As Pete said: "Not trying to be a party pooper here, ya know", but you asked for
sincere opinions, not empty cheers, so here it goes:
I think "kits", in general, are big trouble for the manufacturer because you
have to deal with a BIG unknown, uncontrolable factor: the customer - he could
be a competent machinist, able to expertly assemble the kit or a complete noob,
unable to fasten a screw without stripping the threads...
You "say" that you intend to provide high quality ballscrews/ballnuts - these
are very costly and relatively delicate components, which can be destroyed in
an instant by careless handling or assembly without proper alignment; guess what
happens then - the customer will never admit it was his fault and will demand
that you replace, at your expense, those expensive components...
You say yourself that "There is almost *no* machine that can be converted as purely
a bolt-on, with no additional drilling, tapping, and perhaps minor milling or facing",
so this again assumes that your customers will have to be reasonably proficient
with a drill, tap, mill, etc - these kits often present the egg x chicken dilema:
you need a mill to install the kit, but it is disassembled because you are installing
the kit.
In short, the only way to avoid a customer relations nightmare would be if you could
somehow select your customers based on some unknown way of evaluating their abilities,
and this seems impossible to do. Remember the old electronic kits: Heathkit, etc -
probably not, you're not old enough; I myself loved them and assembled a few, but
they are all gone, for quite some time - I think their doom was the customer problems
outlined above, plus the fact that improvements and automation, plus low-labor-costs
in some countries have eliminated any price advantage a kit would have over a factory-
assembled product; Actually, I suspect nowadays a kit would have to cost much more
than the assembled product, due to the costs of the packaging, creating and supplying
instructions, liabilities when an idiot hurts him/herself trying to assemble the kit, etc.
I think the considerations above apply, to a degree, to the kind of kit you are contemplating.
You talk about idiot-proof, but you must have heard what we say in my activity (software
development): you can't make it idiot-proof - idiots are very creative...
BUT, there is more: in your case you have a second big unknown: the machine to be converted:
as many have pointed out, no two clones are exactly the same - it seems that they are made
by dozens of different small factories in China, and each introduces its own modifications;
even the machines you buy from the same US importer may vary from one shipment to the next,
so they are a "moving target" to the developer of a kit like yours. What is more, there is
no practical way of distinguishing between the many different versions: you would have
to ask the customer to disassemble and measure his machine to see if your kit would be
appropriate for that machine flavor.
Anyhow, I think that, like IH seems to have found out, this is not a promissing
area for a kit: the machine to be modified is relatively inexpensive, costing 2 or 3
times less than the kit, so why not including the machine in the kit?
Concluding, I think that supplying converted machines are a much safer business model:
you buy the machines with some quantity discount, build and install the modifications
and supply a RF45 clone ready for installing the motors and electronics. You could
then be sure that the ballscrews/nuts are correctly aligned, the gibs are appropriately
adjusted, lubrication is correct, etc. Of course it would cost more than the kit, but
may be not that much more - say 1.500 dollars more - 1.000 for the machine plus 500
for kit installation (mechanics only). I think the customer can be trusted not to
screw thing up when installing the stepper or servo, since the standard mounts and
couplers would be provided by you. Of course, you could also offer more complete
packages for customers desiring a more turn-key product: machines with motors installed,
drivers wired and even complete software packages
I myself would love to buy a machine like the one I describe above: I am not a complete
noob, but I don't trust my machining abilities to the point of installing zero-backlash
ballscrews, high-quality angular contact bearings, etc. I could, however, easily install
the motors, drivers and software...
One last thought: I think you may be in for a surprise when you say:"I'd be making deals
with suppliers for parts like ballscrews, nuts, motors, etc" - unless you intend to be
real BIG (say many thousands of parts, at least), the big guys couldn't care less about
the small company: one part or a few dozen are the same for them, at least in my experience...
I am rooting for you, and sincerely hope that you can find your market niche - I would
be your first customer for the factory converted RF45 clone (mechanics only) if not
for the sad fact that shipping and custom duties would make it cost something like
20.000 dollars to me...
Nelson  |