For all you acrylic addicts out there...

[Luke122]

Acrylic furniture!

http://www.plexi-craft.com/index.htm

I really dig those chairs.. if I ever get time, I'm going to try that out with my huge pile of plexiglass. :D

[blueonblack]

:eek: Does that say $1,365 for that "table"?? Yeah, the one that's just 3 pieces of flat sheet glued together?? That one? Now THAT's craftsmanship!

Seriously, the site is cool, and they have some very cool stuff, but to make that the front page item?? Wow.
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Mercury grand marquis (http://www.ford-wiki.com/wiki/Mercury_Grand_Marquis)

[Crimson Sky]

Great stuff!...and the price is actually very good for that table. It's not like wood, where if you ding it somewhere while building it, you can fill it with wood putty and stain it. You have to work real clean and careful.

[Crimson Sky]

Yeah, the one that's just 3 pieces of flat sheet glued together?? That one? Now THAT's craftsmanship!

Seriously, the site is cool, and they have some very cool stuff, but to make that the front page item?? Wow.


It's not flat sheet, it's cast acrylic--very big difference.

[blueonblack]

It's not flat sheet, it's cast acrylic--very big difference.

Maybe I'm missing something, but cast acrylic comes in many forms, including flat sheets. I can buy an inch-thick flat piece of clear cast acrylic two feet wide and four feet long for $163 plus shipping. Granted, this table is 1 1/4" thick, but three pieces and a $20 tube of glue would build it. The only difficult part I see is making the glue joint even so you don't get bubbles and wavy lines visible through the top. I have got to be missing something, educate me. :?
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YAMAHA PSR-3000 HISTORY (http://www.yamaha-tech.com/wiki/Yamaha_PSR-3000)

[Crimson Sky]

The point you're missing is that products like that acrylic table are not priced by the sum of their parts. Consider this:

for about $75 you can get all the raw materials needed to make a human being. But can you make one from it? No--ya cant!..BUT...

You can spend the $75 on a candle lit dinner with your wife and then see what happens in 9 months. That's art.

Those products are made by highly experienced craftspeople using state of the art tools and plastic forming/cutting machinery. Just try beveling the edge of a 1" sheet and making it come out water-clear in the end.

Put it this way--if you can make me a table that looks exactly like the one on that site for $183, I'll take 10 of them. I'll Paypal you the cash as soon as their done. Then I'll build a website and sell them online for $1,364.99 ;)

[OvRiDe]

Artistic design my friend. One of those things.. Ferrari doesn't spend 150K in materials to make a car. Chevy doesn't spend 50K to build a Corvette. It all about business.

I do believe you were working at making a profit on Onyx... it's no different.

[blueonblack]

Ok, I get artistic design, and I agree, that's the majority of the cost of a lot of things, but this is a square. It's three rectangles glued together. That's what I don't understand. Look at the chair on the top of that page. That is a beautiful piece, and requires a hundred times the craftsmanship that this square.. er, table, requires, but it's only $600.

And no, Crimson, I could not build it for $163, but I promise you I could for $700. And with the tools these people no doubt have at their disposal they can probably turn one out, water-clear bevels and all, in 30 minutes. Just seems like an awfully high profit margin. Didn't mean to cause a stir here, but good lord, it's a *square*. :)

(And for the record, I was actually trying to take a LOSS on Onyx)
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Nsx (http://www.honda-wiki.org/wiki/Honda_NSX)

[OvRiDe]

Sorry if any offense was taken.. it was definitely not the intention.. It was purely demonstrative.

As for the 3 rectangles glued together.. its true, I look at it as .. if you build it.. price it very high, some one will eventually buy it, just to say they did. :D Its all just a waiting game.. heh

[blueonblack]

if you build it.. price it very high, some one will eventually buy it, just to say they did. :D

I think you've probably nailed it there. If these guys can turn that kind of profit on something like this, more power to them.

And no offense taken. ;)
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Mkr (http://www.ford-wiki.com/wiki/Lincoln_MKR)

[Crimson Sky]

And no, Crimson, I could not build it for $163, but I promise you I could for $700. (And for the record, I was actually trying to take a LOSS on Onyx)

But you don't have a factory. or Employees. Or $5,000.00 in electric bills. or Insurance, or the initial layout for millions of dollars in tools. What's your overhead? it's JUST BUSINESS lol. what part of that don't ya get?

And I still don't believe you can turn the same quality out for $700. What happened to $183? Is that price now gone? Damn! I thought i was gonna get a good deal before you put a profit margin on it :)

It costs about $3.00 to make a high quality USB laser mouse. Why is it sold for $70? It's all about the margin, overhead and perceived value.

Believe me those 'squares' aren't collecting dust 'hoping' that somone 'eventually buys it' I'm sure they sell tons of them.

here's another puzzler for ya..it's just a 'U" and it cost $2,150

http://www.plexi-craft.com/images/6ax.jpg

[.Maleficus.]

I like this chair.

http://www.plexi-craft.com/images/3b1x.jpg

A house filled with this stuff would look so cool. Or just like one room, with all black and white walls, upholstery, carpet and the clear furniture. How modern.

[Luke122]

I like this chair.

http://www.plexi-craft.com/images/3b1x.jpg

A house filled with this stuff would look so cool. Or just like one room, with all black and white walls, upholstery, carpet and the clear furniture. How modern.

That's exactly the item that got my attention in the first place. I've been thinking about trying that with my collection of 1/2" plexi that I have, but there's a few things I'm not sure about.

First, to heat acrylic of that thickness to a consistent temperature high enough to form it, without any visible deformations/bubbling/scorching/errors would be incredibly difficult.

