[||Downhome||]

Thats nice work Tom, that price tag made me cringe though...

Have you considered offering different models for different budgets?

Maybe even something along the lines of a retrofit kit for commercially available tanks?


Just a Idea I had.

 

[Ozarks Tom]

Thats nice work Tom, that price tag made me cringe though...

Have you considered offering different models for different budgets?

Maybe even something along the lines of a retrofit kit for commercially available tanks?


Just a Idea I had.

Yeah, it's not cheap, but I'm not making much on it. Stainless steel is expensive, the 1/4" x 2 bar by itself costs me $80 per unit! The nuts, bolts, and washers run $18, and just the box to ship it in $15.42.

Aluminum would be much cheaper, but then bleach would oxidize it and turn it black. Standard drums would be extremely temporary as the pivot point would wear out, and there's no reinforcing for the supports. The pivot point on my tub is 7/16" ID stainless steel pipe, welded to the outside of the steel reinforcing strap.

Lehmans sells their "Lehmans Own Hand Washer" for $599 ($95 less) but it's about 1/3 the size, and in my opinion poorly built (read their reviews). Theirs weighs 30 lbs, mine 83 lbs.

I'd love to be able to sell it for less, but then I'd have to lessen the quality and material gauges. I'd also have to put someone else' name on it!

 

[||Downhome||]

I hear ya, but I can't see to many in my neck of the woods justifying the cost.

Like I said nice work!

I hope you sell a ton.

I know stainless isn't cheap nor easy to work with.

Not many worry about quality so much anymore.

Other wise we would sit in a whole different world.

I'm sure you could beef up the pivots on a different tub.

Galvanized tubs been used for a good while.

Like I said just and Idea.

I'm sure your going to sell a few but if you can get the price point down I know you will sell a lot.

you need to cater to the customer, as they have no loyalty.

they want what they want and at the right price when they want it.

you can push quality a certain degree, then snobbery a bit farther but price point is everything.

 

[FarmFamily]

Awesome...love this. Great job!

 

[fordy]

...............They use plastic rollers on the front of these high dollar reel type mowers used on golf courses ! I should think you could use a slow speed , high torque 12VDC motor to power the wringers . You only have to power one roller cause the other roller will turn in the opposite direction . , fordy

 

[myheaven]

Why can't I see a video. I'm drooling I wanna see it work.

 

[fordy]

Why can't I see a video. I'm drooling I wanna see it work.

................Move the pics all the way over to the left of your screen , the video is on the far right hand side ! , fordy

 

[fordy]

The you tube link wouldn't work Tom , but it would make a good theme song for your.......Worsch Tube ! , fordy

Bobby Darin singing Splish Splash......

 

[myheaven]

I will try it on my tablet. My Ipod shows only 2 pictures and no videos.

 

[myheaven]

With my tablet I see no video. Dang it. But I so love this washer.

 

[myheaven]

I found it.

 

[Andy Nonymous]

Tom, even from just pictures, I can see this is an excellent quality machine. Being a 'tinkerer' as well, I can see Simi-steading's point about the backflow prevention.

An 'easy' solution would be to have a short copper (or stainless) tube 'hooked' over a top corner with a hose thread connector and quarter turn valve, with a larger (say 1 1/4) drain that a standard sump pump hose can connect to, to make for faster draining. Shoot, I might even put a standard bath tub drain on it, complete with overflow protection and flip lever drain.

BTW, 316 stainless bolts from McMaster Carr are rather inexpensive. Might want to check them out.

 

[myheaven]

When I look at that washer I don't see a mambypamby Chinese junk pile. I see a family hand me down. That little lady is built to last. I love the design of the dasher handle. You can get a great upper body work out while washing. I would like the dasher paddle a tad bigger to beat the clothes more.
Other then that I wouldn't change it. As a mom of 9 I could see getting the job done with that girl!

 

[FarmboyBill]

I thought you said, (as a mom of (9 I )could see) lol

 

[Ozarks Tom]

When I look at that washer I don't see a mambypamby Chinese junk pile. I see a family hand me down. That little lady is built to last. I love the design of the dasher handle. You can get a great upper body work out while washing. I would like the dasher paddle a tad bigger to beat the clothes more.
Other then that I wouldn't change it. As a mom of 9 I could see getting the job done with that girl!

Thank you! A couple things - the "dasher paddle" could be bigger, but it's purpose is to just move the water, not the clothes. If you move it too fast it pushes the clothes rather than the water moving them. I didn't want the steel dasher bar wearing on the clothes. Also, it's really not too much of a workout. I built the agitator handle to have good leverage on the dasher. Our 7 year old grandson can stand at one end and move the agitator quite well by standing on a small stool.

 

[oldasrocks]

Now hook it up to the 3 pt on that 8N for a POWER washer!

 

[Ozarks Tom]

I can't believe that in 36 posts nobody has mentioned our stash of canning jars in the background of the picture/video. We used to have them stacked in the garage, but didn't have room for them and our TP stash too.

 

[Muleman]

Having worked with S.S. quite a bit I can tell anyone looking. S.S is difficult to work with at best. I can machine 2 or 3 times the amount of steel parts in the time it takes to do 1 S.S. part. The cost is also very expensive. I just bought a new roll of S.S. welding wire and it was just over $300.00 for about 40 pounds.
OT, I applaud you for your effort, it certainly looks like a quality made piece. Many will not purchase it based on the cost, but if you made it cheaper every one of the purchasers would complain about it's short coming's. I also make and sell some things (not washers) I tried to lessen the quality and lower the price to meet some customer request. Never again. Even though I would warn of a lesser product, and they would say it did not matter to them, as long as the price was right, as soon as there was a problem, that was out the window and they wanted me to replace or repair it. I no longer will compromise my integrity by doing cheap work or less than perfect repairs. Yes, I have probably lost some sales because of it, but I probably could not make anything on those sales anyway. A hobby is one thing, but if a person is plying their trade to feed their family, they should receive an honest wage for an honest job.
Joel Salatin made a good point when he said he had someone tell him $2.00 a dozen was too high for a eggs, while drinking a 75 cent can of coke!!! It is all about personal priorities.

 

[Ozarks Tom]

Muleman, I feel the same way. I designed the tub for people who are going to use it as part of their way of life, serious folks who expect their purchases to live up to their expectations.

I could use thinner gauge steel for the tub, but then it would be full of dents in no time. Also, thinner material couldn't stand up to the weight stresses of 35 gallons of water spread over 36". I could have used plastic grommets at the pivot points instead of pipe welded through to the reinforcing bars, but in a year or two they'd break. I could save cost by using wooden dowel instead of 1 1/8" pipe for the bar, but again, wood doesn't last.

The one cost saving concession I made was to use treated 2x4s for the legs, but in reality that was mainly because short people would have a hard time using it at it's standard height. This way they just cut the legs off to suit them.

I've made some sales, but not as many as I'd hoped. Luckily, I'm not trying to feed a family from this endeavor. I saw a niche that was empty in the prepper list of needs, and decided to fill it. One bonus, I'm having fun doing it!

 

[GreenMother]

Officially on my homesteading wish list!