If you’re like most makers, you have a few product ideas kicking about, but you may not have made it all the way to production of those things. If you’re thinking about making the leap, [Simone Giertz] recently discussed all the perils and pitfalls of the process from idea to reality.
The TLDR is that there’s a big difference between making one item and making hundreds or thousands of them, which you probably already knew, but it is nice to see what sort of issues can crop up in this seemingly simple example of the Yetch Screwdriver Ring. It turns out that the metalworking skills of tool making and jewelry making rarely overlap in the contract manufacturing world.
[Giertz] also shares some of the more mundane, yet terrifying, parts of business like finally committing to bulk orders and whether it’s wise to go with intermediaries when working with suppliers overseas. She also keys us into parts of the process where things can go wrong, like how product samples typically use a different manufacturing process than bulk for practical reasons and how you need to have very specific quality control requirements not just decide if a product is good enough based on vibes.
If you’d like some more advice on making your own products, check out [Carrie Sundra]’s Supercon talk about Manufacturing on a Shoestring Budget.
Beautiful! IMHO, it would largely benefit (in various ways) from diamonds and pozidriv ;) Look up “Wera diamond coated bits”.
Wera bits are amazing, but both philips and pozi should have gone the way of the dodo many decades ago. Torx was introduced in 1967. Now slotted I can understand for furniture where you want slotted just for the looks of it, but if it’s not about looks, then just use torx.
I have a hard time eyeballing Torx screws to pick the right driver size. Something about the business of the shape, maybe. I’d love some hints there, they show up more and more but I haven’t adapted well.
Slotted is best for hand tools. Phillips, et., all were designed for power tools.
Slotted screws tend to spin the bit out if you use an electric screwdriver (the non-slots were called “self-centering screws” for a while).
haha. combining a pozidrive and a philips: “we are not perfect, but it works”
Really stunning, it does make me nervous in a Final Destination way…
I think one of the biggest surprises is just how much of your “profit” disappears into the governments pockets. Between employee related taxes and income taxes the government gets MOST of the profit from our products.
Then I think about the fact that our landlords paying out income and property taxes too. Then there is the sales tax each of our employees pays whenever they spend their pay. And the income taxes and property taxes their landlords paying out.
Ive read that of every dollar generated 70-80% ends up in tax coffers one way or another. Kinda makes you go hmmm….
You need to read other sources. Ones that don’t lie to manipulate you for their own gain.
If you disagree with what ive typed counter it with facts. Feel free to provide other sources.
But your words so far have added nothing. Maybe you need to read other sources too. Perhaps yours are manipulating you for their own gain.
Tax his land, Tax his bed, Tax the table at which he’s fed.
Tax his tractor, Tax his mule, Teach him taxes are the rule.
Tax his work, Tax his pay, He works for peanuts anyway!
Tax his cow, Tax his goat, Tax his pants, Tax his coat. Tax his ties, Tax his shirt, Tax his work, Tax his dirt.
Tax his tobacco, Tax his drink, Tax him if he tries to think.
Tax his cigars, Tax his beers, If he cries tax his tears.
Tax his car, Tax his gas, Find other ways to tax his ass.
Tax all he has, Then let him know, That you won’t be done till he has no dough.
When he screams and hollers, Then tax him some more, Tax him till he’s good and sore.
Then tax his coffin, Tax his grave, Tax the sod in which he’s laid.
Put these words Upon his tomb, ‘Taxes drove me to my doom…’
When he’s gone, Do not relax, Its time to apply the inheritance tax.
I pay my taxes, My business pays its taxes. The fact of the matter is a significant portion of my companies profit end up going to taxes and a significant portion of our employees salaries do to.
No one has anything to gain from me by posting estimates of net taxation to the internet.
The reality of the governments cut stings many first time entrepreneurs. There are plenty of kickstarter campaigns that were derailed when their founders failed to price in that burden. No one has anything to gain from me by posting estimates of net taxation to the internet. Sorry if you were triggered by my choice in citations.
Money is not a “thing”. It is a flow – it is dollars * velocity. Money that goes to government in taxes has high velocity because it comes back the economy almost immediately. A high proportion of it goes in social welfare to poorer people. Poorer people spend it quickly because they have to use it all to buy the things they need now. Rich people put in the bank, prestige assets or vanity projects. The money loses velocity or effectively disappears. That is why we have an economy apparently growing but really it is just an asset bubble. Real wages have declined for the last 50 years. That is the paradox –
real welfare for people is steadily declining in an apparently growing economy.
