making evaporators for a living

[maplekid]

ive seen alot of people on here always looking for evaporators or arches (i am one my self)and i just ran across my mind that why dont i start making evaporator arches and sell them for a good price and in the making ill build my own evaporator. give your opinion on the situation.kinda debating on it though so will see

[brookledge]

If you have the money for the up front cost to get started you could try it but if all you sell are arches then alot of buyers will go to a manufactuer that can supply all their needs. I think you will find out that it is alot more than you think. All the equipment needed like sheet metal tools,welder,plasma cutter, etc. And then you need a design that is efficient. You can't copy someone elses arch because they have patents.
Patrick Phaneuf makes a few small evaporators and he is in Canada.
Keith

[maplekid]

yeah ive been drawing up stuff and think i might not go through with it though i did make a steam hoo for my dads friend and hes said it looked like one you could buy from the manufacturer so that cuold work out for me . did it all in ss and my dad even commented that it looked as if it was from the factory. spent 250 dollars in ss and it looked good to me. it was a 2x4 so mabe i can sell steam hoods and make an earning off that. i do have some good designs for a steam hood and made specific details on them and made drawing on the hoods. i made 2 diferent hoods for raised and drop flue pans since the raised fue is higher than the syrup pan i didnt make a suspended steam hood and on the other hood i made a suspended hood. its complicated to explain so if i make one i can send some pics hopefully.....

[Fred Henderson]

It will cost you $50,000 plus just for the tooling just for the to get started. A sheet of 22 ga SS(5X10) is close to 375 bucks right now.

[maplekid]

oh ive got all the tools(plasma cutter, tig ,mig ,stick welder ,cutting torches)all the stuff so i think it could work out for me. the steel is what im worried about. im thinking im not going to go over a 2x6 or higher because im made that hood for my dads friend and just for a 2x4 it cost me 250 dollars

[Fred Henderson]

Ok so you go some of the bacis tooling. Now how about bending equip like an 8 or 10 foot brake, a shear, a box and pan brake. Just the pads and angle grinders for polishing the SS will set you back 2500 bucks, and the pads don't last very long.

[maplekid]

oh ican go without that stuff. ive done it before all i need is the stuff i have and a tape measure

[Grade "A"]

MapleKid, I am gitting ready to sugar this next season after a 15 year break. My operation was only about 50 taps boiling on a 2'x2' pan on top of a 55 gallon drum. Now I will have 150 to 200 taps on vacuum so it is like starting all over again. I built a 2'x5' ss pan this year. I paid $210 for a 4'x10' sheet of 20ga. 304ss. I know the guys at the medal shop so they let me use their tool. My pan is a flat bottom so the boil rate will be less than a flue pan. I used ss pop rivets to hold the pan together than used solder to seal it up. It is hard work to solder ss without warping it and you have to use the right flux (I used Harris Stay-clean). My finding was that you can make one yourself to save money but it is alot of work and someday I will buy a "real" set of pans.
Good Luck,
Matt

[Brian Ryther]

Maple Kid
Did you recieve the photos of my home made 3x7 evap? It took over $2,000 in materials to build it, including the hood. I would be willing to bet I have over 100 hrs in labor in fabrication. It is an excelent evap, but if you figure the labor into the cost I would have been $ ahead to buy one. But .... I made it and take great pride in it. I am a industrial SS welder by trade, so in my opinion I encourage you to persue your interest, but don't expect to get rich, or even make a living from just making evaproators.

[TapME]

Maplekid, dot your I's and cross your t's and set up a business plan and see if it can make you some cash. If you see it can in the maple world with limited demand then you can think of branching off into another area as the medicial feild. Once you start and the tools are bought your limits are only as far as your mind will take you. But.......... it has to make sence, and some money.

[maplekid]

i did get the pictures brian.yeah i made that steamhood for my dads friend and he paid me 300$. so i think i could be on to something

[Justin Turco]

When you go to upgrade from the two by four, I'll bet you'll build your own. If you had some pictures of maple equipment you had built, you could gauge the interest in your stuff. Just get one nice design built for yourself and I would think someone would say to you, "build one for me, just like that one." Heck, if you've built a nice hood there are probably a few of us who'd be interested. I must say though, I think it would be hard to set yourself apart in an industry that serves such a small group of people. It seems it would be hard to make a living at it. In the last four years I've had a stainless cellar sink custom made, some stainless brackets that allow me to remove the railing from my deck in the winter (makes it easier to shovel) and right now I am having a shop get me a price for a stainless "corner" shower unit. Maybe you could have some other unrelated products that you produce out of your metal fabricating shop. The shop I deal with builds stuff to order. Which means you have to come up with the idea on your own, then find them. If they ran an ad somewhere that showed stainless steel shower units (or whatever widgets you were building), I believe there are a few other idiots like me who would think they needed one. Maybe something like that would work for you.

"Maple Kid's Metal Fabrication" hmmmmph, .......that's got a nice ring to it.