About myself and Fireball Tool.
When I first met Jason, the founder of Fireball Tool, I knew we were the perfect match. In our first extended conversation together we already decided to create a best in class YouTube channel and create the best bench vise in the world, it was
You can run an aluminum foundry that looks like this and be better than 80% of the industry if you just answer your emails. This is just magic sand, wood, aluminum, propane, and a cell phone.
Sand casting vs die casting. 1/8” hex key for scale in second image showing how much less material we are removing.
I prefer the sand cast texture finish but the process has more variables when designing and loading fixtures, a lot more manual deburring.
A permanent mold might
@KevinEspiritu
My guess is it’s related to the data they used to train their model, and that some of it was unauthorized. It’s something which will inevitably come out but some want to come clean and others want to continue hiding.
@Empty_America
I don’t know why people keep on conflating PhD with high paying jobs. Back when minimum wage was 13 in CA my friend could find bio phds for 18 an hr.
@Empty_America
If you have high autonomy it’s never been easier to learn and accomplish things. Every day I have moments of awe at what my kids can achieve if they have that drive. Can condense 4 hours of research into 10 minutes with new LLMs
@Noahpinion
Government contracting process takes time. Just developing the scope of work probably took over a year. People have no idea how government contracting works, everything step is a picture which needs to be described with words by a committee.
@BrighamHughes
Probably some threat to sell it might help to move the process along. The person might be incarcerated or something, happened to a contractor a friend used, In that case he had a free scissor lift rental which was nice.
@cameron62s
Probably making the molds is the biggest pain point. I got multiple projects bottle necked with a vendor and that’s where they are stuck. Every time I’ve experienced delays with a new foundry this has been the reason.
These supplier managed systems are very convenient and actually seem to be saving us money in a per unit basis but I keep on thinking I’m missing something. Am I too skeptical?
An unexpected idea from listening to the
@9operators
podcast- it’s theoretically possible to hire someone like Sean Frank to run your company. You’ll need to get lucky, but you can create some portion of luck.
Been looking for a new die casting supplier in the US and so far 4 of them have told me they only want work with volumes above 100k pieces a year. Actually glad they responded as opposed to the other 4.
Got the first invoice and we won’t be using this anymore unless they tell us they forgot to apply a 75% discount to half the items. I understand if the items are close list for low margin items but they are trying to charge 3x list price for a CNC brush and 3x for cut resistant
These supplier managed systems are very convenient and actually seem to be saving us money in a per unit basis but I keep on thinking I’m missing something. Am I too skeptical?
Supplier visit lunch customs by country.
Visit Italy, lunch with wine and smoke after.
Visit China, lunch and smoke during and after.
Visit Germans, eat lunch and drink a beer.
US no lunch.
“Better not bring that into the house” - my wife (mother of 3 children)
Great catching up with
@theisaacmed
and their mfg team
@KanpaiFoods
. Look forward to seeing what’s next.
I've spent about $1.8 million on new equipment in the last 8 years and wasted about 10% of that via under utilized equipment, used equipment that had issues, stuff we didn't use, fancier specs we didn't actually need. Price of moving fast.
If you have “Robotics” in your startup’s name you should build actual physical robots or electrical components and not just “SaaS for robotics companies”
@Empty_America
Have you seen the documentary Heyerdahl’s team made of the Kon Tiki expedition? It’s one of my favorites, captures the spirit of adventure so well.
@wanyeburkett
@mnolangray
A better argument would contrast this with throwing it away in the trash. Modern landfills are lined with several layers of special membranes and have special drainage. Nobody has seen a modern landfill, only old ones or third world dumps.
@boxcardavid
There’s a lot of red tape in institutional settings related to procurement of space and equipment.
This takes care of those things. I’m guessing also has a lot of instructional content and curriculum that makes running it easier as well.
@EdwardMehr
I think the best company to implement something like this would be McMaster Carr. They have the operational excellence and discipline with the perfect customer base, and actually understand investing in people and teams. They would charge more than everyone else, but you would
@KennethCassel
The problem is that many companies don’t sell direct and have international markets where the price will be higher than a standard US list. If you correct for this with higher prices now it makes your prices seem too high. This means customers will still need to go through a
Manufacturing curve- it’s relatively easy to make one of anything with a talented team of people. The larger challenge is consistent production quantities without the constant supervision of your top talent.
