Originally Posted by
handlewanker
Hi, when I was at school we had a maths master who delighted in creating a large equation on the board and then inviting us to simplify it to it's lowest denomination...…..usually something like a+b/c=0......whatever.
If you hark back to the beginning of your proposed design it now is almost at the end of it's simplification.
The final offering will be an email to the customer to down load a list of parts and a supplier(s) who will ship directly to wherever you are......the World has come to your door but it's an answering machine that takes the orders......where does the $150K value come into this plan.
I, as I have said before, am an inventor per se, that is, I have dreamed up designs and actually made parts that sold for real money......my latest design is for a unique type of cylinder head for a 4 cycle engine and the asking price is 50 million dollars for the patent......ludicrous?....when it comes to ideas nothing is ludicrous...…...anyone can make a Rolls Royce but it was the sheer genius of Alec Issigonis that created the conceptual design for the Mini and put the UK on the car makers' map at a time when industry was going down.
Of this I am certain, the concept of a DIY kit machine for a teaching environment is not a plan that will attract anyone to invest large amounts of money in.
You are talking about off the shelf items that must integrate precisely, assembled by the facility who will use it...…….unless the facility has a trained work force that know how to assemble such a collection of parts the end result will be less than satisfactory......my opinion.
I cannot see a teacher and a group of wannabe pupils suddenly acquiring skills that are diverse from the teaching person's training background, unless A goes with B and the whole lot just slots together with precise alignment like an Ikea furniture kit...….and Ikea do source many if not all of their products from China now.
I'll sum up and say that unless you actually source your components from the suppliers yourself without any rework etc, this project has no hope of flying with fare paying passengers this time this century.
Products from suppliers, that are catalogued, may look and have the same specs, but as they too rationalise their production and sourcing, you would not be aware of a simple design change that could affect your build kits at the assembly end.
Unless you actually supply the complete kits yourself I think you will fall down big time on this concept.
Ian.,