Today I fucked up by giving up. For anyone that may know me on here, I have finally given up long term project. I’ve been working on this project for just under three years. Today was the final straw. I decided to just give up and get rid of my problem. But before it was never a problem. So let me give you the story.
Between two and three years ago I started a claw machine business. A very small one at that. It started out with one game and then 2, and now i’m up to 6 games. It’s not a big business or anything, but I would like it to eventually be. So here in comes the project, during that first year, I saw a great deal for a giant claw machine and was like, okay, I have to go get this. Well, I drove six and a half hours there plus loading time, hand another six and a half hours back. Smart idea right starting out? Well, apparently, one of the wires went bad during the trip and I ordered a whole new system. That included coin mechanics and wires for the claw, a whole new control board, the whole works basically all the electronics. Over the course of the next two years, every single complete set, I ordered had something wrong with it that made it unusable. I would like to think i’m a pretty crafty guy in a matter of fixing things and rigging up electronics, to make them work temporarily until I can find a permanent fix. That was wrong. I fought with this thing for over two years working on it and could not for the life of me.Get this thing to work. I even had a very well known person rebuild the claw and send me a whole kit. For whatever reason, I couldn’t get that to work because I left it out in the Sun and it fried the board, I do want to say though it was inside the machine. But I didn’t think about the sun hitting the glass, and yeah, you can guess the rest. So this spring, just today I gave up. It’s currently sitting in my driveway. Marked as free. This is the first project i’ve fully given up on, and I feel like I fucked up.
TL;DR: Drove 6 hours each way for a claw machine that worked then didn’t. Turned into a bane of my life for almost 3 years and its now sitting out on my driveway marked as free.
Edit: Goliath was just picked up. Thanks again for all the suppor everyone. If you wanted to see a picture of Goliath it is below.
Comments
Everyone makes mistakes, even pros such as yourself. Just pick up on something new.
I’m sorry OP, giving up on something you spent so much time & money on is heartbreaking. Giving up isn’t always a fuck up, sometimes it creates room to start something better
You’re not out of it dry, this gave you a lot of knowledge to fix stuff, perhaps you could offer up to repairman to those small games/arcade? Who knows? Sometimes failures lead to something greater!
You say five people can fit inside? What an insane booth at a bar that would be, with the lights going and the claw as a decoration!
Dude pull that shit back in the garage and let it settle on your mind. What you need to do is find a vending machine service company, pay them some money and have them fix it. Then just sell the damn thing and be done with it. That way you dont lose. It’s one thing to be handy, it’s another to know what you are doing and to me it sounds like you need a crash course in the later. You will regret giving it away, I promise you that. Drag it back in the garage and let it simmer a few days. Where are you in the world? I know a bunch of electronics people and might be able to recommend someone. I used to run a bunch of game rooms and have contacts that works on all kinds of gaming machines (allegedly). This includes skiball and claw and hoop games. There are experts who specialize in this shit and they will come to you and help you out. Some will share info, others not so much.