bits for my many r/c plane projects may find their way to you 
I will be setting up a small workshop manufacturing custom turned parts for kit cars and doing wiring and other jobs which people struggle with in my
spare time. This could include reconditioning donor parts and all sorts of odd jobs as well. This is just an idea at the moment, so bear with me.
I would be in a position to offer initially turning services on materials up to 10" diameter and would be able to make to any engineering drawing
or design parts for a specific application. With the addition of milling facilities (1'x2' ) later if business was good enough.
All prices are samples only, and only serve as a guide. Prices will be discussed on a per job basis. Some jobs may be cheaper than listed below, so
please contact me with your requirements.
Any custom turning work taken on, prices on request.
Delivery would be 4-6 weeks depending on workload. The aim would be to supply much quicker than this though.
Some samples:
Blanking plugs for throttle bodies from £2 each
Bushes made to your requirements from £5 each (aluminium, brass, nylon, bronze etc)
Spacers from £1 each (for suspension, rose joints etc)
Propshaft spacers from £30 - made to your requirements. Properly bossed and recessed to ensure concentricty. Extra long bolts can be supplied on
request.
Hubcentric wheel spacers made to your specification from £20 each
Track rod extensions made to your requirements from £35 pair EN24T steel
Camber adjusters to your sizes from £20 pair (for front or rear custom wishbones)
Threaded tubes for wishbones from £5 each - with your choice of thread including M18x1.5 for transit track rods)
Custom aluminium gearknobs from £20 (any style within reason)
Indicator stalks from £20 to replace sierra stalks
Custom made aluminium fuel rails from £50, aluminium extrusion, drilled to your requirements for injectors, end tapped 3/8BSPT, ready to fit
brackets
Sierra upright tapered adaptors £40/pair eccentric or concentric, your choice
Concentric clutch cylinder spacers to your requirements from £40 drilled, to suit your application.
Custom alternator pulleys single vee from £50, poly vee from £65
Custom water pump pulleys as above
Custom crankshaft pulleys to follow depending on demand
Trigger wheel fitting pinto and crossflow from £40 including trigger wheel – laser cut trigger wheels and pulley modified to fit your application.
Trigger wheel fitted on turned disc to ensure concentricity
One off hose joiners from £10
Custom hubs from £100 each
Thread cutting available, both metric and imperial
Or anything special which you might need, if you can give me measurements I would be able to turn it (but obviously within reason!)
Prices would be on a job by job basis, but would certainly be less than a machine shop. Basically looking at around £20/hour machining time +
materials. Design time would be more or less free depending on the parts. Obviously on things such as aluminium cortina hubs etc I wouldnt be able to
compete with CNC turned product, but if its something special and not available off the shelf I would.
I will also be able to offer brake disc skimming and flywheel skimming (NOT LIGHTENING!) in the future.
I am also able to offer wiring services, completing wiring jobs on your car, modifying existing looms, or whatever. I would also offer megasquirt
looms and installations.
What I am looking to do is provide a cost effective solution to peoples machining and wiring needs. Most custom parts would be on a 4 to 6 week lead
time depending on complexity, manufacturing time and material delivery. Costs would be on a job by job basis.
Feedback welcome
Cheers,
David
[Edited on 3/7/09 by flak monkey]
bits for my many r/c plane projects may find their way to you
quote:
Originally posted by Mr Whippy
Nothing to lose David - people are all up for cost saving at the minute.
Starting a business is a nerve wracking exercise. "Attention to detail." Always think about costs vs. income, and don't forget that
just because you enjoy it, doesn't mean you shouldn't get paid for it. Charge less to begin with and raise it as you get busier.
Underpromise and overdeliver. Never the reverse!!!
I think you'll do fine, although I know nothing about the English car-building market first hand. I hope you don't mind my opinion.
oooh, look how quicky the void was filled now Mr H no longer posts on here.
yeah, I may be interested in some of the tunring things - will you be able to do threads?
I'd suggest you don't jack in the main job just yet but start off with a few small jobs, couple hours and evening and mayb one day weekend
to see how it pans out.
quote:
Originally posted by RK
Starting a business is a nerve wracking exercise. "Attention to detail." Always think about costs vs. income, and don't forget that just because you enjoy it, doesn't mean you shouldn't get paid for it. Charge less to begin with and raise it as you get busier. Underpromise and overdeliver. Never the reverse!!!
I think you'll do fine, although I know nothing about the English car-building market first hand. I hope you don't mind my opinion.
quote:
Originally posted by 02GF74
oooh, look how quicky the void was filled now Mr H no longer posts on here.
yeah, I may be interested in some of the tunring things - will you be able to do threads?
I'd suggest you don't jack in the main job just yet but start off with a few small jobs, couple hours and evening and mayb one day weekend to see how it pans out.
mates rates? 
Great idea David.
I think your Megasquirt skills could frequently come in handy!
