|
|
Post by Deleted on Oct 23, 2014 0:52:35 GMT
|
|
bhk
Part of the e-furniture
Posts: 458 
|
Post by bhk on Oct 23, 2014 1:47:31 GMT
I actually find it amazing as to who is buying them? As they seam to sell a lot.
|
|
smallbrother
Elder Statesman
Errors aplenty, progress slow, but progress nonetheless!
Posts: 2,269
|
Post by smallbrother on Oct 23, 2014 7:19:51 GMT
Well, I am 60 in a few weeks, and I find making things out of metal to fine tolerances very difficult.
If I wish to get anywhere with projects in model engineering I have to take short cuts and that means paying someone else for their skills.
People used to pay me well for sorting out land/highway/property flooding problems which is a skill I do have, amongst many others in mining and civil engineering. Unfortunately, they don't help in this game.
I am not looking at these items particularly but I guess people like me would go for them.
Relax and enjoy the abilities you have.
Pete.
|
|
|
|
Post by Roger on Oct 23, 2014 7:22:03 GMT
To be honest, that's probably about the price they need to be to make them commercially. The numbers are still going to be small and it's not going to make anyone a fortune. They need to make their hourly rate on the machines else it's not worth doing.
|
|
|
|
Post by Shawki Shlemon on Oct 23, 2014 9:19:45 GMT
To be honest, that's probably about the price they need to be to make them commercially. The numbers are still going to be small and it's not going to make anyone a fortune. They need to make their hourly rate on the machines else it's not worth doing. That is correct Roger , they are in a business and not in the hobby like ourselves . Horses for courses . In my book each to his own . |
|
bhk
Part of the e-furniture
Posts: 458
|
Post by bhk on Oct 23, 2014 9:55:10 GMT
They are a business, but there comes a point where your markup is so exceedingly high it becomes ridiculous.
On a cnc machine with proper tooling these would take less than 8 minutes to make, when I worked machining commercially we hired out the machine at 30 pound an hour, half of that was my wage.
|
|
|
|
Post by ejparrott on Oct 23, 2014 10:14:11 GMT
You were cheap....£45 on the smaller machines and £52 on the larger we are!
|
|
|
|
Post by Roger on Oct 23, 2014 11:44:30 GMT
You can't ignore the costs of modelling and setting up the machine and the tooling when you're looking at small numbers. If you were making these commercially, how many would you think you could sell? 50? 100? In the big scheme of things, this is not really a business proposition unless you're going to mark them up accordingly. The market is too small to be worth bothering with. I'm surprised anyone bothers to make this stuff commercially, they must have an interest in the subject because I can't see it's really worth messing about with.
|
|
bhk
Part of the e-furniture
Posts: 458
|
Post by bhk on Oct 23, 2014 17:14:19 GMT
You were cheap....£45 on the smaller machines and £52 on the larger we are! I feel dirty! Roger that's my point, the program for these would take about 5 minutes to write, and for the 30 you got everything else. Ok you need to buy material still and some springs. Now I'm all for a business making money and people earning a fair wage, I'm a union man through and through! But I also hate being ripped off and in this case I think it's just that. I'm sure they were selling for £39 a set in the past?? |
|
|
|
Post by Roger on Oct 23, 2014 18:01:29 GMT
You may well be right, but it's a commercial market. I charge £35/hour for anything I'm making in the workshop and £45/hour for everything else and I think I'm cheap. If there was a lot of easy money to be made, lots of people would be making that stuff. I say good luck to them if they can make money from it. Anyone else can get a batch made and under cut them if they want to, but they don't. I could make some, my machine is sitting idle a lot of the time, but I don't think the return is worth the effort, even at the prices they're selling them for.
I think you're a bit optimistic about the program writing too, it takes me that long to sit down and think about what I'm going to draw! There's no such thing as a five minute job in my opinion. Surely you'd have to convert the drawings into a 3D model? It all takes time as does setting up the machine and measuring the first off. Is it really worth it for a few sets that you may struggle to sell anyway?
|
|
|
|
Post by ejparrott on Oct 23, 2014 20:19:17 GMT
No need for a 3D model to program a lathe to that, 3D models are a pain for a job like that.
|
|
