Proudly Made In The USAInnovative and Sustainable: Hotend Manufacturing Journey with Solar Starts Now
Hey, everyone! Thanks for stopping by. If you're reading this, you're probably curious about what's been going on at hotends.com. Well, let me tell you, it's been a whirlwind of a journey lately. As a one-person team, I've been juggling everything from manufacturing to social media, and now I'm preparing to move to a new space. But that's not all of it - I'm also bringing my old solar setup out of storage to power my hotend manufacturing! I'm excited to share this next chapter of my journey with you, so let's get started!
As I mentioned above, It's just me here, Nick at Hotends.com. That means I'm in charge of everything - from manufacturing to marketing and everything in between and it can be a lot to handle, but it's also incredibly rewarding to see my hotends come to life and make their way out into the world.
Lately, I've been knee-deep in preparations for a move to a new space. It's much closer to our new home than my current shop, so it's going to make a big difference in terms of efficiency and productivity and cutting down on the commute. I'll also have more room to work, which means I can set up my machines in a way that maximizes output and minimizes wasted space.
But here's where things get a little unconventional. You see, the new building doesn't have power available, and I don't want to go through the hassle and expense of getting utilities hooked up just yet because I have another potential solution - my old solar power setup!
Now, I know what you're thinking - "Solar power manufacturing?
That does not sound very plausible!"
But trust me, it's not as wild as it sounds.
Let me give you a little backstory. Years ago, I lived off the grid. I set up a solar power system to provide electricity for my home, and it worked like a charm. It was an incredible feeling to be able to power my home with the energy of the sun, and I learned a lot about the potential of solar power in the process.
Now, I'm bringing that same equipment out of storage and putting it to good use for machining the J-Head hotends for you! It's not a perfect solution, but I think it's a step in the right direction.
Even though the system is technically undersized for what I'm doing, I also do not need to be able to run my CNC machines all day long at this time so there is recovery time for the batteries.
I'm excited to experiment with different configurations and see what works best for my needs and I can always add more panels and batteries as needed.
So, that's what's been going on with my hotends company lately. It's been a bit of a wild ride, but I'm enjoying every moment of it. I'm also looking into implementing LEAN manufacturing practices to streamline my production process and reduce waste. I'll keep you posted on how that goes.
Thanks for tuning in to this update. If you have any questions or feedback, feel free to leave a comment below. And as always, keep on printing!