Edited: 6/23/2011 12:30:25 PM by UnusualFabrication
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frenchmydoodle said:
well i think it's pretty fucked up i asked a question, never really got an explanation, and just flamed....and taylor i said pipe, you know what i mean tubing or whatever....pretty fucked up when i've bought from you before when you were at blf, and really like your mmw stuff you were always awesome at what you do.
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Pretty sure I covered that in this
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UnusualFabrication said:
I'll break it down a little more than Brian. Shop owners have machine costs, material costs, consumable costs, overhead, and of course labor costs. Wether you lease or own your shop, tools, and machinery it costs money. Electricity to run heavy machinery and welders cost money. You have maintainence and upkeep on all your equipment that costs money. It costs money to have air compressors, mills, lathes, TIG welders, MIG welders, gas and wire for welders, plasma cutters, any CNC machines, depending on how you notch your tube ends (end mill, hole saw, chop saw, bandsaw), drill press, drill bits, end mills and shell mills for making cross shafts, taps, reamers, and on and on and on...... I think alot of times people forget about all the cost involved in producing any part. It's real easy to say that you can make a set of tube arms in 2 hours with "HF Pipe Bender" and get rich but your forgetting about all of the other operations that need to be done in order to make a set of arms 100%. Now with that said, you can build a set of arms without all the tooling but IMO they will look pretty rough and it won't be very efficient. I know that atleast 3 people that have posted in this thread build parts full time. Its not a hobby, we're not building one set for our truck or one set for our buddies truck. We don't have a 9-5 job where we mooch off our employers machinery, tools, consumables, and electricity. Building and selling parts puts food on the table and a roof over the head.
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Also a comment about this
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frenchmydoodle said:
i understand that, but once the first is built, its all copy from there, and hell, even machines can do most of that....
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This is another clue that you have no clue.... I have yet to see a fully automated robotic tubular control arm making machine, lol, if there was you'd pay even more for tube arms because the machine would COST A LOT OF MONEY. Futher more if you do have CNC machine you don't just throw in a bunch of tubing, close the doors, hit cycle start, and when you open the doors theres a set of control arms sparkling on the table. Individual pieces have to be machined wether it be manual or CNC, that costs money! IT COST MONEY TO HAVE THOSE MACHINES! You are correct on one thing, the fixture. Once the fixture is built you can make multiple parts off it. Unfortunately you still have to make the balljoint cups, balljoints plates, all the bends on the tube, notch the tube, make the bag plates, turn bushing sleeves, and thats not include parts like bushings, balljoints, nuts, bolts, and washers.