Second, the sheer weight of 1" thick stuff would make it really hard to work with too.

Last, no scratches! Do you think they keep it wrapped until it's complete, or is there some serious polishing going on after it's built? Hard to say, but definitely high quality.

CS: That u shaped table is great!

Anyone ever see that picture of the two little kids covered in paint, with paint all over the living room/tv? There is an acrylic coffee table in the pic.. I bet you never noticed. :D

[TheGreatSatan]

Insane prices!

[Crimson Sky]

Insane prices!


Very fair prices actually. :)

[TheGreatSatan]

Some of those chairs resemble somethin out of a 1970's James Bond movie

[FrooP]

someone gotta show this to tribaloverkill, i bet he would try to make this chair ;)

[p0Pe]

someone gotta show this to tribaloverkill, i bet he would try to make this chair ;)

dont be silly.. he would try to build a house lol

[.Maleficus.]

someone gotta show this to tribaloverkill, i bet he would try to make this chair ;)
And it would double as a watercooling res ;).

[blueonblack]

And I still don't believe you can turn the same quality out for $700. What happened to $183? Is that price now gone? Damn! I thought i was gonna get a good deal before you put a profit margin on it :)


That price you're quoting was for one piece. Triple that, add shipping, glue, and polishing supplies and I could indeed build that table for $700, with at least the same quality. I think that's why this hit me so hard and why your human body and laser mouse analogies differ from this. I can build this. In my garage. The human body and laser mice are beyond me. For now. :) Had I $700 each to invest and (more importantly) a market for them I would build them, believe me. Unfortunately, the only market I have access to seems to be populated with people who value their money more than anyone who would buy this.

I suppose you've just reminded me of something that I knew all along. Some people simply have too much money, and there are capitalists out there everywhere with ways and means to part them from it. As I said earlier, if they can sell them, more power to them. Capitalism marches on.
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Bmw Sauber F1.09 History (http://www.bmw-tech.org/wiki/BMW_Sauber_F1.09)

[blueonblack]

And it would double as a watercooling res ;).

I can see this in front of a desk with coolant flowing through the legs. :D
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FLATHEAD ENGINE (http://www.ford-wiki.com/wiki/Ford_Flathead_engine)

[Luke122]

Maybe I'm the only one who sees the possiblity here of etching/edge lighting EVERYTHING. Imagine a small circuit pack with a rechargeable battery, solar cell, and LED controllers.. you could have completely cable free mood lighting in your furniture!

[blueonblack]

Maybe I'm the only one who sees the possiblity here of etching/edge lighting EVERYTHING. Imagine a small circuit pack with a rechargeable battery, solar cell, and LED controllers.. you could have completely cable free mood lighting in your furniture!

Nice idea, I like it!
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CBR150R (http://www.honda-wiki.org/wiki/Honda_CBR150R)

[Luke122]

Talk to Rendermandan, and maybe he could hook you up with some of his LED "ground effects" kits. Imagine your desk changing color like that.. very cool stuff.

[luciusad2004]

The human body... beyond me.

It's actually not that hard, In fact, it costs fifty cents more to not build one.

[Luke122]

It's actually not that hard, In fact, it costs fifty cents more to not build one.

Clever! ;) The good news is that the 50cents extra will cost less if you buy in bulk.. say a 12 pack. :D

[Crimson Sky]

That price you're quoting was for one piece. Triple that, add shipping, glue, and polishing supplies and I could indeed build that table for $700, with at least the same quality. .

So...you wouldn't at least give your $700 table a 200% markup if you were to sell them? C'mon don't you have the faintest clue about business and products? You see a plastic table for $1400 and immediately think it's built only for rich fatcats with nothing better to do with their money?

You have any idea what even small companies pay for office furniture? If you sit in a proper $1200 office chair, and then sit in a Staples pos for $200 you would feel like you're sitting on a stone. Office furniture like that acrylic stuff is written off by companies at tax time.

[blueonblack]

Those are very good points. The answer to the first is that yes, they sell them for that price because they can GET that price. You're right, this isn't like some guy on Ebay, I'm sure they know what they can get for their products, and if they can't get it they don't price it there. Point taken.

As for office furniture, I honestly never pictured any of it for commercial use, so yes that is also a good point. Doesn't seem as high as a commercial purchase for some reason, likely because, as you said, good office furniture is expensive. Be interesting to see the profit margin on the mass-produced $1200 office chairs. :)
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DISCUSS VAPORIZERS (http://vaporizer.org/forum/vapor-lounge/)

[halcyonforever]

I think a big part of this debate boils down to one of the central tennets of the modding community. Many of us here look at commercial items and say to ourselves one of several things:

"I could build that..."
"I could mod that..."

However, the issue is we are looking at comercial products designed for a different market. While the raw materials may not be that expensive, part of it may be that these more than likely aren't made from single sheets, but probably poured and molded.

So really I think they are both right, Crimson is totally right in that to run a successful buisness you have to price things based upon a number of factors, raw cost, overhead, and demand.

BlueonBlack is right in that he could probably make one for far less than the commercial model. But it is going to have the serious drawback of being home-made. Which while valuable in this community for pride, leaves out alot of the re-sale of the item. How much can his home-made table hold before sustaining structural damage.

Kind of a quintessential question for the do-it-yourself crowd, yes I "can" make it myself, but is there something I am missing out on.

Besides, they are marketing this to people who have far too much money to spend, and who probably don't have a clue about the necessities of working with Cast Plexi nor would they ever care how to bevel an edge and flame it to water clarity.