Author
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Topic: Looking for a new engineer, results soon.
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Mike Peckham
Phenomenal Film Handler
Posts: 1461
From: West Sussex, UK.
Registered: Jun 2003
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posted May 31, 2004 12:18 PM
John
I once got a load of small plastic items made up for a bunch of enthusiasts in my other hobby, vintage VWs'. You're right the expense is in getting the mold made up, when I did it last it cost £1500 for the mold and the first run of a hundred units [these were wheel nut covers], after that the expenses for subsequent runs was drastically reduced [ almost to pence] as the mold could be re-used almost indefinately.
If the technique hasn't changed this would suggest that if an enterprising person [Tom ] were to go down the same route, he would need to be able to guarantee selling at least 100 guides of one type at £15 each to get his money back on the first run.
I would think that there have been advances in the injection molding world and it might be possible now to get the mold made up by some sort of computer scanning technique for less [mine was cut by hand the old fashioned way] but I don't know, even so it would require a large outlay in the first instance.
The other thing to think about is that my wheel nut covers did not need to be made to the same rigid tolerances of film guides and were of much softer more malible plastic, not being an expert I don't know whether or not this would have an impact on the cost.
It should be possible though, and I wish Tom success in his enquiries, I would certainly be in the market for a set of new guides for my GS and if the cost is reasonable I would buy at least two sets to help the project along.
Out of interest, and this could have an impact on the saleability of the final product, does any one know whether the same guides were used on different machines?
Mike
-------------------- Auntie Em must have stopped wondering where I am by now...
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