Setting up a fabrication shop?

Hi, I just moved into a new house and I've got a detached garage. I'd like to get into making custom interior trims and body kits for JDM imports (don't judge me, I have a Hilux guy).

I have a history with CAD and industrial lasers, and I tend to pick things up pretty easily. I've looked into some stuff, but I'm not really sure what I'm getting myself into, and wanted to reach to see if there's someone out there that can point me in the right direction so I can figure out what all equipment I'd need and a realistic number.

Appreciate any help, y'all have been a tremendous resource over the years.

 

making how? metal hand-formed trim pieces? 3d printed plastic replica's? fiberglass forms? aluminum/steel CNC?

i think you're leaping before you look. generally specialty guys that build custom things already have a huge catalog of personal passion projects long before they move into an official space, which tends to narrow down their specialty focus, and goes a long ways towards building a client list, starting with the people one meets along the way doing non-profitable personal passion projects.

 

Fiberglass forms and thermoplastic, ideally, but I'll freely admit I'm dumb on the subject.

The problem that I'm having is that I know what I want to do, I just don't know how to get there or where to start. I pick up things *very* easily (the Army told me to "pick any job I wanted"), and enjoy teaching myself stuff like this. I've got a semi-fluid knowledge of CAD software thanks to my laser background, and I'm handy enough with a socket wrench. I like cars and trucks and I want to learn to do stuff with cars and trucks after fighting with the VA for 13 years to finally get to the point where I *can* do what I want.

Appreciate any help y'all can give me. I want to turn my super white 2020 into a stormtrooper, and I can't do that without figuring out what the best tools/options are for fabricating the parts I want. Yes, I could send it to a shop, have someone else do it, etc, but there's a certain sense of pride that I take in learning and doing something myself.

 

i would start here
https://www.amazon.com/Fabricate-Automotive-Fiberglass-Carbon-Fiber/dp/1613253664/

though in my own read-through a while ago, i don't recall that it was new enough for 3d printing tech, which could allow for better fiberglass molds via 3d scanning and mold printing.

honestly, i would recommend focusing on your own projects first, where you can screw up freely, and get an idea of the materials and time constraints required.

from there, take a realistic look at your local market. for instance, when i was finishing up high school, i desperately wanted to go into extremely custom car audio installations--the wild 'pimp my ride' kind of builds. but after going around to every shop up to 100 miles from my area, i realized that only one shop did custom work and only at special request from specific customers, with the rest selling car audio, but mostly staying in business on 2-way alarm installs. my options were to move to a different location, to where the more custom shops were(ie, california), or stay where i was for family reasons, but refocus my goals.

i think we all like the idea of custom work, but custom equals a massive amount of time, and after being part of custom houses for 10 years, i can say that even when they are paying for it, most people don't want to be paying for custom work. it's a minimum of twice the time that anything pre-built takes, but with a functionally similar end result. and people need to have enough disposable income/budgeting to justify that kind of drastic price increase for something only slightly different. most can't.

 

Money, that'll get you anything you want.

That's as much as I can add to everything else that's been mentioned above.