Money is a thing.
Dollars are a thing too.
When you make a thing and sell a thing,
youre hoping to get more dollars worth of money than you spent.
If you forget to account for the governments share in your plans,
you end up on welfare.
Thats the point of what I wrote,
It relates to the topic at hand,
Smoke another for me,
I havent the time.
Ive work to do.
Although I don’t think this is the right place to discuss economics, what he wrote is good estimate, depending on the country. If my memory serves me right, the US takes about 65% and here in the Netherlands it’s about 85% when you calculate all the taxes on taxes on taxes. It adds up quickly. If you want to know more, read Thomas Sowell’s Basic Economics. It’s a very well written book that in an easy to read way explains economic principles without overloading you with jargon. I wish every high school used it to teach economics.
The total tax burden in the US is about 27% – that is the amount the government expenditure vs GDP. The Netherlands is just under 40% and the OECD average is 34%.
Pulling figures like 65% or 85% is double counting the same tax multiple times.
It’s a chicken and egg issue, taxes main purpose is to offset inflationary effects of government spending.
That tax is (sometimes) used to punish is just irrelevant.
So to talk about tax without discussing the spending isn’t particularly relevant.
“So to talk about tax without discussing the spending isn’t particularly relevant.”
Actually, to talk about how taxes are spent is irrelevant to the discussion of obstacles and pitfalls in the way of the hobbyists transition into industry.
Nah if the tax spend is why you even got to the point of selling it isn’t.
Otherwise you’re just using other people’s tax dollars to fund your own profit.
Ahh so, If you cant dazzle them with brilliance,
Baffle them with bullshit?
Say there’s a person eating bread, he got the bread from a baker, the baker got his flour from a miller, the miller got his grain from a farmer. That’s a lot simpler than how many things are nowadays, but let’s carry on. This is where you’re saying “A-Ha! The cumulative taxes on that bread is a high percentage!” since each one had to pay their taxes separately. But not so fast – these people aren’t like us, they’re not greedy and if they have less taxes to pay, they’ll pass the savings on to their customers. So the miller pays less on the grain and sells it cheaper, the baker pays less on the flour and sells the bread for cheaper, etc. But what about the man eating the bread? He’s got to have a job too, and wouldn’t you know it, he’s done the same as everyone else, so now he’s making less money and can’t afford any more bread than before. Only now there’s not enough taxes to fix the road before it washes out and now nobody can get their products to town, and the remaining bread gets snapped up by the people rich enough to ride it out and the entities that have the power to seek rent on things without providing a benefit. A decent government provides a benefit for what it wants or the pitchforks and torches come out – a faceless corporation has no such restriction.
I think taxes are very necessary. I wasnt advocating for a cessation of taxation. I was pointing out that when you transition from a guy in a garage making a thing, to a guy in a garage selling a thing on etsy, to a guy in a warehouse with a staff of employees the slice of the pie the government eats is often larger than the slice youre left to bring home to the house attached to the garage you started off in, A fact that escapes many wantrepreneurs early in their journey.
Since you brought up the matter of perceived or perhaps actualized benefit, if any part of my words seemed anti taxation allow me to clarify what objection I do hold.
While I understand that our military playing worldcop, and our government doling out aid left and right protects “American interests abroad”, Despite our best efforts and substantial payments theres very little “world peace” or “improved quality of life” in the regions weve sunk our tax dollars and childrens souls into. Especially, when so few of those faceless corporations that make up those “Amercan interests abroad” end up owing or paying taxes once theyve cooked their books according to the rules established by generations of crony capitalist congressmen, I do question if as a nation we wouldnt be better off sinking that money into our own crumbling infrastructure, and underserved people. I also believe that if the megacorporations had the same responsibilities as the individual since they have the same rights that we would all enjoy larger slices when it came time to enjoy our pie.
Thanks for clarifying that – your OP didn’t really say either way but looked pretty much “anti-tax”.
There was a time when that was different I think – after WW2 with the marshal plan.
I think in a way a lot of “improved quality of life” across the EU/Europa can at least partially be “traced” back to the economic stability and peace brought on with the help of the Marshal plan.
But some time after the neo-liberal politics took over
– UK: Margret Thatcher
– USA: Ronald Reagan
– DE: Helmut Kohl (I think)
and hording money / removing it from circulation / removing it’s buying power from the people has been “exploding” ever since.
There is this fundamental law of nature called “conservation of energy” and what I learned in biology lead me to another fundamental conclusion: Nothing in nature/reality exists/works for a long time without being a circular system.
