CNC machinery, cutters, lathes such metalworks, spent several years in school with such, such machines are great samples of engineering, but I haven't found it very interesting to choose bowl0013 from menu and press start
These new printers that print object that you make in modelling program or even put object to one box push start and machine copies it, pressing that button does not really give lot of sensation of success
Back in school I enjoyed most doing stuff with huge russian 'automatic' lathe, sure it did some things for you, but mostly it was fully manual, it was ugliest, thing there was, but still I found it most interesting.
Hmm, I think I know solution to your problem, but you will not like from it. First one needs connections, connections are everything, so here we have quite few members at v3m which all have some connections and you are connected to them all via memebers of v3m, even you don't know who they are etc. Also those have again more connections and so on.
To raise funds, with your current skills you need to use this network of connections to advertise your skills, there may be some shop which you don't yet know about which is looking some wood items to sell, so you would need to make some advert where you show what you can do and what you will do, which all members would see and hopefully pass to their contacts, this way you will probably find some clients to sell your skills (ie. your products) and you might get new lathe and might get to keep your 360 as you will 'need' it to have mobility and way of transporting goods.
You will not like this, because it would not be as fun as doing things without need to do it, also it will be some amount of extra work, especially paperwork, but it is possible method from what I see.
Of course marketing points can't be volume or anything like that, but individuality, rarity and custom orders, as there are big players that will be too powerful to compete.
Naturally it is only one possible solution, there is no question if it will work, it will, but it probably is not what you want, however doing little that one does not want to gain what one wants is not perhaps too bad thing. I think that employing self is best ways at current and near future situation of things, also it is great way of showing certain person how you are handling things well so that it is futile to pursue you to sell 360.
Maybe just some stupid ideas of mine, but in my sick brain idea is very workable
)
