20$ a piece... im not willing to let these people rip me off. |
You've got to look beyond the 1$ worth of material, and I'd say that's a fair price.
Small mill $30,000+
software $10,000
tooling $10,000
support equiptment $10,000
(air, measuring equtp., etc)
You've got a $ 60k investment right there. Plus all the usual business expenses, utilities, overhead, employees, insurance, bus. license and paperwork, accounting, office supplies/staff, taxes, etc. etc. etc.
Ok, you've got that for a business expense.
PLUS
Programming 1-3 hrs.
jigging and fixtures 4-5 hrs.
trial and test parts 1-2 hrs.
at 65-75$ an hour....
You can amotize those costs over as many parts as you'd like. If you want one part, thats about 650$ right there....All for about a 5-10 minute cycle time...
For the DIY'ers, what's YOUR time worth?
Oh, if your looking into casting, your're gonna have to still machine those A-arms. Unless of you go 30K$ for die casting tooling. Oh, and polish.
Sorry for the rant, but I'm a shop owner and hope to inform folks why parts cost what they do.