I tried pushing fireplace log grates I built out of 1/2"x1" flat bar this past winter on Craig's list but had no takers. Built one as a sample, took pictures and posted, but no takers. Figured with the shop extremely slow back in January it was a better use of time than sitting at home.

Listed them for $80 and pushed the hand made in the USA, not Chinese mass produced junk line. If I wasn't surrounded by box stores selling the import crap for $50 I might have had a shot.

 

How about steel plinking targets. Or yard art.

They seem to sell on Ebay and swap meets. Perhaps you can put them on consignment at the feed stores or art galleries. You would be surprised what I see at the county fair and festivals. I was shocked a couple of years at the amount of yard art at the strawberry festival in Ventura, Ca.

Good luck.

 

Rolling .22LR targets... shoot them they keep going farther away.

 

Careful on that one, ricochet is going to be a problem. Not so with the hard rubber ones.

 

I'd suggest some of Wello's Or Yorkiepap's projects that they actually sell. Niel's ( Wello) candle holders, picture frames, plant hangers, drink holders and so on are quite well documented and from what I understand he makes decent money on them at the market. The one of Denny's ( Yorkiepap) that comes to mind right away is some of his alum tread plate stuff he does. The napkin/letter holder is the 1st one I can think of, but I know he's posted up others.

The other biggies would be some of the horse shoe stuff that's been posted up from time to time. Coat racks, wine rack, letter holder. book ends, shelf brackets... Horse people eat this stuff up big time.

 

Hi Lanse, the wine bottle holder is simple ,scrap pipe, railroad spikes., and flat stock. You could use almost any scrap metal for it. Here's the posting.
http://weldingweb.com/showthread.php?t=249051
http://weldingweb.com/showthread.php?t=249051&page=2

 

Here's a simple/cheap idea for a project. It is a lamp made from chain welded together.

http://weldingweb.com/showthread.php?t=94911

I feel sure someone could make a few dollars selling some of these. Many different configurations that could be used besides the one I made, but you get the idea.

 

horse shoe wine racks are easy and very cheap to make.... I sold this one for $60 or $70 I believe. another idea is a smoker out of a 55 gallon drum? Think of projects that wouldnt need a huge machine and a plasma cutter to build. Im sure lots of people on the channel have 110 migs and angle grinders. show that you dont need all the fancy stuff to make cool stuff!

 

Hey I've got an idea, what about a photo booth!

 

Yeah, but can you help me figure out how much I should charge to build one? Thanks!

 

Have sold over 250 sets of these clamp on tractor forks that double as a clamp on reciever hitch holder. All parts are plasma cut (Powermax85 on a PlasmaCam) and welded with a Hobart Handler 210 mig.

Jim Colt

 

Lots of these kinds of custom architectural brackets.....this was an order for 50 of these cut from 3/8" steel. This one is just tacked for measurement verification, holes are plasma cut as well for 1/2" bolts.

Jim Colt

 

And of course metal art....in my house since we have horses much of the art is related. Go to a horse event with this type of metal art....and you will sell some product. Oh yeah....the deck railing in the last picture showing the horse plant hangers (on my house) was plasma cut, welded and painted in my shop. Custom built railings go for some pretty big bucks.

And if you do not have a cnc machine to cut the parts....find someone local that does! My son works full time in my shop (I don't have any time for it) and would be happy to cut parts for your project and ship them (USPS flat rate is cheap!) anywhere. He currently gets a lot of work from local welding shops that do not have cnc plasma.....that need anywhere from 1 to 1000 parts cut for their projects.

Jim Colt

 

Bottle trees from rebar.

 

What your YouTube channel? I wanna subscribe. That will b a cool mini series to keep track of.

 

Ask Ironheart-Ram.

He seems to make a little cash welding scrap into different shapes.

 

But it does not fit the term "Simple" the OP used

 

Plasma table. It will take $50 jobs and turn them into $450 jobs. But you need cash for the plasma table, otherwise labor overides cost and like 7A stated its flea market stuff but thats just my opinion bud. Put a machine in the back of that truck when your out of school and do a little mobile work and see where that takes you :drinkup:

 

Not quite right! This bracket, 11" tall and 5 deep, made from 3/8" steel and welded sold for $28 each (we did 50). Without the welding we would sell the 3 metal parts for $19 to $20. If you can do these by hand.....and drill the holes....you could not do them for that price. My shop makes $100 / hr doing jobs like this with the CNC (one man shop, my son, PlasmaCam/ Powermax85) 50 were done and ready to go in about 3 hours. The PlasmaCam paid for itself in a few months doing jobs like this. The holes were plasma cut, no need for a grinder....we did build a simple jig for welding.

Jim Colt

 

Key chain holders. Book shelves. Fire pits. Mail boxes. Just walk around the lowest or home depot and see what is there and grab ideas.
Garbage cans. Candle holders. Entertainment centers. Chairs, bar stools.
2 first things anyone should build is a welding cart, and a table. DON'T use the plans miller has for their portable table.



I myself have been stuck on lamps for a long time.

I've made 4 in total and have 1 more I'm working on and another one I want to start. It's not on what I planned to be welding all the time, but it's actually fun and it's something that just came to mind. I think everyone will just find one thing they will gravitate to and start making them over and over.
After the next one is done, I'm going back to my original plan and that is to make a sheet metal bender. It's bee on the 'to do list' for about a year. Just need to get my plans sorted out and do a video for others.


Oh one of the first things I did was made a holder for my box of rubber gloves. Plasma cut, bent and screwed it to the side of my cabinet.

 

Whats the dimensions and size of pipe your using?

 

Design a swing-away mailbox post. They can be simple or decorative, but they sell easy. I used to make them put of 1 1/2 x 3/16 square tube and sold a couple dozen a year.

 

The images don't show. Is there a fresh link?