Thread: cheap quality labour.

Originally Posted by Tonyz

SWMBO sometimes loves her laser cutter and does a load of stuff in 3mm MDF and engraving real timber. We were selling at markets before Covid and using a standard 3x3 tent. gawd erecting it setting up etc etc was a pain, so in a fit of wild dreaming I googled display trailers. Not knowing what I was after until I saw it (lost count how many times thats happened in my life) spied one in England they wouldnt sell the plans, so...up you I thought and designed my own. Enclosed its 2.8L x 2H x 1.6W when fully opened =5.6 m long.

A mate was going to weld up but his attention was diverted to a sick wife, so visited couple of metal fab places in town.

you want how much??? bugga thats not going to work, so farcebook ad looking for very capable welder who wants pocket money for spare time job, no takers except for one guy who happened to be engineer supervisor at the local prison. this will be interesting I thought.

So off I twaddle plans in hand and meet him and 3 of his 'lads' we chin wagged for an hour or so and I left feeling chuffed, surprised and confident.
Every couple of days a ph call...'you free, the boys need to chat with you'.
Yes prisons can be rough and I guess these guys were in for doing something naughty, but what a great time we all had, they would offer suggestions and ideas, we would chin wag these over and sometimes use their ideas.

Bonus was labour $10 per hour !! Over the month or so we have been on this, Id estimate at least 15 other trailers came in for overhaul, alterations or TLC all from local farms.
They are not allowed to advertise but if you got a job to do some prisons may be worth having a chat with.

This still has to be skinned using aluminium composite, and Ive just today been introduced to a retired bloke who used to skin caravans, so we will work together on it.
Then we get awnings & windbreaks done, 12/240 v electrical run computer, sm portable fridge, spot lights and maybe a sm laser cutter for personalised name tags .

I'm actually slowly going the opposite, i'd rather pay the extra money (as long as the quality is good) so that I know someone can help pay bills and have a life rather then looking at my own bottom line. We all need to eat and play and its hard to do that if the next bloke is offering $10 an hour (which is less the mature age and normal apprentice wages)


but this seems no different to when you used to hear about all the local panel beater tafe students doing cash paint jobs on the side.

I agree with you to a point and that is when setting a budget for building something that will not pay you back financially.

mechanical work on vehicles, trade work on house I'll pay a qualified ticketed person anytime willingly, but as my comments above also work.

looks very confusing here, the piece poking out l(your) left side is open. it hinges in and when closed makes a simple box to travel.
Door catch options are still being assessed.

Not so sure I want to get into the source of the labour, but it reminds me of the heinous exploitation of the USAs prison population (a.k.a Slavery).

What I am interested in is the trailer. Having something like this would be pretty cool.

If that rack at the back slides out, it looks like full sheets of MDF could be placed into it. That's pretty crafty!

Keen to see the outcome of this project

Originally Posted by woodPixel

Not so sure I want to get into the source of the labour, but it reminds me of the heinous exploitation of the USAs prison population (a.k.a Slavery)

Dont google what china does with its prison force (a.k.a slavery)

More trailer designs!

(No more politics. It's wearing me down)

Reminds me of the late 60's in junior high school. One of the manual arts teachers used the students to make trailers to sell to raise money for the school. They made about 5 a year one of which was raffled off. For students to get into the the trailer making team you either had to be a capable, well behaved student, or a suckhole but if you were a difficult (like me) you couldn't get into the team no matter how good at metal work you were. I can't remember many details but I think the teacher did some of the critical welds. The students did things like painting, wiring, etc but there seemed to be an awful lot of standing round and getting out of regular class work.

My issue with this sort of thing is that it takes business away from legitimate operators. I had to fight hard to get this across at the mens shed. After I left a dodgy eating establishment approached the shed and asked to have all 40 of their tables resurfaced and refinished. The shed took on the work and it looked like a crappy-boring job for a couple of the members. When I found out what they charged I was pi$$ed off - too cheap AND the business didn't pay up for about 6 months. They only paid up the final instalment after the shed treasurer indicated he would send several groups of people down to the restaurant to have a meal and then walk out without paying.

hadnt thought of carrying ply or MDF sheets but the price we pay over here compared to Adelaide .....hmm

excuse the rough drawing but thats an idea of how it works.. hopefully.

TonyZ, I was looking at the big sticking-outty-bit and thinking that might be attached with a sliding rail (like a wardrobe, or a trendy barn door).