Cheers,
James
would be interested in some wiring help. Whats your rate?
What happened to Mr H BTW?
Steve.
I'd be interested in getting a couple of small pieces turned in the not too distant future!
ive set my own garage up the main cost is the deposit, ramps you will find you need a load more tools aswell. but i enjoy working on cars so i make
money and have fun at the same time if your gonna keep cars over night you will need insurance or you could get landed with a big bill if you have
a fire.
adam
Custom crank, alternator and water pump pulleys
GREAT I NEED SOME MADE DAVE
LIKE THIS ABOUT 1" WIDE WITH MATCHING BELT IN ALLOY
quote:
Originally posted by thunderace
Custom crank, alternator and water pump pulleys
GREAT I NEED SOME MADE DAVE
LIKE THIS ABOUT 1" WIDE WITH MATCHING BELT IN ALLOY
1 thing you could do as iam thinking about doing is renting out the bottom of unit for about 40quid a month. if you have enough room. as i dont really
use it and theres loads of room to work around a car plus they would get to use the tools. could make it easyer for you to pay the bills when your
starting up.
adam
[Edited on 1/7/09 by oadamo]
You would get some business from my future (year and a bit) classic car engineering venture
My Mrs invested £100 3 years ago on what I thought was a stupid idea.
We now turnover £200k have two different business premises and employ one person plus the two of us, me full time Mrs sorta 3/4 time ish.
Give it as go, keep the day job and see what happens, I see a need for what your proposing provided you can turn out the product at a cost people will
happily pay and leave a bit for yourself.
I travel 35 miles to a guy who is an old fashioned engineer producing just the parts you are talking about, drive shafts, input shafts to mix match
gearbox/engines would be a winner.
I also have been looking at a really nice opportunity that would make a little bit of brass and would compliment your idea very well, I just
don't have time to pursue it, its simple involves around £2/£300 investment and would make a steady part time income leading into whatever it
grows to, buy me a beer and I will tell you.....
And no its not one of these you see advertised get rich quick schemes just something i have looked at for a while and not pursued due to time.
quote:
Originally posted by omega0684
mates rates?
it sounds like a really good idea to me
most of the stuff i had machined/made was through large companies at large sums of money.
i hope you do go for it and it goess well for you
also there is a u2u on its way to you shortly
Flak man it is a pity you are so far away - we have some pretty good facilities and I'm sure you could have used 'em for free on the basis of "demonstrating" to a few kids
Prices will depend mainly on the cost of the material to be honest. Obviously as time goes by you build up a stock of material which can be used for
other jobs too.
[Edited on 2/7/09 by flak monkey]
if its spare time and you arleady have the kit then go for it, nothing to lose.
Just remember to pay yourself a reasonable hourly rate, its amazing how money disappears on things.
At Retropower we now work on £35 an hour, which seems to be keeping a balance of work coming in vs money coming in.
Only problem we have is keeping the balance between work that we are aiming to do, and jobs that are falling into our laps that are not really
"up our street", but work is work so we do them anyway (welding transit, lots of refinishing work, engine swaps, etc)
Go for it though, as said, nowt to lose!
Since you're in a position of doing it in your spare time be honest about the time you have and don't overcommit yourself. Be prepared to
give honest lead times and let people know early if it's going to be late.
Good way to get other people to buy your lathe/milling machine
Might also be worth 'mass' producing some bits that are generally useful and can be sold at a sensible profit - distributor blanking plugs
for pinto and crossflow that are going efi seem to be asked about fairly frequently for example.
Hope it all works out for you. Be careful to keep the tax-man happy and think about any warrantee issues before it happens. At some point something
you make will fail (inevitable fact of life) and you need to have yourself covered against any consequential failures.
Thanks for the support so far guys, time to turn (no pun intended) it into reality!
Now updated the orginal post with some sample prices as a guide
Looks like I will be set up within a month as long as my lathe delivery goes smoothly next week *fingers crossed*
I can swing up to 19" (480mm) in the gap or 13" (325mm) with it closed so can do some pretty large stuff, right down to model engineering
stuff (2500rpm spindle)
David
Just put a website up online too, very basic at the moment, more will be added soon.
http://www.kitcarservices.co.uk/
just wandeing round that site and here are comments:
1. dark blue on blue for buttons on LH is not easiest scheme to read 
2. deivery is not a word I am familair with. 
3. We can also offer part reconditioning on your donor parts. - does that mean you recondition parts or part recondition i.e. cannot be asked to
fully recondition?
apart from that, looks good. carry on
at some point you amy want to put up photos of stuff you have turned.
Fixed 2 and 3. Will look at the colour scheme later. Its just a draft site at the moment.
I'll upload some pics once I have had chance to take some
once you're established, you could look into cog making. Looking in my HPC gears catalogue they are bloody expensive things!
quote:
Originally posted by JoelP
once you're established, you could look into cog making. Looking in my HPC gears catalogue they are bloody expensive things!
