I remember quite vividly how one brave soul in our calculus class back in uni put up his hand and asked the lecturer what on earth the row-echelon matrix forms we were made to study were going to help us with out in the field as qualified engineers and I found it particularly funny because that was exactly what I had been quietly thinking to myself. A good few years later and I’ve finally “gotten my own back” on what has been bugging me as a complete waste of my time, so to say, by finding a way to actually use row-echelon reduction to create something I could sell.
While the outcome is more of an artistic one than a pure engineering one (it was essentially a contemporary welded steel frame lamp), this particular project I took on maintained the tone I dance to throughout any engineering projects I take on, even DIY projects. I’m merely talking about every single minute one spends on any project, whether you’re physically building something or indeed if you’re just learning how to make something new, you have to make every second spent count in monetary terms.
At worst if a DIY project goes horribly wrong, I blog about it and try to find channels through which to monetise each post published, but at best I try to sell the final output of those projects which turned out well. Additionally, every last piece of equipment I’ve spent money on has to carry its weight and earn its keep by contributing to any DIY project’s final output, so the likes of my welder, blow-cutter, etc are all power tools which would have a lot to say if they could speak.
With that said I’ve picked up a bit of a knack of choosing to pursue DIY projects of which the final output will bring in some money, some of which specific ones I can mention include the likes of:
- Stools and tables (or stool and table steel frames)
- Ramps (vehicle ramps in particular, but perhaps even the likes of stage ramps)
- Interior decor items such as dramatic coat-hangers, wine racks and lamp stands
- Custom-made barbeques with many different designs
- Metal brackets which have a variety of different uses
You’ll notice that I seem to love working with steel and metal, which means my welder is the power tool I use the most and that’s precisely the reason why I had to make sure the one I purchased was a high quality one and so I made sure to look no further than http://www.expondo.co.uk/welders/.
Otherwise I’ve reached a stage where pretty much anything which is made in my little home workshop actually proves to have a market, even in the case of some special interests projects like making miniature model vehicles which are built to scale. I once even had a hunting enthusiast email me to ask if I could perhaps not make him a nice metal stand to house some falling targets for his target-shooting practice, a project I relished, needless to say.