Polished aluminum radiator covers, product idea
Nov 6, 2005, 12:18 PM
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Polished aluminum radiator covers, product idea
Looking at your engine bays I think I could probably pull this off
Heres a pic of the one I made for the 3000gt
Let me know what you all think
Heres a pic of the one I made for the 3000gt
Let me know what you all think
Nov 6, 2005, 12:29 PM
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well, a factor to consider, I make each of those ones for the 3000gt by hand, so my costs are materials, labor and tooling.
I will evaluate the complexity, and whether or not it should be done by CNC, but I will do my best to keep the cost down, as long as I get paid for my time, and make a reasonable profit margin.
I will evaluate the complexity, and whether or not it should be done by CNC, but I will do my best to keep the cost down, as long as I get paid for my time, and make a reasonable profit margin.
Nov 6, 2005, 01:02 PM
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Originally Posted by dafarmer69
see now thats a good price.. those will deff. sell.. i will deff. get one..
edit:
$54.40 to be exact http://www.injectedperformance.com/V...ct.aspx?ID=721
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Nov 6, 2005, 01:31 PM
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youre right...looking at your pic the first thing i thought was the air diversion panel...however, i just dont see how a small piece of aluminum could cost $80+
Ive worked with aluminum and sheetmetal for a few years...if you order in bulk and machine the shape in bulk, you should be able to sell it for a bit cheaper than that...GReddy's panel is twice the material and twice the cutting
just my take on it
Ive worked with aluminum and sheetmetal for a few years...if you order in bulk and machine the shape in bulk, you should be able to sell it for a bit cheaper than that...GReddy's panel is twice the material and twice the cutting
just my take on it
Nov 6, 2005, 02:09 PM
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im not trying to trash his thread...im trying to give contructive criticism...its a bit different than coming in here and bad mouthing his product/company
i personally think it could be a good product, but IMO $80 is a bit steep for a small piece of aluminum that really serves no function other than looks
and even if i could make it for cheaper, that still wouldnt give me the right to "trash" his thread
i personally think it could be a good product, but IMO $80 is a bit steep for a small piece of aluminum that really serves no function other than looks
and even if i could make it for cheaper, that still wouldnt give me the right to "trash" his thread
Nov 6, 2005, 02:14 PM
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well, it still costs a certain amount of money to make, and a certain amount of time. I mean, if it takes 2 hours to make each, it would be stupid to sell them for less than that. Not sure about you, but if i wanna get paid $10 an hour i will go work for applebees, lol
A big company like greddy, probably has 10-20,000 of them made at a time. They also probably have in house CNC machines, or have it setup as stamp and die. Doing a price comparison on something like that is comparing apples to oranges.
I went round and round with the guys up on 3si.org about that, they were at first like thats just a piece of metal polished why is it $80?? Because they compare an individual to that mass produced honda crap you buy on ebay for $20 each. After a couple months people actually realized it was worth it and were buying them left and right.
Some people were like i can go to home depot and make one in 2 hours. No one was ever sucessful, and if any of them ever were they would have seen how difficult it really is. Sure, you can go to your local metal supplier and buy some aluminum for maybe $10. Now, do you have the tools to machine that piece of aluminum?? Do you have a shop that you have to pay for every month which houses the tools to machine that piece?? Do you have the equipment to sand and polish it, and be able to do it in an effecient manner??
Any machined metal parts is a number game. Sure, I can go and buy a set of aluminum door sills for $100 a pair. But do you think I could go buy some aluminum and take it to a machinist and have him make the same thing for less??NO, definitely not, ifact it would likely cost you twice as much if not more. Thats because that person that made those door sills originally probably had hundreds if not thousands of them made at a time.
People just thought they could complain and drive the price down(to better fit their pocketbooks) based on an assumption, having no idea of how to properly machine, bend, sand and polish aluminum. This was made from 1/8" thick material, so you can't treat it like sheet metal. The value is in the workmanship, time, money and tooling involved. I am not saying that is going to happen here, but thats what I ran into over there. The concept of being paid for your time and effort didn't seem to sink in at first.
I don't know a price for sure, I was just throwing one out there, I based my price for the 3000gt on whats involved in making it, and they DO take 1.5-2 hours each. It has to be machined, then scored on the back to be bent, then bent in a bending break, then all of the machine marks sanded off and then sanded down all the way to 1000 grit, then going through at 2 step polish.
A big company like greddy, probably has 10-20,000 of them made at a time. They also probably have in house CNC machines, or have it setup as stamp and die. Doing a price comparison on something like that is comparing apples to oranges.
I went round and round with the guys up on 3si.org about that, they were at first like thats just a piece of metal polished why is it $80?? Because they compare an individual to that mass produced honda crap you buy on ebay for $20 each. After a couple months people actually realized it was worth it and were buying them left and right.
Some people were like i can go to home depot and make one in 2 hours. No one was ever sucessful, and if any of them ever were they would have seen how difficult it really is. Sure, you can go to your local metal supplier and buy some aluminum for maybe $10. Now, do you have the tools to machine that piece of aluminum?? Do you have a shop that you have to pay for every month which houses the tools to machine that piece?? Do you have the equipment to sand and polish it, and be able to do it in an effecient manner??
Any machined metal parts is a number game. Sure, I can go and buy a set of aluminum door sills for $100 a pair. But do you think I could go buy some aluminum and take it to a machinist and have him make the same thing for less??NO, definitely not, ifact it would likely cost you twice as much if not more. Thats because that person that made those door sills originally probably had hundreds if not thousands of them made at a time.
People just thought they could complain and drive the price down(to better fit their pocketbooks) based on an assumption, having no idea of how to properly machine, bend, sand and polish aluminum. This was made from 1/8" thick material, so you can't treat it like sheet metal. The value is in the workmanship, time, money and tooling involved. I am not saying that is going to happen here, but thats what I ran into over there. The concept of being paid for your time and effort didn't seem to sink in at first.
I don't know a price for sure, I was just throwing one out there, I based my price for the 3000gt on whats involved in making it, and they DO take 1.5-2 hours each. It has to be machined, then scored on the back to be bent, then bent in a bending break, then all of the machine marks sanded off and then sanded down all the way to 1000 grit, then going through at 2 step polish.
Last edited by 3kgt Concepts; Nov 6, 2005 at 02:33 PM.
Nov 6, 2005, 02:26 PM
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very well said... some people have no idea... thats why any parts i make i just keep them for myself... cause logistically its to hard and to many people want to pay for less than pay for alot more...
