London based entrepreneur needing CNC partner

[matthew_gbr]

Thanks for your "kind" comments. I hope it should be good. Especially because what I didn't mention is that I have a degree in engineering, and I've run business units worth £MM. So I know a bit about running a commercial operation, margins, profitability, etc. I also didn't mention that I've built my own furniture and fittings, including having designs cut in egger board by a local CNC shop and I just sold my property for over £950K with these in it. I also know some CAD software and that a CNC machine to "test with" would cost £10K+. Probably I put this message out the wrong way. What I really need is a garage with a CNC machine and an expert that I can work with so we can experiment and iterate the designs and see if we can make them scalable. Maybe I will totally fail and lose everything, but I have some real interest and passion for it so at least I will give it a go. My enthusiasm means I started on the wrong foot so now I will find another way to move forward.

[JAZZCNC]

Maybe I will totally fail and lose everything, but I have some real interest and passion for it so at least I will give it a go. My enthusiasm means I started on the wrong foot so now I will find another way to move forward.

Hi Matthew,

Don't listen to the Nah sayers, you don't need 100K machines to build a very successful business. I have built machines for a customer who started with one small machine in a garage at the side of their houses costing £5k and now have multiple machines of different sizes, employing several people in 20,000ft premises turning over 500K + and all built up within 3yrs.
I have many customers who have started this way and built up great and profitable businesses on very low budget's and in my opinion, you already have what is needed and this is the drive, gumption, and bravery to give it a go.! . . . Good luck.

[hanermo2]

Agree.
A lot / most of our 15.000+ HAAS customers were like that, once upon a time.

Hi Matthew,

Don't listen to the Nah sayers, you don't need 100K machines to build a very successful business. I have built machines for a customer who started with one small machine in a garage at the side of their houses costing £5k and now have multiple machines of different sizes, employing several people in 20,000ft premises turning over 500K + and all built up within 3yrs.
I have many customers who have started this way and built up great and profitable businesses on very low budget's and in my opinion, you already have what is needed and this is the drive, gumption, and bravery to give it a go.! . . . Good luck.

[hanermo2]

That´s what I said.
As per Your own quote below.

90%+ of people wanting to make money with cnc, starters, plasma laser or mill, have few resources and little skills and tools to start with.
About 1% of those go on to make a successful transition to a profitable endeavour.

Your case is different.
You have some relevant experience, and obviously have resources.
Neither of these was likely based on your first post.
I apologise if I was too blunt.
I meant to hurt no feelings.

You have already jumped into the 2% category.

Making profitable cnc stuff is very different from making cnc stuff.

I helped lots of newbies make their first biz, when selling industrial Haas cnc stuff to them.
And helped make them lots of money, mostly.

And also helped lots of hopefuls see why their ideas for a.b.c whizbangs were impossible or impractical.

And also no.quoted several projects due to multiple issues - we simply new that some of the customers ideas would not work out for them aka us, long-term, so we refused orders upto about 800k€.

What I really need is a garage with a CNC machine and an expert that I can work with so we can experiment and iterate the designs and see if we can make them scalable.

[Kitwn]

90%+ of people wanting to make money with cnc, starters, plasma laser or mill, have few resources and little skills and tools to start with.
About 1% of those go on to make a successful transition to a profitable endeavour.

Perhaps we need a section on "How I made a successful business with my CNC machine" which includes what didn't work as well. Having just retired I need to make my hobby self-funding, which is a long way short of the 'successful business’ aim but starts along the same path.

Kit