[BAMCNC.COM]

Cool Story Brian. I could be in the same boat but choosing to stay where I'm at as far as sales go, etc. "budweiser" had me design a bottle opener for them, and wanted me to make 5 or 8000 of them after they loved the design (picture attached) and I ended up turning them down because... well, I want to have fun at work, I love what I do and don't want it turning into a pain in the butt.
Attachment 257464

I turned down many retail opportunities aswell because retail wants to get the product for 40-70% cheaper. So to make as much money I have to make that many more pieces.. in the end.. the moral of my story is.. Stay small to do what you love, or grow and become rich but hate everyday.

[Steve Seebold]

Cool Story Brian. I could be in the same boat but choosing to stay where I'm at as far as sales go, etc. "budweiser" had me design a bottle opener for them, and wanted me to make 5 or 8000 of them after they loved the design (picture attached) and I ended up turning them down because... well, I want to have fun at work, I love what I do and don't want it turning into a pain in the butt.
Attachment 257464

I turned down many retail opportunities aswell because retail wants to get the product for 40-70% cheaper. So to make as much money I have to make that many more pieces.. in the end.. the moral of my story is.. Stay small to do what you love, or grow and become rich but hate everyday.

That last statement is so true.

I have my PCNC 1100 in my garage and I work when I want to and if I don't want to work, I'll load some boats in my truck and go down to the pond for the day. Or maybe I'll go fishing, or go watch my grand son BMX race. Or maybe I'll sit on my a$$ and watch drag races.

I call my shop Mid Day Machining because I seldom start before 11:00 AM and most days I'm finished by 5:00 or 6:00 PM. If I get a customer who tries to pressure me on a job, I have been known to pull their job off the machine and give it back to them. Working under deadlines at 70 years old is just not worth it. I did it for 50 plus years and I'm not going to do it any more.

When I started my shop, I tried making some after market motorcycle parts for Harleys, but that was in 2001 when the economy tanked and every machine shop in the country started making Harley parts just to survive. Some were making parts and using their chip money as their profit.

It appears Brian has come up with a part that motor cycle riders want and he did it the right way. I applaud him for that.

I have a customer here in town that I get some prototype work from, and that's really all I want to do. Ya know, Mid Day Machining.

I'm a TV junkie too. I have 46 inch TV on a bench next to my machine. I did that mostly because I hate quiet. I also have an internet connection next to the machine. Sometimes, I'll even go out in the garage and play on the internet all day.

[CadRhino]

Spoken like a real artist, Brad. Keep a low overhead and keep doing what you want.

Cool Story Brian. I could be in the same boat but choosing to stay where I'm at as far as sales go, etc. "budweiser" had me design a bottle opener for them, and wanted me to make 5 or 8000 of them after they loved the design (picture attached) and I ended up turning them down because... well, I want to have fun at work, I love what I do and don't want it turning into a pain in the butt.
Attachment 257464

I turned down many retail opportunities aswell because retail wants to get the product for 40-70% cheaper. So to make as much money I have to make that many more pieces.. in the end.. the moral of my story is.. Stay small to do what you love, or grow and become rich but hate everyday.

[RussMachine]

I actually did the opposite.
I've been working in Machine Shops for 20 years, running 'Big' CNC machining centers and lathes.
Then bought my TORMACH for my own personal use.
I had to learn to take it easy, slow down, use lighter cuts because of the lower horsepower.

90% of 'Big' machines will read G-Code exactly as written for the TORMACH (Mach3).
Sometimes you'll run into quirky G or M-codes that are specific to THAT machine.
And there's Conversational Controls like Dynapath, or MAZATROL for Mazak's.
But generally speaking, G-code is pretty universal.