the pakis could
out of bubblegum soft steel bought from the ship breaking yard down the street
I look at that sorta shit and think to myself that I oughta get into making implements for skidloaders
a $2500 scrap grapple don't got all that much plate steel contained within it, maybe $600 worth if that, couple hundred dollar chinese cylinders...
then reality hits and I realize I'm competing with everyone that's already got that idea
shipping ain't THAT expensive
Personally I would have a hard time seeing profit in building buckets for someone unless I had what I thought was a better idea or a big brake and cheap labor running glue guns but I know guys who make crazier work.
it always surprises me when a small time shop like me can compete with a large facility that makes buckets, etc.. there is decent money in it. not great, but I get my hourly rate or better. building grizzly bar screens doesn't come up as often but is much better money.
I make buckets mostly in 30,50, and 100 sizes but have done bigger. I did allot of them when I was starting out 7ish years ago. but I haven't made a bucket for years. until recently some local places don't have the right sizes and the costs have gone up allot.
you don't need a press brake or anything crazy like that. just a plas table a band saw and welder. a bucket for the 50ton machine would be 2" mold bar, bit stuff that I would order all pre cut and formed from supplier.
right now I have two 100 size, and one 30 size(the one being fit) one 50 size bucket i'm building and a small rake (built awhile ago as a teaching lesson, its just getting ears for a kabota coupler, local place wants $2k for a rake
) spent yesterday cutting and today i hope to have them all fit up. I've got a guy that will come in to weld them out. I price them based on what they go for locally plus a little more... my buckets are better, thicker and more wear bars, and make them with their company logos and odd sizes no problem.
building the real big buck might not make since just because I highly doubt i'd build another. so the time and figuring in to the cuts etc could kill profit. if I had the files already done i'd likely build it.