from Hacker News

I tried to make something in America

by geerlingguy on 6/8/25, 9:27 PM with 5 comments

• by Zren on 6/8/25, 11:52 PM

  It's neat finding out that his earlier video on stamping sheet metal and bending it into shapes was actually him doing research for the handle of this scrubber.

  https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=GDzBE6vz5r0

• by xd on 6/8/25, 10:08 PM

  A very relevant recent story: https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=43692677, the top comment especially.

  I'm not American, I'm from the UK, but it's the same in regard to putting value in to people.

• by robocat on 6/8/25, 10:17 PM

  A worthwhile video on the topic of making a product in the US - although the purpose of the video is overall commercial (to sell the grill scrubber they designed).

  Somewhat painful to watch:

  * he suspects he's been had by a supplier reshipping from China. But fortunately honest about it in video

  * has a sort of amateur feel - perhaps lack of experience developing a product. But great if you're an amateur.

  * it isn't clear whether the scrubber would work very well

  Favorite part: the 3D printed mold prototyping system

• by vegetable on 6/9/25, 6:24 PM

  I think his video makes it clear how hard it is to make something made-in-america--even this product isn't. On the product front alone, people would be making a decision to spend ~5-10x something made-in-notamerica. gains from trade is a fundamental idea that has proven to be mostly beneficial to the masses. suddenly claiming self-reliance yields freedom seems very politically aligned.