E.g. like water evaporates from oceans, rains down on land and flows back into said oceans.
Or how energy is recycled in rainforests. The fertile soil there is only a few dozen centimeters deep because every dying organism (plants, fungi, insects animals) is immediately recycled by other organisms.
One exception is how the sun provides energy “for free” and it’s not completely understood how this could be part of circular system.
Now when I look at our worldwide capitalistic system(s) I see several grave flaws:
1. it relies on constant growth which is impossible [1].
2. it has been reduced to “I want more money” which leads to an increasing imbalance of wealth, thus destroying it’s long term livability because it’s non circular.
3. it promotes inhuman aspects/features/behavior like sociopaths [2].
4. the political systems are overshadowed by money / money is stronger then voting (especially in the USA).
5. it doesn’t care at all about long term viability or harm done to nature (because it’s not part of the equations).
6. it relies on continuous consumerism (and a growing one).
… just to name a few.
So yes, very few people (or corporations) having so much power (money) is not good (and inhibits any democracy because it’s just a few people who decide what do with that “free” money, not the whole population through a democratic process).
Some, like B. Gates, seem to do some good with it but most don’t (and he did/does some shady shit too).
Another recommendation on the topic of taxes and the super rich: https://www.youtube.com/results?search_query=rutger+bregman+davos
[1] Exponential Economist Meets Finite Physicist
https://dothemath.ucsd.edu/2012/04/economist-meets-physicist/
[2] (loose target but there have been scientific studies)
https://duckduckgo.com/?q=wall+street+banker+are+sociopaths
tightening instructions unclear, my finger is now wound on powerdrill shaft.
Hmm for the screwdriver ring it feels like they missed a simpler solution to manufacture to me – contract the driver tips to a screwdriver company that likely does something fancy like high pressure roll forming the tips to then cut shaft to length. Make sure to have features on the back end, perhaps a simple knurled pattern, though hose barbs with an anti rotation slit cut is perhaps better, but just anything to really provide a good mechanical bond to the ring body. Then have the jeweller cast the ring part with those tips as insertion in the mould.
That could make the final product potentially prone to galvanic action if you don’t plate the whole thing or the bit to match the ring material etc. But also opens up the option to have chopped/flaked fibre and resin ring parts as well, and probably makes offering multiple ring sizes relatively affordable.
NB I have no idea how that would really really work out cost wise with contractors for every step etc – but it is how I’d have made the prototype in effect simply cutting the handle off of a cheap screwdriver, fit shaft in lathe to experiment with the retention features shapes, make the mould and cast (in epoxy based stuff to start with at least as I already have everything I’d need to do that). I think that would be pretty cheap in the end – the mass contracted bit that would have huge upfront costs is the screwdriver tips by the bucket load, but being a common part to every ring of any size and material… Each ring could cast in the material and size specified at the point of ordering, so you are not sitting on stock and it shouldn’t be overly expensive.
Centrifugal vacuum casting machines seem to be readily available lately (as per the ad below). It sure would be interesting to see that ring geometry revisited by someone operating such a casting machine so we can see what’s possible in terms of materials properties, surface detail and accuracy.
One sacrifice to make is probably the high-gloss finish, but between that and not being able to sell a product in larger numbers, it seems worth exploring – at least to me.
“CDOCAST Centrifugal Vacuum Casting Machine”
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=RcQR9ba6lvs
Can always add a polishing step to the cast, with a machine that fancy the cast surface aught to be good enough to go straight to polishing other than at the gates which will need a bit more effort after removing the part from the sprue.
Not sure it would be affordable enough for this, and making the investment flasks efficiently will take some skill. Also have to wonder what the material properties of casting would be, especially at the driver bit. But I do agree it looks like a very neat method that might suit this product well.
I used to work in a dental lab casting frameworks for partial dentures using a similar induction casting machine. We would cut the sprues and vents, toss them in a centrifugal barrel polisher to rough finish, then electropolish to high finish. The result was accurate enough to interface with the remaining teeth, and smooth enough to prevent plaque accumulation.
A ring like this would be no challenge to cast or finish.
Unfortunately casting metal often has internal porosity, microvoids, and irregularities in grain structure. In applications like dentistry this isnt a big concern as our parts arent subjected to significant force.
Industrially when castings are used in tools and such they are typically treated in a Hot Isostatic Press. In some cases after HIP processing they are then annealed and selectively tempered to ensure ideal material quality.