Ideas on money making activities during down time at new job

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Backtobasics

Backtobasics

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Long story short: Old job was 9-5, sitting at a desk, selling speed and performance parts. Company decided to close the call center, so I am out the door. I have a new job (thankfully, only out 2 weeks), in the maintenance field of a huge commercial food processing plant. Hours are 4:30pm to 3:30am right now. I have 2-3 hours of actual work time, and rest is waiting for machines to break. If machines run well, I have a TON of free time.

New job has a substantial (by my standards) shop with Bridgeport, bandsaw, TIG welder (set up for Stainless), plasma cutter, lathe, and air. I don't have skills on lathe or bridgeport, but could learn. All the welders are setup for stainless, but will work on mild steel. I can TIG the stainless together so it doesn't leak, but the stack of dimes, with the rod is beyond me right now. Most of what we are using metal wise is thick food grade stainless, so if it is butted together properly, it doesn't require rod, just melt it together.

I am looking for suggestions of stuff that I could be doing during these down times, that could earn extra money.

2 ideas I have come up with so far is header building of some sort. Find a niche, be it replacements for the near unavailable Spitfires, or /6 market (turbo?). The other was simple as chain saw blade sharpening. The tool is cheap, and I could turn them around in a day.

Any other ideas of some void or niche' area that I could fill with all this spare time?

I will admit they have tuition reimbursement program, and I have considered going back to school, but I have no idea what to study. I have a 2 year general associates degree, so school work would have to be degree oriented, and I have not a clue what direction I would like to go.
 
Sorry if this is clueless....radio delete plates? They're hard to find and pricey.
 
This, for me is a new concept.

Your boss(s) think this is OK?

You're getting paid for making money (for you) using their equipment on their nickel?

WTF?
 
I am paid to be on call. Machine breaks, I fix. There is easily 75 bucks an hour sitting, waiting. They don't care about the use of the equipment.
 
As long as they don't care about you using their machines, go for it. You're still using their welding rod, electricity, and time, which I don't see how they'd be ok with, but if they are...more power to ya. If you have any buddies with boats, check with them....I'm sure they could come up with a lot of stuff they'd like made out of stainless, or you could repair stainless intake grates and stuff once you get your skills down.
 
Delete plates for heaters and raidos maybe dash inserts like molded after the stock dart duster ones but with the gauges sticking out like the rocky mountain ones. Headers like TTI or something would be nice and then do packages or something
 
Here is my advice, use the down time to polish the skills you have and build up your weak areas. Personally, as a foreman myself, pushing personal projects out on my dime wouldn't fly. Using my equipment on your time is one thing but my equipment on my clock is a no go. The benefits of using the time to improve your skills are twofold. First, it demonstrates to your current employer some initiative on your part to make yourself more valuable to them, second it opens up a wider range of future employers that will consider you should you need to move on. You can never have too many skills in this job market.

There's my .02
 
12valve said:
Here is my advice, use the down time to polish the skills you have and build up your weak areas. Personally, as a foreman myself, pushing personal projects out on my dime wouldn't fly. Using my equipment on your time is one thing but my equipment on my clock is a no go. The benefits of using the time to improve your skills are twofold. First, it demonstrates to your current employer some initiative on your part to make yourself more valuable to them, second it opens up a wider range of future employers that will consider you should you need to move on. You can never have too many skills in this job market.

There's my .02
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X2 This is the best advice out of all.
 
i have the same job as you, same hours, best bet is forget the big header project & stuff, i bring in little stuff like working on porting intakes or cleaning my parts. Co workers will turn you in if they think your making money on company time. second shift gets a bad wrap but its good if you want to make money, i have side work in the mornings !!!
 
I would not want you to get any grief at work, especially a new job.

If everythink is OK with the bosses, then I think there would be a market for the spitfire style headers. When they show up here they go pretty quick and get a good price.
 
So, the company does not care if you manufacture stuff on their time in their shop???

I mean heck killing time sucks but loosing a good job cause they think you are screwing around sucks wayyy worse.

