• 1 cup sugar
• 2 tablespoons dry mustard
• 1 pre-beaten egg yolk (no white)
• 1 cup light cream (you can use milk if you don’t have cream)
• 1 tablespoon flour
• 1/2 cup regular vinegar (cider or colored vinegar)

Heat in double boiler. Stir constantly. When the mixture starts to thicken, COVER and let cool. Serve warm or cold.

Preheat oven to 350 F

Saute onions and peppers.

Put eggs, Half and Half and cheese into a bowl and stir.  Add spinach to onions and peppers just long enough to get it to wilt.  Add vegetables to bowl and stir.   Pour into oven safe dish and put in the oven.

Cook 25-30 minutes. Serves 4.

Stir well. Makes a fairly stiff dough.

Separate dough in two sections and make rolls of the dough. Put the two rolls (each wrapped in wax paper) side by side in an empty ice cube tray.

Dough will keep for a week in the refrigerator. Refrigerate overnight. DO NOT FREEZE!

Slice 1/8” thick. Place on lightly greased cookie sheet about 1” apart. Sprinkle with colored non-pareils. Bake at 375° for 8-10 minutes. Cookies freeze well after they are cooked.

Makes 5-6 dozen.

Dissolve jello in boiling water. Add frozen strawberries , stir to break up. Add remaining ingredients. Refrigerate for at least 6 hours. Serve garnished with Cool Whip. (Half of recipe is equally tasty.)

Grease pan well or line with waxed paper, either a 9”x9” or 7 ½” x 11”.

Mix ingredients well in a heavy pan (like the bottom of a pressure cooker) and let ingredients come to a boil, stirring occasionally and cook for approximately 20 minutes, or until candy thermometer registers 234-240° (soft ball stage).

Remove from burner and add 1tsp vanilla extract.  Mix and then immediately pour into prepared pan.

Let cool. Store in refrigerator or candy may be frozen, before or after cutting and wrapping individual pieces in waxed paper.

Melt margarine in 3 of 4 qt saucepan over low heat. Remove and let cool.

Add sugar, molasses, and eggs; beat well.  Sift together remaining ingredients. Add to first mixture. Chill.

Form in 1 inch rolls. Roll in granulated sugar. Bake 8-10 minutes at 375 F.
Makes approx 4 dozen. Recipe doubles well. Cookies freeze well.

Give feedback on designs and pricing…

Be willing to give ballpark quotes. Designers need to know if they are talking $10 each or $1000 each before they do up a dimensioned drawing.

Be willing to tell designers if there is a better way to do something. I’m much more likely to purchase from someone who gives me feedback about the machinability of my designs.

Clear communication is important…

Use complete sentences, capitalization, and spelling in your correspondence. It doesn’t have to be perfect, but when the a buyer is choosing between two quotes with the same price, it matters.

Respond to your e-mail and phone messages in a timely manner.

Provide pricing and options in a clear manner…

The buyer shouldn’t need a calculator to compare quotes. Provide individual part cost as well as total cost.

Make sure to include pricing for the quantities listed in the RFQ, but feel free to list pricing for additional quantities.

If the RFQ includes optional services, such as vibratory finishing or anodizing, make sure to include the price for that service. If you can’t provide an option, state that clearly in the quote.  If you can provide a service that the customer might find useful, but didn’t ask for, feel free to provide pricing for that option.

If you are from outside the customer’s country, there is an added burden. You need to know how much the customer will have to pay for shipping, taxes, and customs fees to get the parts into your customer’s hands. Eliminating uncertainty helps a customer select your quote.

Samples and examples…

Websites work best when you have pictures of parts you have made. Show close ups on the edge and finish quality.

Especially on larger jobs, you may want to offer a sample. Nothing builds confidence like a part in your customer’s hand. Always include a business card. I like to tape the card to the sample to keep track of where each part came from.

