I finally figured out where I am going

For those of you that don't know, I basically started this business as a Hail Mary, when I realized my previous business wasn't working out so well. To my surprise it worked! But I've been in reaction mode for a while. In this video I summarize my thoughts on how I am going to be moving forwards.
Tools:
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Allen Wrench Set: amzn.to/3KeFYg4
Pliers Wrench: amzn.to/3G0eqKl
Tumbler: amzn.to/3tMKlsU
Air Compressor: amzn.to/3ilQSUY
Blast Cabinet: amzn.to/37yYlOk
Blasting Grit: amzn.to/3iiPpi7
Rapid Air System: amzn.to/3uatCiq
Camera: amzn.to/3qjtSdJ

[@ltborg]

Awesome video dude. Congrats on the month over month progress. When I had to get a machine into my garage, I talked with the sales rep and they were able to get the machine partially disassembled for shipment (VF2SS) so that it would fit under a lower garage door height. That might open up some options for you over the info the sellers have available online.

[@tapeloyal7005]

Maybe try spending some of that "machine budget" on marketing, try to get more customers. You may get a long lasting job that will pay you very well. Getting more customers is crucial. We have a job that pays 1k in 1 hour of machining. This can be a huge boost (as it was to us) to your shop and this will enable you to have more time and brain space for your other projects and by that, make more revenue from different angles at the same time. After awhile, you will be able to expand even faster. But if you want to stay a job shop for now, Inspection for the parts you make is also crucial because you never know, what the next job will be. And for me personally, making this extremely small parts is like 200% more work :D you break endmills very easily, the brain space for fixtures and all of the funny stuff is difficult and requires a lot of tries and time to think which in a job shop isn't really suitable. I know you have a "small machine" but don't underestimate it. I get that you may not have a lot of options on customers and the jobs you get, but I know for personal experience, small parts = a headache, and I made a lot of small parts in my days. Tho to give you credit, I think I cursed more watching you make them then you cursed making them :D Best of luck to you, I will be watching you succeed in one way or the other! Love from Slovakia.

[@handleshtick]

You are crushing it dude! Love that I get to live this life through you vicariously. Looks like fun!

[@AudacityMicro]

🙂

[@VastCNC]

Have you looked at gimbel automation and their spindle grippers and vices? If you’re focusing on a single cell there may be some automation gains. Definitely require some spreadsheet work, but they get kudos for transparent pricing.

[@AudacityMicro]

those are incredibly tempting! they don't make sense on my current machine (no table space) but I would 100% consider them with a different machine

[@kevinrblodgett]

I appreciate the discussion and thoughts. Your benches are nice and tidy! Thanks.

[@AudacityMicro]

thank you! And it took me a whole lot of organization until I got to the point where it was easier to put things away, then sticking them on the bench. I am not a neat person by nature.

[@moonryder203]

I wish you much success, I like how you have thought this thru taking your time to do it right for your operation.

[@AudacityMicro]

🙂

[@shaunybonny688]

Great video, thought provoking. I just bought my first vmc, moving it into my shop in August so this stuff is great for me to hear about.

[@AudacityMicro]

thanks! I hope it helps!

[@dekutree64]

My dream machine would be a mill-turn with automatic stock feed. Not as versatile as 5-axis, but much more time saving to stick in a long rod and come back later to find a whole pile of finished parts. Even better if the tailstock has a chuck to grip the part before it's cut off, so the other side can be machined automatically as well.

[@DUIofPhysics]

Really, look at a good swiss lathe. It's perfect for that kind of thing, literally what it's designed for.

[@memejeff]

Very cool. Thanks for the tour. Looking forward to future stuff. Just an idea. If you do decide that you need a deburring station even if you experience minimal burrs, you may want to build/buy a continuous sand blasting system. Can also apply a fancy surface finish if the customer wants it.

[@ChuckAndArbor]

I think you make a very valid point with your cell theory. That being said, I feel that Inspection should be its own cell, not attached to anything else. Were I in your position, I think I might find a spot in the shop and say, "from this point forward, this is my manual inspection area". Manual inspection aside, Fusion does have some great inspection features even without the manufacturing plugin. In particular, the manual inspection feature. This allows you to enter in values, tolerances and generate reports in .PDF format right from inside fusion. Later if you decide to go with the manufacturing plugin you can further expand those capabilities and use your probe to measure areas and export that data into your inspection reports. From what I have found, Haas seems to have the best brand support for such features thus far. Food for thought...