This way the MDF can be loaded in, then the cage slid in.

The sliding out would allow access to the sides, while the MDF is balance in the centre and maybe more forwards to maintain stability. One would obviously need to have the trailer hitched to the car when withdrawing it!

This might also act as a wall to stop things from flying around


edit - Ah ha! they swing outwards for a display! Just like the title of the thread

I too thought the section over the drawbar slid in and out, but I see now it folds back to form one side of the trailer for traveling. Pretty neat actually. The hinge will need to be robust if there is significant weight. I would look at some sort of pin arrangement similar to the steel gates on cattle crushes.

Whilst one side of me agrees with haveabeer's reference to "sweated labour" (my terminology), the other side applauds the adoption of worthwhile pursuits to re-habilitate (maybe and of course arguable) offenders rather than pure punitive detention. However, it is not my intention to encourage debate on that subject and detract from the display trailer. I just felt I had to comment. Perhaps a separate thread would be more appropriate (Nothing At All To Do With Woodwork) if a general discussion is felt warranted.

I will look forward to viewing the finished trailer: Looks intriguing.

Regards
Paul

I must have posted this pic at an earlier time, this is where the crazy dream started from. The pommie company refused to give me any details as I mentioned.

Our will be dual axle, why you ask? dont really know, stability on road, safety in case 1 tyre blows out, .....

I found a stunning plastic continuous waterproof hinge used a lot on ute tool boxes but they are all horizontal nobody is/was prepared to cover any warranty on using it vertically mutter mutter. Present thoughts are simple stainless butt hinges but nothing decided as yet. Open to suggestions.
All opening closing panels have a 25mm sq lip and will then use rubber tube on both inside corners for water & dust proofing seal.

There are so many types of door catches available, need something sturdy but not industrial truck looking.

Originally Posted by BobL

Reminds me of the late 60's in junior high school. One of the manual arts teachers used the students to make trailers to sell to raise money for the school. They made about 5 a year one of which was raffled off. For students to get into the the trailer making team you either had to be a capable, well behaved student, or a suckhole but if you were a difficult (like me) you couldn't get into the team no matter how good at metal work you were. I can't remember many details but I think the teacher did some of the critical welds. The students did things like painting, wiring, etc but there seemed to be an awful lot of standing round and getting out of regular class work.

My issue with this sort of thing is that it takes business away from legitimate operators. I had to fight hard to get this across at the mens shed. After I left a dodgy eating establishment approached the shed and asked to have all 40 of their tables resurfaced and refinished. The shed took on the work and it looked like a crappy-boring job for a couple of the members. When I found out what they charged I was pi$$ed off - too cheap AND the business didn't pay up for about 6 months. They only paid up the final instalment after the shed treasurer indicated he would send several groups of people down to the restaurant to have a meal and then walk out without paying.

I have a similar gripe with prisons being used for cheap labour. Many years ago we had a business that sold, among other things, office filing cabinets. Had an enquiry from someone at Malabar Mansions (Long Bay prison) about one model, lots of questions that weren't the normal buyer questions, and government departments usually bought on contract. Eventually, he let slip that they wanted to buy one, and copy it in their workshop.
I passed him on to the manufacturer, after telling them exactly what was planned.
On the other hand, the D&T students at my daughters' country high school built a bus shelter in the school grounds with materials and assistance bought from or donated by local businesses. This was all acknowledged by in the school newsletter and on their awards night.

Originally Posted by Tonyz

I found a stunning plastic continuous waterproof hinge used a lot on ute tool boxes but they are all horizontal nobody is/was prepared to cover any warranty on using it vertically mutter mutter.

I would be very wary of "plastic continuous waterproof hinge" used in any application, horizontal or vertical. I have seen many of them fail on tradies and 4WD canopies. It is not fun being under a canopy door when the horizontal hinge fails and the door drops suddenly on you. Also not fun cancelling a work trip because the hinges have failed - been there and strapped the canopy closed on a return journey of 900 km. A real PIA, then there were no "spares" because the canopy manufacturer discontinued their use - I wonder why??? They all eventually fail, but will last longer if you don't open them.

I believe that they would fail in very short time if used vertically.

If you do choose to use them make sure you have a sympathetic public liability insurer who will cover off on them used in a non-approved application & without manufacturers warranty.

Bite the bullet and install a decent H/D hinge - Weld On Bullet Archives - Dunn & Watson (dunnandwatson.com.au)