Example parts are a great way to introduce customers to new materials and processes. If you are a laser or waterjet shop, cut some small samples with your website address cut into them using different materials.

Careful packing counts…

Never put adhesive tape on parts. Use pallet wrap instead.

If the parts are long and bendable, pallet wrap them to a board. It doesn’t matter how good the parts are when they leave your shop, it matters how good they are when the customer opens the package.

Use re-closeable plastic bags instead of sealed bags.

You aren’t done until the parts are in your customers’ hands.

Let the customer know when you have shipped, and a tracking number if applicable.

Never ship COD without telling your customer.

Some places to look for RFQs to quote on are MFGQuote.com, RFQWork.com, and CNCZone.com.

Shipping and postage is especially important to me. Anything I can do to speed a customer’s shipment out the door is a good thing. I used to print up pre-paid paper shipping labels from PayPal, but this required cutting the label to size, and then taping it to the box with clear packing tape. It was a huge time waster.

So, I got a Dymo LabelWriter. It uses a thermal process to print black text on white self adhesive labels. No ink is required. I bought the 330 model. The 330 turbo, 400, and 400 turbo are also available, and I hear they are faster and quieter.

At first, I would just print address labels, and use stamps to pay for postage. Just highlight the address from a web browser, and paste into the Dymo printing program. The address would print out with the “from” and “to” addresses right on the label. The program would auto-size everything to fit easily.

As time progressed, I wanted to get confirmation receipt on my packages. PayPal offered this for free with Priority Mail shipping if paid for online.

The problem was the labels. PayPal suggested using Dymo Label 30384. The problem is, this is a multi-part label where portions of the label peel off. The fact is, the label that PayPal prints isn’t supposed to have portions peel off, and trying to get that label in one piece onto a package is an exercise in insanity. Other PayPal users found the same thing.

The good news is that someone fixed the problem. There are third party manufacturers of these labels. They are 2 5/16″ wide by 7 1/2″ long and used to be called “X2375″ labels. When I went back to eBay recently, I found out that Dymo is *finally* making the correct labels themselves. You need the “99019″ labels. Search eBay for “99019 labels” and you can still buy the off-brand versions, or you can buy the Dymo version direct from Dymo or your local office supply store.

You will need to set things up correctly on PayPal though, by selecting the Dymo LabelWriter as your shipping label printer. You may have to fiddle with the version of Java on your browser, and make sure the printer is set to print in “landscape” mode in Windows. I print First Class and Priority Mail labels with it.

From the main PayPal window, click on “Print Shipping Label”. The “to” and “from” addresses are already filled in. Select what type of shipping you want, and what kind of box you are using. Then enter the weight in pounds and ounces. You can then add insurance. When you are all set, click “Continue” and you will be taken to a confirmation screen with the cost of the postage displayed. Click “Pay and Continue” and a new screen will pop up with an image of your label. If everything is set of correctly, you can press print, and the label comes out of your printer. Just peel the back off and stick it to your package. If you have an “oops” you can cancel the label and get your money back (roughly 30 days later) or re-print the label.

I would try to do international shipping using PayPal’s international shipping system, but I find it far too cumbersome. PayPal knows what I am shipping from the shopping cart system, but expects me to re-type it into their system for the customs labels. Instead, I use the Dymo application to print two address labels on one 99019 label. I then cut that label in two, and put one copy on the package, and one copy on the small green customs form. I haven’t tried printing UPS postage on it yet.

When you have your Dymo LabelWriter working with PayPal, you will wonder why you ever printed those half-page labels on plain paper again.

Addendum: Currently, the Dymo LabelWriter does not work properly with PayPal Multi-Order shipping in the testing I have done. The “print label” button disappears. As usual, PayPal thinks it works fine. Hopefully this will be fixed at some point. If you want to try it, start out with trying to ship only a couple of packages, and understand you may need to apply for a refund and then print them using the standard method.