[@AudacityMicro]

Noted! I think you are right about having a separate inspection area. It needs better lighting and a little more cleanliness at a minimum compared to the rest of the shop. Plus eventually I'll have some expensive tools that I don't want to buy duplicates of.

[@poetac15]

It also separates your mindset from machining to inspecting. I find it harder to make mistakes if you inspect away from the machine both spatially and temporally.

[@maxvolanski7524]

You didnt mention it in the video but have you considered one of the brother 5 axis mill turns? It seams like one of those would be pretty much perfect for your parts, other than the 16k spindle. They are quite a bit more than the machines you mentioned in the video, but it think if you could find the budget for it would be great.

[@AudacityMicro]

I didn't mention it in the video, but that would be my idea machine!

[@sovanninchea3421]

can you make a video about the anodize and powder coating certificate for xometry... thank you

[@AudacityMicro]

I unfortunately can not, haven't done it myself.

[@SecondFloorOutdoors-gj8dt]

Concerning the deburring, look into vibratory finishing or rotary sandblasting. Chuck a bunch of parts in, set the timer for 10/30/60 minutes, come back to nicely deburred, aesthetically consistent parts. Not a magic cure-all, but still a game changer.

[@AudacityMicro]

That is an interesting thought. I have tumblers, but I tend to think of it as an aesthetic value added kind of thing

[@SecondFloorOutdoors-gj8dt]

@@AudacityMicro depends on the industry I guess. I run a lot of medical parts and they're super nitpicky about visuals. We got a big spinning bowl tumbler a few years ago and we do basically no buffing anymore, just the parts we run that are too big/long to go in the tumbler.

[@poetac15]

I’ll second this. It’s amazing the stuff tumbling can hide which would otherwise take hours to fix in the machine or by hand.

[@bendtheirons8648]

These types of "business" videos are very good. Couple of questions: If you had enough of a programming business with limited capital needed to fully occupy your time, would you discontinue the machining side or is the machining side so much more profitable in the long run? Next question, what about power requirements? In that I mean, your next machine(s) would obviously be 3-phase-only machine(s). Therefore, would go the phase converter route or would have your electric utility company install 3-phase service? I would imagine for your "big picture" goal with multiple cells that 3-phase service would be a must since I highly doubt that a single phase service would even be adequate to support a single cell, such as a Haas VF2, via phase converter, let alone multiple VF2s. Thanks again for the great videos.

[@AudacityMicro]

It's not my plan to focus solely on programming, but if the right opportunity came up and knocked, I would consider it. But even then I would still do some machining, as that is how you build skills programming. Power is a good question. I have 200A of 240 single phase. If I get a three phase machine, I'll need a phase converter. But that amount of power should be enough for atleast a few VMCs, most of them don't draw that much power most of the time. Two or three shouldn't be an issue, but the 4th may force me into a new shop.

[@bendtheirons8648]

​@@AudacityMicro Thanks for the reply. There is a good video from Split141 YT channel on the topic of putting a Haas VMC (VF2SS in this case) into a residential garage. The video title is "Our new garage stuffed Haas VF2SS". If you have not watched this vid, it might be helpful in determining future power needs.

[@AudacityMicro]

I know Jon! I am familiar with the power requirements. I'm not saying that I'll get a couple big horizontals in here, but a few small machines won't be an issue

[@jeffl1356]

You might consider adding the billing and accounting and financial planning somewhere... those can be a time sink without optimized systems...

[@AudacityMicro]

That is a very valid point. I do have a system, I use a system called "Profit First" which is covered in a book by the same name. It's working well for me, but doesn't include systems for tracking specific expenses, etc. Right now I just don't do enough transactions in a month where it is a problem. Buuuuut it will be some day.

[@jeffl1356]

@@AudacityMicro I am familiar with profit first and did also see your video... I guess what I was really reacting to was my own issues around POs, billing, tracking money, paying bills, etc.... those activities are such a time sink for me

[@AudacityMicro]

Understood. That is definitely something I need to work on.

