Moving the business forward

I think that is why my speeds and cuts don’t really count. With that said. I am very average. I get things close enough and happy with a good cut. I had never ever pushed my machines in 5 years. When I did I was pleasantly surprised at what I found. There are a ton of people cutting faster than me. I think I am fairly slow on the scale actually.

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I have a few ideas I wanted to contribute to this topic, but I cannot seem to get the time to wrap them all up, so I tackle one now, and maybe the other will follow later.

The V1 machines live in an interesting space between homebuilt and a kit build. Constructing one using the V1 kit has elements of both. When I built my Burly, I was concerned about having a large paperweight, but I was pleasantly surprised by the build process. In a single weekend of light work, using only hand tools, I went from a pile of parts to a completed mechanical build…and, the process was only slightly harder than an Ikea furniture build (I had to read, not just look at pictures).

But at that point the process stopped since I had to work out how to protect the wires, how to run the wires, find a case for the electronics, deal with jumper wires, etc. I remember agonizing about what size cable chain to purchase, having to wait for an Amazon order, designing and 3D printing brackets for the chain, finding hardware for attachment, etc.

I think there is value in taking the final steps to provide a full kit-built experience to your customers. This has also been stated, at least indirectly, by some of the posts above. In particular, if someone pulls together the following:

  • Wood for the base board and spoil board
  • Tubing
  • 3D printed parts
  • A V1 Kit (including electronics)

…they should be able to follow a sequential set of instructions and assemble the machine to point of doing a crown test with only hand tools, and without any added materials.

From a hardware standpoint, there is only a small amount missing to make this possible.

  • Sleeving or cable chain solution with associated hardware and parts. I vote cable chain since every machine is a potential advertisement for your products, and cable chain make the build feel more substantial.
  • I consider endstops standard at this point, so I should get limit switches and extension wires with both supported boards (and preferably attachable without soldering).
  • Screws to attach the feet to the base boards.
  • A solution for connecting power to the boards. It could be as simple as a couple of ‘Y’ connections using solid copper for the conductor and ferrules on the end.
  • V1 designed solutions for housings for the supported displays and the control boards.

There is also a pragmatic element to taking this step. The builder is going to need to purchase cable chains, so providing them as part of the kit means V1 makes the profit.

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OMG, I swear I was just coming to ask your opinion Robert. Like literally typing a message to tag you in!! odd. Sorry let me read what you wrote.

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Loud and clear, this needs to be addressed. The LR3 is one step better but still not complete.

I hear you, and you are 100% right. Something to cover the wires and all the needed wires and switches. (I am half way there. I have end stop wires but can not get the ends crimped yet I have been trying to get a board picked to standardize the connectors).

The baseboard and tubes would require a significant shipping cost. EMT is available anywhere wood is and is a couple of dollars. Shipping it would require a standard size, and a lot of shipping. Making it available in the US is a possibility, if someone wants to pay though. Anything larger than a large USPS flat rate box requires live shipping prices and custom packaging. If it ships UPS or FEDex I have to pay for pickup and live shipping rates. Half of the trick to this is flat rate shipping.

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Exactly this! Im in the same position (even the same YT-clips) Just got my last parts and will start to build when I got time. Dont underestimate ”influencers” (organic, paid or your own influence). Why do people buy a CNC? Create/buy content on those reasons and lead them here.

(Ps, I couldnt even find a good clip on YT to show a friend what I was gonna build)

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There are thousands of videos. There are even some from me. I have them all linked here. If you were looking here and YouTube what were you looking for so I can try to make it a bit easier for others to find.

Also, a quick reality check: We’re all armchair quarterbacking here. You’re the one who has to put food on the table and keep the lights on, so at the end of the day, make sure you do what you think is best. It’s good to stretch yourself, and get outside your comfort zone, but don’t let us talk you out onto a ledge that you really shouldn’t be on…

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I have seen through here a complete kit. What about a smaller, like a 3018, cnc that would be easier to ship? Less upgradable, but an entry point?

Biggest flat rate box is 12"x12" not big enough for a small kit. Shoot that and most people build them bigger than suggested. I think almost ever cnc order leaves here with extra belt.

Myself i was just talking for those who do not want to diy. Also what about stocking at amazon/etc? Then they can ship

Just build in some tolerances in something like this. A few extra screws, and a healthy way to ship replacement parts. Healthy as in, both customer and you can be happyish with the fix. You have so much control in your garage that you can be assured that any mistakes were your fault. When you ship from China, their mistakes are your mistakes.

If it made sense you could also have them shipped to you and you could take a peek and then ship them to the US. That would give you a chance to do some QC (in the US anyway) and still have them shipped in a few days.

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They take too big of a cut ~10% last I checked, and they tack on stocking fees and an extremely loose return policy. I will not sell with Amazon for the foreseeable future.

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I have been thinking about it all day. Probably let them ship most from there, to lower international shipping, and get some shipped here to keep an eye on quality and handle US shipping bundling. Getting to China takes a long time from here so I don’t really want to do that again, I have two people I might be able to contact to make this happen. No sure if it is feasible in the quantities I do but a few emails and I should know.

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Just a quick test of this video page. There are not many options to do this sort of thing, this one is $6 a month. I will be tweaking it a bit and moving it around but there are sections that contain each playlist I can set how many to show and at the bottom of each section is a page list.

Seems to take a second for it to load.

The old way is the playlist use to show a sidebar but youtube took that option away.

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Those videos get updated anytime I add one to the playlist. Newest to the first in line.

Worth $6/mo?

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If they are linked to your personal YouTube account, just make everyone watch every video once a month, like and subscribe, and monetize it.

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That’s pretty slick. I don’t know how many people would ise it to justify the cost.

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Ha when my channel was monetized I think I made a grand total off it $11 in three years. Now I do not meet the requirements.

I am most worried that it takes so long to load. I can make it look a bit better but that lag is pretty bad.

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My first channel- about marine aquariums- got $0.78 in 2 years… and this was prior to the lower sub limit they ‘recently’ introduced.

I’m hoping to do a bit better with the new channel, lol

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Thoughts on keeping this topic broad and high level’sh, and creating separate topics to do focused deep dive on specific areas you want to push forward on? e.g Moving the business forward > WebSite > Video improvements

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