Hi, First time post here. A year ago at age 53 I sold a successful CNC machining business to spend more time with my family. I was working 80+ hours a week and could not balance out the obligations of both so I sold and am now looking for a home based business so that I can combine both work and home life. I have a 5 year non compete in machining so with manufacturing being the only thing that I know I have gravitated to the idea of engraving medical tags and bracelets from my home. I have a few questions that I hope some are willing to help with. When I was involved in machining I used Mastercam to program and helped many on machining and programming forums so I hope some of that can come back to me so here goes.
I am planning on starting this from inside my home office and once proven I will build a separate building but for now my concern is fumes from a fiber laser inside my house and the effect it would have on my children. I am right now only planning on engraving 316 and 304 stainless steel. I am planning on a fiber laser that has an open platform. Will I kill myself and family by doing this for a few months?
I have been looking at a 3D dynamic 30W MOPA laser www.rayfinetech.com/product/product65.html. Has anyone purchased this laser from Ray Fine and what has their experience been with this?
Even though I live in the country on 100 acres my township prohibits home based business so I will not have a customer accessible store and therefore all of my business will be internet based. I will create a website and sell on Amazon, Ebay, etc. until I can generate enough traffic to my site. Has anyone had success doing something similar without having a brick and mortar site. This is all new as in my machining business I never even had a website and my sales were in person or on the phone.
As I said my life experience has been machining so I don't think that the learning process will be that difficult for me. Has anyone come from a machining background and ventured into laser engraving with success?
I thank all who have taken the time to read this and than you in advance for any replies.
Jim Walker