[@joshualegault1095]

We only focused on getting parts out the door as quick as possible in the beggining. No plans, only clean the shop when absolutely necessary, don't optimize programs to "perfection", parts don't need to look pretty only be within tolerance, tool management is aweful. Once we got about 6 machines planning starts becoming important or your system will fall to pieces and it gets even worse once you introduce employees. The less people you have the less important systems are.

[@AudacityMicro]

Exactly, that is why I am trying to get this stuff under control now, while it is still easy.

[@brenph]

Surely pallet pool has to be part of your machining solution if you to automate as much as possible

[@AudacityMicro]

that does seam like an obvious choice, yes. maybe not a whole horizontal style thingy, but something like the erowa system.

[@AudacityMicro]

that also means I can baby-step my way there, by having erowa pallets that I just manually change out

[@brenph]

Yeah. I would have been thinking more like an Erowa. I guess you could also bootstrap it with a cobot if you wanted to

[@yelims20]

Kaizan, work flow from right to left, etc

[@AudacityMicro]

I definitely need to implement more lean in my shop. I definitely have "lean tendencies" but have never all the way committed

[@yelims20]

@@AudacityMicro TQM, there's books on it... a place for every tool and a tool in every place :)

[@gmeinermachine8678]

5 axis Machine doing xom work? How do those numbers work out ?

[@AudacityMicro]

I average 75% profit on a jobs at the moment, with an average job size of $1300. 5 axis will let me do most jobs at least 2x faster, that means 2x more money, which covers machine payment several times over. It's pretty easy math after all.

[@RSPFactory]

​@@AudacityMicro When you say 75% profit, what are you calculating your shop rate at? Are you including all the hoops you have to jump through and late trips to FedEx?

[@AudacityMicro]

Profit isn't the right word here, as it doesn't include paying myself. maybe "free cash" would be the better accounting term.

[@maxvolanski7524]

Belive it or not there are people who do very well on xometry espicaily when you get into the premium/ultra premium you can find a lot of bigger jobs that pay very well.

[@brocktechnology]

Your building looks to be wood frame on slab consider lifting the whole thing and adding a foot and a half to the bottom of the wall. Yes it's a big job but not as big as it sounds and it will solve your height restrictions forever.

[@AudacityMicro]

Not something I had considered, but that would be awesome! it would be huge if it let me stay in here a few extra years

[@misupercooner]

What kind of machines are you thinking?

[@AudacityMicro]

I have considered anything and everything. If you made me pick right this instant, and gave me the budget, I would go with a brother M200

[@brianwaayenberg3099]

That’s an awfully specialized/limited machine. What draws you to it? They are sexy/cool but small envelope which will make for interesting issues

[@ewildgoose]

​@@brianwaayenberg30995 axis is about single part flow though? I don't own a 5 axis machine but I understand you want the smallest one you can get away with (opposite of 3 axis) as this gives fewest access issues to the side. The Brother 5 axis are doing very well right now as well. People are buying them to do "roughing"and support a bigger machine, but by all accounts they are gradually creeping into doing the same jobs. They are relatively cheap for a bonkers fast and decently accurate machine

[@RSPFactory]

​@@brianwaayenberg3099 The M200 is specialized, but for the small parts he's currently doing it would be phenomenal. It would also lend itself to a spindle gripper.

[@AudacityMicro]

I'm still very much evaluating, and don't have strong convictions about any machine yet. The M200 at a glance is interesting because it's so flexible, which I like, since my plan is to have single machine cells. Buuuut that's about as far as my thoughts have gone.

[@stuart99299]

Only fans is good stream I hear!

[@alexbotner4656]

He would pop off on there😤all that lubricant

[@stuart99299]

This is great content. Why has it not exploded? How do you make money on Xometry? It seems like you have to have low overhead and be fred in a shed and have lots of metal laying around you don’t have to pay for as the price the want to pay you is what the material costs. That said they have work that even a multi axis machine would be needed and this is big player stuff that even a sinking ship wouldn’t take on as it’s buying work. I know you’re quick and efficient but it’s still not making sense.

