. I'm not trying to pressure anyone into getting anything done. I'm saying, my skills and shop are available NOW, and CHEAP. If I don't get some work coming in, I will probably have to close the shop down and move. Just try to put yourself in my shoes. I need work NOW and don't need to be spending time on anything that doesn't result in income. Don't know if you've ever been down to your last few bucks but having work dangled in front of your nose then told it will be three months is kind of a kick in the nuts. I thought I made things abundantly clear in my initial post.

I beginning to think that the general public basically lacks the attention span to read more than a few sentences. I like to work for people that will take the time to read an ad, understand the details, and are serious about getting things done. This seems to be a very small and shrinking percentage of the population and that disturbs me pretty deeply. I'm here for the readers and the thinkers that understand the terms and value of my offers. The non thinkers can continue to buy their garbage from china until they eliminate themselves through ignorant excessive consumption. Hopefully that last statement offends the rest of the easily offendable and they stay out of my threads.





Anyone serious want anything done?

 

[johnrobholmes]

Can you troubleshoot chargers? I have a few that bit the dust and would be willing to ship them your way if you knows that sort of magic.

 

[katou]

You want work. I get that. Do I need anything made right this minute? No. However...

If you made a few of those fuel gauges, I'd buy at least 2 if they were like $30 or so.

On the other more immediate "need work" front, if it was me, here's what I would do.

Call local machine shops and ask if they have turned away any small jobs that you could do.
Call local small engineering places and ask if they have any projects that have stalled because of high machining costs for prototypes.
Call local railing (fence) places and ask about work fixing railings (welding) in situ.

All of these ideas are free. So is Jeremy's design. He WANTS you to build them.

So there you go. I feel for you, and I wish I could do more. I wish you all the best.

Katou

 

[mdd0127]

Can you troubleshoot chargers? I have a few that bit the dust and would be willing to ship them your way if you knows that sort of magic.

Used to repair car audio and guitar amps. Also had some good luck fixing a few PLC's.

Sometimes it's difficult to find issues on stuff without a schematic. I've been seeing more and more unmarked or potted IC's in stuff and usually if I haven't found the problem in the circuit before I get to something like that I have to give up. Multi layer boards screw with my head a little when there's no paperwork available too. I worked on nakamichi in dash cd changer for a week once because it had burned a trace in the middle layer of the board. That one was hairy. I thought I was going nuts! My only other concern is that I have no working scope right now. So if you want to send them, I'd be happy to take a look at them for you but there are no guarantees other than I'll do my best.

 

[johnrobholmes]

I don't need any guarantees, and you can scrap them if they are not repairable for all I care. Let me know where to ship and I will send you a box of goodies that don't stink like burned electrics.

 

[JRitt]

I'll buy a clamping rear torque arm in 3/8" thick today. weld in replacement clamping rear dropouts in 3/8" would be good also

 

[mdd0127]

Send me a drawing and I'll get on it!

 

[MitchJi]

Hi,

Well, first I'd need to find a non hobbyking supplier for the watts meters.

Since the Turnigy ones are made for/by them, then your only other option I'm aware of is the Watts Up, which is actually the original version the TWM is a ripped-off clone of. I don't know if the MCU in the WU is the reprogrammable version, or if it is the OTP version, though. If it is reflashable, then theoretically the code from the TWM will work in it, with whatever modifications are needed to work with any electrical changes in values/scales that were made to the WU to turn it into the TWM. You might even be able to get a bulk-order price from the manufacturer of the WU to get them cheaper, too.

Online price for the Watts Up is about $55. You could contact the manufacturer and ask their tech support if it will do what you need. If so ask for an OEM price. If you explain that you don't want to purchase from hobbyking and want to buy from them I think they should be happy to help.

Try one first to make sure it works and how much time it takes. When you have a price you can post it. If you get a good price you could price them at something like $50 each and make something like $25 each. It sounds like you'd get orders for at least 5 or 10.

 

[coolchinateacher]

Hi,

Well, first I'd need to find a non hobbyking supplier for the watts meters.

Since the Turnigy ones are made for/by them, then your only other option I'm aware of is the Watts Up, which is actually the original version the TWM is a ripped-off clone of. I don't know if the MCU in the WU is the reprogrammable version, or if it is the OTP version, though. If it is reflashable, then theoretically the code from the TWM will work in it, with whatever modifications are needed to work with any electrical changes in values/scales that were made to the WU to turn it into the TWM. You might even be able to get a bulk-order price from the manufacturer of the WU to get them cheaper, too.

Online price for the Watts Up is about $55. You could contact the manufacturer and ask their tech support if it will do what you need. If so ask for an OEM price. If you explain that you don't want to purchase from hobbyking and want to buy from them I think they should be happy to help.

Try one first to make sure it works and how much time it takes. When you have a price you can post it. If you get a good price you could price them at something like $50 each and make something like $25 each. It sounds like you'd get orders for at least 5 or 10.

You can buy the units here in China without the case ready to be integrated into a dashboard for between $10 to $25 depending on the features you want. It's usually a screen with four data positions where you can have, speed, temp, voltage, +-ah, +-watts, distance, etc.

 

[mdd0127]

Thanks for the recommendations guys. I'm definitely working on putting together an extensive line of good EV stuff. I think the bike prototype might be just the tip of the iceberg. I'd even like to get some basic bikes into some local stores so I'm researching the less extreme world of e-bikes daily.

As far as orders for the shop go, I have quite a few things to work on now and should be able to keep busy for the next few weeks. I don't want to turn anyone down so definitely keep coming up with ideas and drawings. I'll complete projects in the order I receive them so when I get to the point where I'm ready for the next project, I'll get in touch with the next PM.

Very exciting stuff is happening on all fronts very quickly and I would like to thank the members here for their wisdom, intelligence, and support.

I'll post pics of completed work here in the thread with the customer's permission of course. Updates soon!

 

[markobetti]

Try one first to make sure it works and how much time it takes. When you have a price you can post it. If you get a good price you could price them at something like $50 each and make something like $25 each. It sounds like you'd get orders for at least 5 or 10.[/quote]


You can buy the units here in China without the case ready to be integrated into a dashboard for between $10 to $25 depending on the features you want. It's usually a screen with four data positions where you can have, speed, temp, voltage, +-ah, +-watts, distance, etc.

we have this....20 pcs. 5 of them dont work ... The pcb design is bad and we had some funny messarements.. I think they are good enough for 48v and for somebody that doesent expect cycle analyst out of this. Also , we asked them to make 100v ...but its badly done.. Display heats up and goes dad...But thats easy to resolve... Program inside is bad.. and also ... The part where you choose rpm per wheel size.. is killing ( i can post pics if you would like?) You ve got to click one by one... 2000 times !
Also i bought like 5 dollars watt meter without current meter 5 moths ago , same thing. Nothing beats cycle analyst......
Anyway thats my opinion... Nothing is more expensive than bad goods ...

[/quote]

 

[Lessss]

Torque arms, how about torque shoes? design a shoe to go over the end of each side of the fork and use that dropout to bolt the shoe on, but the other end of the shoe is a dropout designed for hub motors. The shoe is also a torque arm.