This tracking is based on a simple equation, and algebra says we can change an equation as long the changes are the same on both sides of the equation. Simple algebra is no problem for an engineer.

The problem that someone with a math background runs into is that accountants have created their own language to describe changes to that equation.  This language is unheard of in standard algebra, uses words you’ve heard before in a different way, and most accounting texts gloss over this issue. This document is a basic guide to help bridge that divide.

The accounting equation

The accounting equation is the simplest possible view of a company.

Assets = Liability + Owner’s Equity

Simple and elegant, you can represent changes in your company by changing this equation using algebra. The rule is, the changes on each side of the equation, and therefore the equation itself, always have to balance

Basic algebra on the accounting equation

Let’s look at how you can change the variables in this equation. Let’s say you get a check for $100 because you designed a part for a client. Your assets go up $100, and your owner’s equity goes up as well. Owner’s equity is what you get to keep if you close down the business today.

Let’s say you buy a set of socket wrenches at the store for $50. You use a credit card. Your assets increase $50 and your liabilities increase to match. You owe that $50 to the credit card company.

Let’s say you take some of your cash and mail it to the credit card company. You decrease assets by $50 and decrease liability by $50.

Note that every time you make a change you are changing two things. Everything must balance. You can’t change only one part of an equation and have it still balance. This is the nature of double entry accounting.

Did I say double entry? I meant multiple entry.

Of course you can change more than two things in an equation, as long as the changes balance. Accountants still call it double entry though.

Let’s say you buy a milling machine for $2000. The terms are $300 down and you have 30 days to pay off the other $1700. You decrease assets by $300 (the cash you paid), increase assets by $2000 (the machine was delivered) and increase liabilities by $1700 (they will come after you if you don’t pay up in 30 days). 2000 – 300 = 1700.

That’s right. Assets can be cash, tangible items, or even intangible items. We can safely call it “stuff”. When you trade cash for “stuff” you are only modifying the left hand side of the equation. As long as that equation still balances we are okay.

Accountants invent words – debit & credit

Accountants have to track changes to the accounting equation. Alot of changes. In some cases millions of changes. They invented words to help describe these changes. The two main words are debit and credit. The confusion comes from the fact that you’ve head these words before. One sounds bad and one sounds good. These definitions from your life are useless here. Throw them out the window.

Debit – A debit is a increase on the left hand side of the equation, OR a decrease on the right hand side of the equation.

Credit – A credit is an increase on the right hand side of the equation OR a decrease on the left hand side of the equation.

What the heck? They both have two meanings?

Yes. This sounds crazy until you realize that when you define the terms this way, you ALWAYS have a debit and credit. Buy a $30 software program and you debit assets (you have your software program in hand) for $30 and you credit assets (you spent cash) for $30.

If you had used a credit card you would debit assets for $30 (you have your software program in hand) and credit liabilities for $30 (you owe money). Always at least one debit and at least one credit (described in that order), and they always balance the accounting equation.

When accountants talk about balancing the books, they are checking to see that debits and credits balance.

Tracking value with accounts…

Clearly, if you want to keep track of your stuff, you can’t use just one tally. Therefore you break each part of the accounting equation into different sub-divisions. We call these sub-divisions accounts.

When you are talking about a specific accounts you need to know the name of the account and what type of account it is. You can then rewrite the accounting equation in a way that makes sense to you.

Assets = Liability + Owner’s Equity

becomes…

(bank account + piggy bank + power tools) = (bank loan + loan from favorite uncle) + (my equity + my partner’s equity)

How accountants burn money…

That’s all fine and good, but what about when you spend money and you don’t end up with anything? What if you buy 100 lbs of ice and it melts?  You had an asset, cash, and now a few hours later you have nothing to show for it. Poof!