[@AudacityMicro]

So I'm not sure if I understand what you are asking here. Why am I not making more money? There's a few things going on. 1) I'm still getting myself organized, working on new systems, etc. Six months ago I had an entirely different business, that did completely different things, and a lot of my systems from that, just no longer work. Like I still suck at job scheduling, for example. 2) as much as I love my office mill, It needs some serious TLC and/or just to get replaced. It's spindle bearings are going bad, and I have a really hard time getting good finishes, or reasonable material removal rates. I can work around those issues, but it slows me down. 3) debt from the previous business, both literal money debt, and obligations I need to fulfill. I had some large orders I had to finish production of, and I have some bad debt that needs to get paid off. That eats money I should be investing back in the business. A lot of people think xometry doesn't pay well, but I'm averaging ~80% margins on xometry work at the moment. My non-xometry work takes more time, and is lower profit. Mostly because I'm not getting the right customers locally. That I should be able to fix with a little time.

[@stuart99299]

@@AudacityMicro when I said exploded I means viewings. You’re a next level guy. Like Peter Stanton edge precision. I have only just discovered your recent content by chance.

[@AudacityMicro]

Oh that's easy 🤣. I don't make good thumbnails, I don't spend time on titles, and I haven't really been making this sort of content that long. People like Peter are both much better at this than I am, but also they have been grinding on it for a long time. He deserves his success. I'll get there eventually or I won't. Doesn't really bother me either way.

[@_GOD_HAND_]

What do you think about expanding by adding cells with lower cap ex, like 3D printing and laser cutting?

[@AudacityMicro]

that is definitely something that is interesting to me. I have a big CO2 laser for example, but i'm not sure how to start that stuff up, without basically building a completely new business. some extra revenue would be nice, but the opportunity cost may outweigh the benefit. I'm open to ideas though!

[@_GOD_HAND_]

@@AudacityMicro I was thinking more like very thin parts with perforations or small parts with steep undercuts... things that are only achievable with hybrid processing. But you're right, the setup and indexing might be more effort than it's worth. On the other hand, sometimes it can be very profitable to build a niche doing things other businesses don't want to do.

[@shaunybonny688]

Zero point work holding?

[@AudacityMicro]

That is a term for a type of workholding that lets you quickly, and very repeatably swap fixtures.

[@brocktechnology]

You've got your process dialed in when you can teach a high schooler to do it in a year and go play gulf, that's the final test.

[@AudacityMicro]

my goal is to teach a robot how to do it, and then go off and teach at a community college. But same idea 🙂

[@brocktechnology]

@@AudacityMicro My first impulse is to say the robots can't do everything but the pace at which AI is evolving right now there may well be an off the shelf android that's smarter than the high schooler in 10 years.

[@AudacityMicro]

I love the idea of an "off the shelf highschooler" 🤣. We are far from the days where robots are replacing everything that humans are doing. My goal isn't to get rid of that. But I would love to employ one or two super highly skilled machinist that I can pay ludicrous amounts of money, while also making lots of money myself. I think that dream only happens with a fair bit of automation.

[@wmcrash]

OK, hear me out here. I've seen the kind of work you take. You don't need no stinking HAAS or bigger. You can fill those jobs just as fine with a Tormach. I can't think of any part that you made where material removal rate was a factor that mattered to your bottom line. Unless you plan to tackle 5axis parts, or parts with a LOT of material removal, then I don't know why you need to remodel the garage door area.

[@AudacityMicro]

*you have seen the parts that I show. Most of my parts are a little bigger, and less intricate, I tend to not show them because there's really nothing interesting or special about them. Even on those material removal rate isn't the biggest concern, but I need something a little more capable than a Tormach. I would love to only take small complex parts like I tend to show in videos. Those are my favorite, and where I make the most money, but I haven't found enough of that work yet. Maybe I won't need a higher door for whatever machine I get, but it opens up a TON of possibilities. Like a speedio for example. Or even a Super Mini Mill

[@AudacityMicro]

I am open to all machine recommendations though!

[@RSPFactory]

And he just got rid of a Tormach....

[@AudacityMicro]

Not going to lie, I miss having that machine. The second spindle would be really nice right now

[@wmcrash]

@@AudacityMicro I am not sure there is a way to gauge the nature of your audience. I am willing to bet less than 5% make money machining, and even less are machine shops. Most people here live vicariously through your videos and would watch you square stock in slow motion. So unless it affects productivity, don't hold back. Show all you can show. I for example am a weekend woodworker dabbling into CNC, both flat work and lathe. I added a metal lathe and mill for utilitarian purposes, but those are manual.

[@stuart99299]

Don’t get big. It’s advice I was given. More people, more equipment. More headache, same money at the end of the day.