Been having some up and down time with my day job, so made a decision to try to generate some extra income with my toys… I mean, tools. In particular, the MPCNC and laser combination. Haven’t really advertised at all, just doing word of mouth in a couple of FB groups, but taking things more seriously now.
To that end, when my girlfriend told me that Costco had “Brazilian Teak” cutting boards on sale for $10 each, I had her pick a package of two up so I could try them with the laser. Turned out they burned great! So I went back the next day and invested in 200 boards. Now came time to advertise them!
In the past month, had quite a few orders, and even a “larger” (for me) order of 13 boards for a business. At the point now that I want to move the laser work onto a “real” laser, so I can use my MPCNC for other stuff and not worry about having to switch back and forth. Plus I had someone run one of my files through their system (80W CO2 laser), and his time came back at 4 minutes compare to my 50 minutes for the SuperDad board. Haven’t had any negative feedback on my pricing ($50 for a “standard” board), so if I can get them done in 1/10th the time and still make the same amount of money, I’m all in on that.
I’ve also got orders for a couple of engraved charcuterie boards and a crib board, so I haven’t given up on the CNC side!
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And @davem, the short answer to that question is “not well”. I use air assist to keep the soot and discoloration to a minimum, but I don’t have any kind of extraction going on. Another reason to upgrade to a CO2 system with proper fume extraction. At least these days, I can open the front and back of the garage and get some airflow going. In the winter, that kinda sucked.
Just got a call from the Costco store manager. I had given her my number when she (and a couple other employees) stopped to chat while I was loading up my cart with all their boards, and they were wondering what I was up to. In a very nice way, I might add. Anyway, she wanted to let me know that they had another 67 packs of the boards available, if I was interested. And they’re clearing them out at the same coupon price I bought them for. Not sure I need another 134 boards, though…
