Acrylic Bed

Is there a group that does realistic pricing on pre cut acrylic bed sheet? The lowest I've found is 30 PLUS shipping. Every company I've talked to said that for 30 bucks they will do 36" X 42", which is a bunch of them. Is there interest in getting a group buy together? I have no problem spending a little bit to fund someone, but at a mark up of 200+% I think this is kind of silly.

that's how people make money. just visit your store, any store. you really think that's the price they bought it at?

Snoopy, the point I'm trying to make is that fellow reprappers are not pricing realisticly. Think of it this way: If you needed a 2 liter of soda and your friend was selling it for 4 dollars, but the gas station has it for 2. The gas station is making money even though they don't triple the price. I can understand the plastic pieces being many times their material worth because they take all day, but these boards are literally rectangles with less than ten holes. The process of converting my thumb drive to their computers was as almost long as the time it took to cut both sets.

If they sell at that price then it is realistic. They will only sell cheaper if that allows them to sell a lot more to get more revenue to cover the fact they are working harder. That is how the world works. The price of items has very little to do with the cost of making them.

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[www.hydraraptor.blogspot.com]

Quite frankly, I wish everything would be free; this way, we would work on the things we like and give away things for free. But currently food and shelter costs money. One day all things might be free.

I was going to put this part last, but I decided that you don't need to read my rant before hearing a solution to the real problem So I swapped them around.

... All that aside, why don't you just buy a piece of acrylic at home depot? All you have to do to cut a 1/4inch sheet is to score a straight line 10 or 20 times with a utility knife, and use one of the smooth rods for our build as a fulcrum underneath to snap it on that line. I think that for $16.00 you get enough to make two. You could always sell the spare, or give it away.

Rant section begins here

Actually, it is more likely that the friend would be selling cheaper than the gasoline station. The "convenience" in Convenience store implies that the convenience is part of what you are paying for. Buying eye drops or a quart of oil might be a better example than soda.

To answer the original question, I present the following scenario (very real). Somebody wants to buy three acrylic beds 1/4 inch 9"x9". The sheets at the hardware store come in two sizes: 12x24 and 18x24. I could go with the 18 x 24, but take the risk of not coming out exactly to the specs 9x9, or maybe I get a chip on the edge, and there's no extra room for correction. In any case, the guy only wants three, so I'll eat 9x9 + 6x18, or possibly end up with scrap, and have to buy more sheets.

The point I'm trying to make is that the risk in this type of transaction is all on the seller. The buyer should pay the price for not having to take on that risk himself.

Imagine me saying "Sure, I'll make you three, but I'm going to charge you for four, plus the waste, plus labor, plus anything I mess up". I don't think I would get too many takers on that offer.

jcabrer Wrote:
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> Imagine me saying "Sure, I'll make you three, but
> I'm going to charge you for four, plus the waste,
> plus labor, plus anything I mess up". I don't
> think I would get too many takers on that offer.


I think most stores do that, and add some provision for theft insurance, and some bits so they can "offer" 5% to people who took a member card, etc - they just never mention it.