[Coco] CoCo Ethernet for $25-$30...

[Joel Ewy]

On 04/11/2013 10:41 PM, Stephen H. Fischer wrote:
>>
>> I don't want to get into a big discussion on the merits of desktop 
>> manufacturing technologies on this list.  Suffice to say that I have 
>> a 3D printer and I intend to use it.
>>
>> JCE
>
> Hi,
>
> The reason for the post was to make people realize that they should 
> not expect you to take orders. But the webpage suggests that there is 
> a demand, lots of stuff "out of stock".
>

Well, I'm not ready for anybody to take orders at this point, and I 
don't think I was suggesting that.  But I made the comment because I 
think I may in fact be able to provide these to people on this list at 
some point.  Whether or not people will want them at a price I can offer 
remains to be seen.  The whole reason nobody has seen fit to have any 
mass-produced in the last 20 years is that they wouldn't be selling in 
high quantities, but one or two, or maybe a dozen every now and again.  
That's just the kind of thing a 3D printer is good at.  And again, these 
could be individually customized, which I think is pretty cool.  Say I 
have to charge $10 +s/h, just to pick a figure out of the air.  Is that 
too much for a custom case?  Sure, it's more than it would cost if they 
were coming off injection molding machines in China by the boatloads.  
But it might still be worth it to the hobbyist.

> After I have gone, they will be common and low cost. Like toasters, 
> one in every study.
>
> When seeing the price on the webpage, I concluded that making 
> prototypes would be their main use today.
>
> Make one and send it away for copies.
>
> But producing cases for even our small group would take way too much 
> time.
>

Well, if that's true, there's quite a bit more demand than I would 
anticipate.  And making something like this on a 3D printer is a whole 
heck of a lot less labor intensive than what Roy Justus does with his 
VGA converters.

> Yes, I spend money on silly things and my hobby may have killed two 
> ($2,000 Each) Air Conditioners.
>
> (Another $300 last year also, but that may not have been my fault.)
>
> ?

:)

>
> Not every project will succeed, 17 when ~ 200 are needed is one 
> current example.
>

And the failure rate of projects is another reason why a 3D printer is 
such a good tool for this kind of thing.  The investment in conventional 
manufacturing tooling for trying to (mini?)mass-produce stuff for a 
small market makes it very hard to be successful.  But if I design a 
CoCo cartridge case to scratch my own itch and make it available to 
other CoCo hobbyists, the measure of success is if I, over the course of 
years, sell enough to pay for the time I spend designing it.  And it 
never has to go out of production.  I can keep one in inventory, ship it 
out if I get an order once in a blue moon, and then make another one to 
replace my stock.  The overhead is extremely low.

The 3D printer itself, as you note, is a hobby.  But if I can build up 
an ever expanding catalog of things I can make with it, and make them 
available online, it just might become a hobby that pays for itself.

JCE

> SHF
>
>
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