If they are cool with the extracurricular work, build a Van Der Graff generator about 30 feet tall.

[ame="http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=eIcU8muc9XE"]Van Der Graaf Generator - YouTube[/ame]
 
take the school ... learn a trade not sure what you have under your belt. General machinist? milwright? electrician? Just a thought. Either way you take the initiative to get a head for later on.

Learn the lathe and bridgeport. I personally love the bridgeport.
 
1. For those with concerns over working on stuff on the side, I appreciate the concern. I cannot convey the situation over the computer. The coolest, most laid back boss on the planet. I have to be there if machines go down, I can sit in an office and read, sit outside and enjoy the breeze, whatever, so long as I am within reach via the short wave radio when they call. I appreciate the concern, but the core question remains.

2. I cannot polish or learn any faster here. When the machines go down, we go out and fix it. My brother works with me, and has been there 4 years. I will learn, but I cannot go out and tear the machine apart just to try to figure it out so I can fix it better in the future. The surgeon is not allowed to cut open a working human, to learn, so they can figure out the next one. I can't take down a running line or machine, to hone my skills.

3. I have thought about Spitfire type headers, the only issue is everything here is setup for stainless. I have welded steel with the existing TIG setup, but it is probably not absolutely ideal. I am leaning towards bringing in my MIG and using that instead. They don't have a tubing bender, so they would be built out of pre bent mandrel sections. Flanges could be bought loose, or there is a big metal manufacturing place nearby that could whip them up if needed.
 
EL5DEMON340 said:
i have the same job as you, same hours, best bet is forget the big header project & stuff, i bring in little stuff like working on porting intakes or cleaning my parts. Co workers will turn you in if they think your making money on company time. second shift gets a bad wrap but its good if you want to make money, i have side work in the mornings !!!
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I haven't explored the parts washer yet, decent thought. I could port heads and intakes, only problem there is the noise level, I might not hear the service calls over the grinder noise?
 
demon34071 said:
I second this one!!!!!! There's a market for it. We're all just waiting for someone to start making dashes again.
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What is the width of these dashes? I would have to explore the cost of the brake wide enough to bend it, or cost to have it laser or water jet cut and bent?

Good idea!
 
Plasma cut intake/header flanges out of 3/8 mild steel for slants. They are 50 bucks a piece on Ebay. Oh yeah, Stainless carb hats for blowers and turbos. Most are cast and cost over $130..

PS>> My friend works nights 2130-0600 at the post office. He gets 3 trucks in 8 hours. All he does is hooks the 6-7 little carts of mail in the truck to a tug and pulls them out to the sorters , then pushes 6 new ones in, locks the door and logs the tag. The other 7 hours (literally) he sits and watched midnight ESPN and plays cards..16 years of this...
 
I have the exact same job and situation as you and spend most of my time on call. Been an Industrial Mechanic in the food industry for the past 10 years and working the graveyard shift. I also have access to a full machine shop and fab shop with some cool toys. My boss and his boss are cool with it as long as all my work is caught up and I use my own materials. I do most of my projects at work on the holidays and weekends. Tonight I am soaking a set of J heads in the parts washer before tearing them down.
 
I think the custom dash is a good idea as well as stainless exhaust tips would be a good idea another idea would be a custom scoop think 1970 road runner the pop up scoop with the teeth decal but on steroids kinda like a pop up hemi scoop solenoid activated..I would buy that for my dart so I can keep a sleeper look and with two switches run like a beast!
One switch for the scoop and one for the quick-time open exhaust!
I made a drawing and I want to pursue it!
Bruce B.
 
67Signet said:
another idea would be a custom scoop think 1970 road runner the pop up scoop with the teeth decal but on steroids kinda like a pop up hemi scoop solenoid activated..I would buy that for my dart so I can keep a sleeper look and with two switches run like a beast!

Bruce B.
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The 70 Roadrunner scoop you refer to is called the "Air Grabber" scoop.

Yeah, they look pretty cool and psych out the other guy, especially when it is closed when he first looks and then you flip the switch and he sees it open....
 
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