Lookin' to make some money here

Hey guys!! Well, its February in Ohio and our ridiculously mind winter is finally starting to wind down, and im wanting to get out in the shop and start some new projects.

I wanna come up with some new content for my videos, and make some stuff to sell hopefully. So, Ive been looking for ideas lately... Including online. Here are some ideas Ive come across:

1) Carryalls. I made a few of these last year and eventually got rid of them. Ill never use the standard design again, just not any money there... Anyway, here is an interesting concept someone sent me, I could make the "basket" from 2" pipe and double miter the "bends" with the chop saw. I think I would add to this by putting some boards inside, maybe a tailgate, and welding on a couple of rings so that one could secure fence posts, etc to the top of the unit, crosswise. I wonder what a setup like that might go for?



2) Whatever you would call this...

Its an idea that one of my viewers was kind enough to share (and if these sell well, there will defiantly be a commission in there for him), and I really like the idea. To add to this design, I would cut a hole in the channel and run that piece of 2x2 tubing through the channel, then weld and gusset it on both sides for extra strength.

Or, I might come up with an entirely different design, a short piece of 2x2 tubing, welded to a (say 3/8" or 1/2") piece of 6x6 plate, with only one "D" ring welded on. If I bought a full stick of 2x2 tubing (1/4" wall), the cost for tubing wouldn't be much. Since Im only using a little bit of plate, I could get that from my steel suppliers remnants and drops section for next to nothing. There would be a lot of liability, and some "off-road use ONLY" stickers involved in this build.






3. Horse-show related things. Not really too much to think about here, but still. I could make wine racks, those seem to be pretty popular, and new horse shoes are pretty cheap from TSC. I saw a rack like this one day while furniture shopping with my dad, only it was painted black and had an $80 price tag. I could probably sell them for half that and make a few bucks off each one. Do you guys know what kinda coating there is on these shoes? Looking at the ones at TSC, it looks like it might be regular millscale, or maybe galvanized? I cant tell... If its galvanized, that could be an issue...



Anyway, I just wanted to share all this, and see what feedback there might be. You all know about everything so it seems, and I guess If anyone sees anything Im not thinking of, it would be better to find out now than after I built a bunch of stuff lol.

And im still alive lol. I had some computer issues there for a while, but I think we're good now. I have a "Rocketfish" surge protector from Best Buy on my computer, and its kind of weird. There is one "master" outlet, and then a bunch of "Aux" outlets. The "Aux" outlets dont receive power unless the "master" outlet has something plugged into it, and that something is turned on.

Someone commented that it sounded like my PC wasn't getting the power it needed... And at that time i had the PC plugged into the master outlet, and the monitor plugged into an aux. outlet. So, I tried plugging it straight into the wall, and it fired right up. Errrr...

So, I guess I just need to throw my surge protector under a bus!! Ha!! Oh well. This thing still makes all kinds of wired noises, so I guess Ill have to replace that fan soon. Thanks for the help everyone

Lanse,
I have seen your videos of the projects you have built. You are definitely a talented young man! My dad was a welder (stick) all his life. I think you would have given him a run for his money if he was alive to see your welding, LOL. Seriously, you do amazing work. Where are you located? Have you thought about designing different gadgets that fit into reciever hitches? Since these hitches are so poular now days. I know there are many different products available for these hitches now, but with your talent you could probably design even more things. Personally I don't have a reciever hitch on my farm truck because of the AG hitch on it. I would like a reciever hitch that could be bolted to the frame, yet be used under my AG hitch. Just some thoughts I have. Good luck to you. By the way in am in Southern Minesota.
Kow Farmer

Nice hearing from you again.

I live a very sheltered life. I'm not quite seeing what the plate with the D links is good for? Looks nice, but I'm not figuring out what I would want it for. Probably come to me right after I hit the send button....

--->Paul

Guessing that thing with the D-rings is some sort of receiver bumper. Not sure what good it would do in an accident since many factory receiver hitches aren't very strong, they are ment for pulling not shock loading and twisting.

Neat Ideas. Hope you can make some money. When I see something like you make, I think I can build that. Sorry I won't be a customer.

I would like to know how you post pics and then put text above and below the pic. I can't do that!