The US has a large number of areas where the free market is heavily distorted by regulations and this is evident in the areas where things keep getting more expensive. Housing, education, healthcare being the largest ones.
It allows people to be in places they want to be, from which they were formerly excluded by economics.
High demand cities should have many such options.
High prices are the solution for high prices, but not if you regulate away the ability to rationally respond to them.
@Robot_Brains
Sounds like they have other options so it’s simply not a big deal. I have old equipment that isn’t operational and could in theory make money but it’s just not a big deal and I’m too lazy to scrap it.
If it was just a credit card swipe I’d fix it, but too much other
@theisaacmed
@TaylorHoliday
Feels like mix of organic social and TikTok are remaining options for fast early scaling. Can’t be anonymous low verbal guy doing mouse click arbitrage.
@amasad
I have almost no experience coding and was able to get some python scripts pulling data through APIs into a csv thanks to Replit and Claude, under 2 hrs.
Prototype wasn’t fitting together as expected with small misalignment, just realized a new engineer wasn’t using mates in CAD and just floating parts together.💀
so you're telling me there exists a type of toilet that's only $300 which has wider drains and *can basically never get clogged* because it uses pressurized water instead of gravity fed but its not everywhere????????
America is the land of opportunity. Just launched my newest store- cybertruck gas pedal retrofit kits. There’s no other nation where you could do this.
Let’s e/acc safely out there.
I just bought an out of print book on eBay and it came from China via FedEx. Are they doing print on demand? Book was $50 on eBay vs $3900 on Amazon for an older edition.
@EdwardMehr
Nobody is gonna like the answer because it’s either overpriced like Xometry or it’s China. Would be interesting to tap into the oil and gas manufacturing capacity.
@CooperZurad
@Robot_Brains
Just dispense it directly from the bowl! Why is there an arm! I am saying this as someone who will also gladly sell you a 6 axis if are looking for a good deal on a UR
I love extruded aluminum. Is there a fundamental maximum size you can make aluminum extrusions? For instance, could you extrude a shipping container or train car?
Reason
#1
that automation by itself is not enough to compete.
Even 10 years ago automation costs were double in the US vs China. I suspect the gap is getting wider.
Each robot would cost $30k minimum in the US and probably closer to $50k+ if you add more safety features and use
Something funny about billionaires making predictions about work, while still working despite being a billionaire. The prediction should be that we’ll spend our days arguing online for status and blocking real estate development in our neighborhoods while lobbying for development
By 2034, your 9-5 job will be extinct.
Everything will be so cheap you won't have to work anymore.
That's Marc Andreessen's latest prediction — the billionaire investor who predicted the rise of the internet in 1993.
Here's what he said next:
I was skeptical but the white paper brings up some interesting points. The ability to arrange and radiate unconstrained by gravity or a building envelope is gonna mean radical new concepts. Rather see this attempted over another Saas app.
It’s crazy reading through replies and barely anyone mentions that airflow over wings is what generates lift, or mentioning lift as part of the reasoning for their answer.
@_baldtires
This is awesome, was actually thinking about this today- how much energy is needed by a battery device to chill 24 oz of liquid and how much energy density would be required for an iPhone sized battery pack to achieve it
@John_Rehagen
It will improve and eventually you can mostly point and use your voice. I do design work over Google Meet, two people talking to a human draftsman.
@TrungTPhan
@seempaq
You think they bought futures contracts after testing? If they knew how popular it would be, they could predict upward price movement.
Mexico Near Shoring Part 1- Tecate Time
Went to visit a factory around Tecate 30 min east of Tijuana which itself is bordering San Diego.
Business owned by Chinese company, bought from American company. Major operations were stamping related.
Minimum wage 375 pesos a day
@Robotbeat
It’s astounding how focused they are, and how even people outside the company know what that focus is. Tesla feels the same way. Big goals that everyone knows about, one at a time despite all the moving parts
auction-style LIVE bidding on new projects and OPOs is nuts.. 3 chances to change your bid, + real time rankings. Next level gamification
*watching rn at friends factory
In pure competition profits get competed away….welp this is that
US is going to cost at least double what you can achieve in China when all your inputs of land, labor, capital cost at least double and people want to work less than 40 hrs a week. There is no solution outside of massive government subsidies to private companies.