To account for temporary changes you use expense and income accounts. You re-write the accounting equation in an expanded form like this…

Assets + Expenses = Liability + Owner’s Equity + Income

So when you buy that $25 worth of ice you debit “picnic expenses” for $25 and credit cash for $25. When you get get $100 for designing a widget you debit cash for $100 and you credit “design income” for $100. Debiting cash sounds like a bad thing, but when you do it with money you have earned it is a good thing.

At the end of the accounting period, you cancel out the expense and income accounts using the owner’s equity. If incomes were larger than expenses you made money and increased owner’s equity. The opposite and you lost money.

The difference between expenses and assets…

When you pay rent, it doesn’t do you any good the day after that month is finished, it is an expense.

An asset is something that you have and could resell. For instance, if you buy a computer, you could sell it to someone, albeit for less than you probably paid for it. It is an asset. Things you buy in order to resell them are inventory assets.  Equipment you buy that is used in business but you don’t sell are fixed assets.  The problem is that things do lose value, break down, and get thrown out.

What happens when your car breaks down?

Accounting is the estimation and tracking of value in a company. The keyword is estimation. You know when you buy a car exactly how much it is worth.  You know when you drive it off the lot it’s worth alot less.  Exactly how much?  Do you decide the car will last ten years and write off 1/10th of the value every year?  What mathematical equation best represents reality?

Moving value from assets to expenses to is called depreciation.

This is where the mathematicians leave the building and the lawyers and politicians walk in. If you can say you have less than you do, you pay less taxes. You say your car has lost $3000 in value, you might end up paying $1000 less in taxes. Because of this issue, the IRS closely regulates what assets you can depreciate and when. Because no approximation can come close to reality in every situation, you and your accountant look at which approximation allowed by the IRS works out best to lower your taxes.

How to make money by selling widgets… moving from inventory to income.

If you buy some raw material, say 10 pounds of stainless steel, there is no expense or income, just a change in assets. If you start making something with that material, you move the asset from raw materials to the work-in-progress account. When that item is finished, you move it to inventory.

Even though you’ve spent time working on it and you could sell it for more than you bought the raw material, you don’t recognize the change in value. You have to sell it and generate income to increase the owner’s equity. Let’s say you sell something that cost you $3 to make for $10. You debit cash for $10, credit income for $10, debit cost of goods sold for $3 and credit inventory for $3.

The key issue here is the fact that cost of goods sold (COGS) is deductible on your taxes, while inventory is not.  If you trade $1000 in cash for $1000 worth of goods, the IRS doesn’t care.  If you sell half of those goods for $3000, you now have $500 in COGS, which you can subtract from the $3000 you made, meaning you only get taxed on $2500.

Approaching reality constrained by convenience and the IRS

On paper, accounting is simple and straightforward math. The problem is a matter of what mathematical representation best approaches reality and allows you to understand and plan for your business, all the while keeping Uncle Sam happy. Because you have to trade off complexity of tracking, understanding of your business, and the consequences of an audit, these decisions are where accounting becomes hard, and it really pays to work with a good accountant.

For more information, see the Wikipedia entry for double entry bookkeeping.

Materials:

• 3″ thick Maple Butcherblock top – 24″ x 72″
• 4 x 4 Mahogany Legs
• Mahogany stretchers
• 2″ thick solid maple vise faces
• Twin screw vises from Lee Valley Tools

Features:

• Twin screw vises from Lee Valley Tools – Front and side
• Tons of 3/4″ holes on the top for bench dogs and hold-downs
• Tons of 3/4″ holes on the legs for supporting doors and boards in the vises.
• Under bench trays for tools – Later I will add ball bearing drawer slides.
• Rubber feet – Helps keep the bench in place and moisture from wicking up from the cement floor. Feet from Home Depot fit the 3.5″ x 3.5″ legs perfectly
• Bolt together construction. The vises, legs, and stringers all bolt to the top. The bench can be broken down for easy transport.

I found The Workbench Book by Scott Landis to be inspirational in designing my workbench.

[Show as slideshow]