SandboxRanch.com Official Launch
After many years of having this idea of custom on-demand products that people can order online efficiently, I decided to go through to turn the concept into reality with SandboxRanch.com.
It has taken the better part of the year after I decided to follow-though with this business to rest out the initial range of products, build the website and acquire machinery to turn this into a viable business.
The great thing about CNCROi.com is that everyday, things are different, it’s totally custom, all the time, across endless material options, which is great fun, but I also want to get into a business making “products”, something I can optimize, build and market.
At first, I thought this would be an easy journey, just make some designs, send it to my router and I’m done… it was anything but.
My first run was scrap, and yes, I’ve made a lot more scrap since, but now things are dialed in and things are fun again now that most of the production headaches involved are (hopefully) behind me.
Basically, this journey has involved A LOT of changes over at CNCROi.com, from setting-up a shipping department internally to acquiring a massive CNC router using custom half inch diameter bits.
With my Shopbot PRSAlpha moving out of the shop tomorrow, I can then gain much needed floor space at CNCROi.com to have additional woodworking equipment to make custom on-demand wood and later metal projects in a reliable and efficient manner.
I’ll be the first to admit that wooden letter banks are nothing new, they are everywhere, but they are NOT CUSTOM – visit SandboxRanch.com and you’ll see what custom truly is and get an idea of what you are missing.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=inSCPwuZoRM/settings
Comparing the initial scrap run to one of these more recent production runs, you can see just how much things have changed, from the design through to the machinery and processes involved, but my goal isn’t to just make letter banks, it’s just what I decided to start with at SandboxRanch.com.
I do have eventual goals of actually milling everything you see here out of wood into metal, so if you want a custom yellow submarine titanium piggy bank, yep, I can make that for you and ship it right to your door but for now, wood and the equipment I have in the shop, is plenty capable of dialing things in to where I need them to do in order to bring sales to be able to offer far higher value items down the line.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=F9icPjfwpOU/settings
Making custom banks and other woodworking projects is fun, running a custom fabrication shop is also fun, but it’s nice to have the mix of “one-off-must-be-perfect” with something I have a lot more flexibility with, though still, very much custom to the customer’s needs and wants.
The Thermwood has been a massive improvement in capability and speed that has recently come to CNCROi.com and to be honest, I’ve had my eye on these machines almost since I got into ShopBots but SandboxRanch.com just sped-up the requirement for something this rigid and beefy… with a tool changer!
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=QXBwqf-nMDw/settings
With new machinery and all the added capability it bring to both businesses, it really opens-up the possibilities I can offer customers far and wide – I can truly make literally anything now and with continued investments, I hope to expand these endless possibilities into infinite ones as more synergies become available across the board at CNCROi.com.
It’s amazing how much things have evolved since I first started my journey into custom woodworking 14 years ago, back then, it was digital files for people with CNC machines to cut and enjoy, now I have more equipment than a one-man-shop could ever dream about and I’m finally able to bring my dream of a little custom in everybody’s life a reality.
Check-out SandboxRanch.com – it’s still very much a work in progress, but I’m in it for the long term and it will evolve like everything else through the years and decades to come.