Indiana has mild temps too. I have a bad case of cabin fever and trying to invent something to do myself. Been thinking of having some trees taken out around buildings.

George

What do you mean by "ag hitch"? Thanks

A "ag hitch" is usually a spring loaded hitch on the back of a pickup used to pull wagons.

None of the items you mentioned are going to sell
very much. The big channel thing doesn't seem very
practical if it just goes in a receiver. You can
just a buy a hook that fits into a receiver. You
could bend or damage the receiver if you had to
pull on an angle because of the extra leverage the
length of channel has. Ornamental stuff is hard to
sell. You have make a decent enough profit for it
to be worthwhile to build something. If you're
only going to make $10 or $20 profit, you need to
make a whole bunch of items for it to be worth it.
For some other idea's, look on Millers website for
pictures of all the DIY projects.

I hope you've still been looking for a welding job
so you can start an apprenticeship. Then you
wouldn't have to try so hard to find things to
build and (hopefully) sell.

Lanse,

Another idea you could build and attempt to sell would be a coat hanger out of horseshoes..

I sold/traded a couple old snowmobiles to a gentleman about 2-3 years ago.. One of the things he offered in trade was this "coat hanger".. It has a whole horse shoe in the back, 2 "countersunk" holes for like a drywall screw, and another horse shoe was cut in half and welded to the front of the whole shoe, forming a hook. This one is made out of used shoes, and he claims he usually would sell them for 5-10 bucks at craft shows and such.. I can take a picture of said hanger if you can't visualize what I'm saying. I thought the hanger was pretty neat, I hang my coveralls on it in the shop, and have thought about building more for hanging plants and whatnot.

A good friend of mine used to build a "carousel" for hanging baskets also with scrap steel and parts from a hay "dump rake" and he claims they sold well (I see quite a few of them around our neighborhood) but finding the needed parts from one of those rakes would be the hard part.. Again, I could take a picture of one if it's something you'd like to see.

I personally being just a little older than you like to see you attempt to build things to sell and make money.. When we go to work for someone we make them "rich" for little in return, when we work for ourselves we work to make ourselves "rich".. At 31, I'm tired of making other people money, I want to make that money for myself.

Kow Farmer..

My email is gydefamilyfarm (at) hotmail (dot) com.. Drop me a line sometime and I will crawl under my uncle's Dodge-mobile and take a few pictures of what he has.. He has a DMI hitch, and a receiver hangs under it.. It's too hard to explain how he did here, but the pictures may be worth a thousand words for you. Overall, it was a pretty simple fab and I'm planning on doing the same thing on both of my Ford trucks.

Brad

One thing I have been wanting to make is a front bumper for the ford 600 that takes a 2" receiver hitch, so I can pull trailers out, without having to change balls.

Plus I could use it with my receiver mount snow blade

Have not had much time to think about it or do it...

I think starting with the "heavy duty" bumpers and making the hitch work would be a reasonable approach

If you are looking to sell crafty stuff, check out etsy.com

My Ag hitch has a large spring built into it that helps take the shock out of pulling heavy wagons or implements. It really makes a difference compared to regular bumpers.
Kow Farmer

Thats a cool site, thanks. Im new to this artsy stuff lol

Thanks for the reply, Brad!! Ive never REALLY
worked with horse shoes, for profit, but I have
made a pair of those coat racks before. Im not
sure what this coating is, but I remember that my
mig did not like it one bit :/

Ill come up with a few of those!! I might have to
get creative selling them however, I rarely bring
people out to the farm to sell things, I usually
mee them in town. But Im not sure I wanna burn $5
in gas to sell a $10 item lol...

Why thank you, Kow Farmer!! I try, lol. I enjoy my projects, I think its fun to build things. Right now Im in Southwest Ohio, about an hour away from Dayton...

I plan to go into business for myself one day, and then things will get a little more serious lol. If you werent so far away, maybe I could hook you up with the hitch you need?

Thanks for the reply

Pulling from the front bumper put a lot of strain on the front engine block.The radius rod ends are worn so they wont pull at all.You will break the mounting ears off the engine block.Ive seen a few Farm All C tractors with the front end broken from the engine.