I put "employee" in quotes relative to the CNC for a reason. Clearly, it's not a person. But if you don't count its time running jobs for both cost and profit aspects...you're going to take a long, long time to pay off the machine. It's also running profitable work while the human is doing other things at the same time, so it's very much like having a second person in my shop.
BTW, I'm a retired guy with a retirement business and I charge for my CNC's time. Folks pay it and cheerfully, because I'm saving them time which lowers their costs. In fact, a large percentage of the work I've run for others was almost pure time using their materials. That works for me! And there is no owner's salary going to happen for a long time here...I am getting small amounts back against my owner's investment starting this past quarter, however. The rest is purely tax advantage if and until revenue pays out my investment and remains profitable after that. I price out stuff I make to sell independently the same way, albeit having to adjust downward simply because too many folks give their work and time away.
Last edited by Jim Becker; 06-02-2019 at 5:14 PM.
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The most expensive tool is the one you buy "cheaply" and often...
