Messages

Chris, I can appreciate a emotional connection to a machine. I have a Singer 111w155 I have had for 38 years. Like part of the family. I hope to get er up and running again here real soon.

Rick

The "hook" for small business owners is that we need business to survive. If we are slow, it is very tempting to do what it takes to get any business in, including lowering prices and not valuing our time.

When slow and a lower price is given to try to get work in, the customer could say, "let me think about it". Then things pick up, shop gets busy, and then the customer that was given the lower price returns (within a reasonable amount of time - like 30 days) with the work and the lower price. Price has to be honored while other more profitable work is at hand. I had a owner of a repair shop share this with me many years ago. He would not give the lower prices when slow. It is a difficult discipline to develop. 

Rick

Yes. I have three. I find many uses for my tack hammers. If you get one with a magnetic end, I was told many years ago by my mentor in the trade, do not consistently use the magnetic end to hammer with. The magnetism will go away.

Regards
Rick  

Hello. You might want to investigate Sunbrella Supreme. It has a flocking soft fiber on the underside made to protect paint surfaces for one thing. Suggestion: without going to expense of purchasing more than needed for paint protection, purchase just enough to either 1) make a slip cover for the tops of the engines then let the main cover lay over that to hold it in place 2) sew an extra layer under the main cover that will lay on top on the engines...

Regards
Rick

Paul, after a period of time it (Google) might. All Darren has to do is request it be taken down and I can delete it anytime. Probably after 6 months or so I will kill it anyway. If anyone does a search on the forum and sees the thread, and they get a 404, they can just request it (with Darren's permission) and I can share it.

Rick

Darren, it ain't even a thang to post it. Thank you for the compliment. Just let me know, and we can add to it...

Rick

Darren, thank you for the plans. I do not do photo bucket to post the plans. What I did do to be able to share is build a web page on my website to view the plans and the tech info you posted. The plans I formatted in a .jpg so it can be easily downloaded. You ended it with "done with step one", so if there is any additional information, I can easily add to the web page if you want. The link to view the plans is:

http://www.CatalinaCustom.com/Shared_Info/Furniture_Frame_Plans_Info.htm

Thanks again...

Rick

ps... the page for your plans is not linked on my website for public viewing

I have 2 Juki LU563's (along with a Singer 111W - my bear). The first Juki was ok but kinda finicky. It would do it justice to have a new bobbin assembly installed. Then Chris (Mojo) called me one day and ask if I was interested in his Juki LU563. He said Bob had just went through it and replaced what was needed. I am here to say, that is the best machine I have ever had. The bobbin assembly is so nice it has a very nice tight machine sound about it. Chris was a blessing to me with that machine and Bob did an excellent job on the rebuild.

Rick

Darren, I would be interested .. ty

Rick

Interesting you re-posted this. Last year I started doing internal marketing statistics on how people find my phone number. Out of 334 inquiries about various projects, 60% were from Google. I target primarily marine soft upholstery and I am the only one in the boat upholstery section in the local AT&T book. With the free one line listing I got a grand total of 3 hits from it last year. I agree. Seems like physical phone books is primarily a thing of the past.

Rick

Maybe they used to build Sherman tanks

Rick

Floyd.. If you have a basic understanding of Excel, let me know and I can send you the formula for the calculation(s). I have mine setup that I input certain cells with start miles, stop miles, price per gallon and travel time spent. Values are produced with macros launching when certain buttons are clicked. You would have to tweak your cell references, mpg for your vehicle for travel expenses. Then tweak your time travel rates in another formula. I could also send a screen shot of how the whole thing looks.

Rick

ps... it took me 2hrs work to work out the formula on the tangible travel expenses.

All my jobs have a work-order I developed in Excel. Part of the work-order has a section for travel expenses. Total miles travels - what the mpg for my truck (with or without utility trailer) - calculated at current gas prices + 10% for maintenance. Then it calculates time for travel at my travel rates. The total for one trip or multiple trips is then charged out to the job - with these expenses plugged into the initial estimate as part of the job cost

Rick

I subscribe to Marine Fabricators magazine. For other aspects of upholstery, I find this forum very enlightening..

Rick

On the subject of remnants, I reckon I can be classified as a hoarder. I am in the process of putting up walls in the shop for efficiency. I had a shop in Tampa for over 20 yrs and I had accumulated a lot of left over vinyl and cloth from projects years past. When I order materials for a project, I always order some extra in case I get a brain cramp and mess up (have to be more careful of this the older I get). This extra I do not throw away. When I moved the shop in '08 from Tampa to where I am at now, all of this vinyl was in large garbage bags (by color). This does not include the extra materials that have been accumulated since the relocation. I just got a wall put up that is a little over 7' high and 9' long with cubicles. I just spent over 17hrs getting this vinyl organized to see again what I have. I had been spending money on materials that I did not even know I had.

Case in point on two examples: 1) I have a Ski boat interior to do in March and I have a majority of the main vinyl from a past project that is left over (how I wound up with yards of the off white to be used from a past project I can't remember - oh my) along with a good chunk of the offset red vinyl. 2) I had a customer drop off a set of sun visors for his GM car late last week. He wants them covered in a close matching vinyl instead of the original type cloth. They being a med gray, went to the vinyl shelf, looked at the grays and found the piece I need. Quick $100 with the vinyl in house.

One last example of remnants. Chris was gracious enough to turn me on to his remnants late last year. He gave me a ton of left over acrylics and his vinyl coated polyester he uses. I have a competitor in my area that is a true goof-ball. And does he have some people mad at him. I got a call from some people that he had built patio curtains for and the 30ga plastic had shrunk to the extent they would not fasten any longer to the fasteners put in the concrete wall and the zippers (for the pass through door) would not work. Not only these people, but the neighbors next door he had done the same work for and they had the same problem. The goof-ball bailed on them and would not fix the curtains that had shrunk side to side over 4" on a 15'+ run. They called me. When I examined the job, I suggested, to get them out as cheap as possible, add extensions to the ends and I would try to find some acrylic in the shop that was close without having to spend money on ordering material. Well, hello Chris my friend! Chris had given me these long runs (almost 3yds long and 12" wide) of acrylic that was in the neighborhood of the color and they fit the bill. From Chris' remnants, this wound up to be $600 worth of work. This does not include the vinyl coated poly from Chris that can be used for reinforcement in other acrylic work.

I have seen time and time again a quick $75 - $200 worth of work can be done by going to the remnant shelf and finding the materials to be used.

Rick

Ps. And to see my containers of nuts, bolts, screws, clips and such I have? That is another whole story..