@John_Rehagen
It will improve and eventually you can mostly point and use your voice. I do design work over Google Meet, two people talking to a human draftsman.
@jimbelosic
Please keep us in mind when you look at fixturing, we have the simplest and fastest modular fixture system, and a couple new parts coming out that will fill the rest of the gaps.
With Starship becoming reality, a whole genre of sci fi western is going to become reality. Outlaws, pirates, evil mining co bosses, separatist movements. All of it is going to play out over the next centuries.
There’s a part of Navy SEAL training called “drown-proofing” where they bind your hands behind your back, tie your feet together, and dump you into a 9-foot-deep pool.
Your job is to survive for five minutes.
The “most studied supplement” trope is something they’ve been saying since the beginning. I take creatine myself, just always found it odd how everyone feels compelled to mention that it’s the most studied supplement as though it were a mandatory disclaimer.
It’s also the type
I'm on 6 grams of Creatine per day for last 2 years
It's apparently the most studied supplement out there, makes you stronger and also improves your brain
Horrible to take though, very bitter powder
Can recommend
I have some true classic tees but their product is mid, their material blends are soft but otherwise horrible due to the high polyester percentage that makes it feel like it’s been blended with a garbage bag. Men are lazy about shopping but not stupid.
These types of studies are an easy way for people to look like they’re doing something to solve the problem while kicking the can a couple years down the road. This is before we talk about the American style of soft legalized corruption.
deloitte was quietly awarded $2.4B to "identify, build and deliver holistic solutions to regional and broader challenges facing the submarine workforce and industrial base"
@Molson_Hart
Yes, they’re not very well publicized unless you’re in those ecom circles vs tech, where you hear about big acquisition numbers but never know how much founders actually take home.
We should give more credit to the US Constitution and Rule of Law. Military guarantees security, not the same as freedom, as would be obvious looking at other countries. Sincerely, former military guy.
Since the moment the Founding Father declared that the Thirteen Colonies were now united, free, and independent states, we’ve stayed that way for one reason:
The armed forces of the United States.
Less than 24 between being amazed by Claude Sonnet abilities and being annoyed by how “long” it’s taking to make some upgrades in my html visualizer tool
September 2021 vs August 2024, same Panda Express location in Los Angeles county 25-30% increase. Upped their hiring poster game as well, seems to be formally incorporated into store design.
This is one the worst takes I’ve seen in a while, and I don’t even follow this guy. I’ll bet anything it’s a poorly designed survey. Social science is 90% poorly designed studies that don’t replicate.
One of the worst indictments of East Asians I’ve ever seen. No meaning from family, kids, nature, hobbies. Material success is the only thing that they say they care about!
Common to see 2nd and 3rd generation business owners pivot almost entirely to real estate. The business keeps running but minimal time and investments made.
Probably makes the country less prosperous in the long run, though it definitely makes sense at the individual level.
It’s VAs all the way down on this type of biz from recruiting to handling your social media and billing.
I’m waiting for an overseas person to just use AI and start their own agency. Anyone out there want to do this I will help you get your payments system taken care of and how
D̶̶̶r̶̶̶o̶̶̶p̶̶̶s̶̶̶h̶̶̶i̶̶̶p̶̶̶p̶̶̶i̶̶̶n̶̶̶g̶̶̶ ̶̶̶
A̶̶̶m̶̶̶a̶̶̶z̶̶̶o̶̶̶n̶̶̶ ̶̶̶F̶̶̶B̶̶̶A̶̶̶ ̶̶̶
R̶̶̶e̶̶̶m̶̶̶o̶̶̶t̶̶̶e̶̶̶ ̶̶̶C̶̶̶l̶̶̶e̶̶̶a̶̶̶n̶̶̶i̶̶̶n̶̶̶g̶̶̶
Offshore VA Placement Agencies
The next hyped craze with IG gurus galore, calling it now.