Your Most recent Macross Toy Purchase - 2024 Super Metal DX Hi-Metal Premium Revival Edition Re-issue

[Chronocidal]

I've looked through the site, and they just completely stopped offering metals with their laser cutting/engraving service.  I didn't notice specifically when it happened, so I may have missed the explanation, but now the only materials offered are MDF, plywood, acrylic sheet, and POM.

I would think laser cutting services are much more common than 3D printing ones though, since cutting and engraving metal have a lot more everyday applications.  I just haven't done a lot of research to find another service that would make the parts in metal, and not require bulk orders to make the production costs make sense. 

I did find one with a quick search that will cut them out of stainless steel (xometry.com), but to bring the price down to what I think feels reasonable (my prototype order from years back was about $10 per part), I'd have to order upwards of ten at a time.  The unit cost for each part starts at $110 if you only order a single one, and doesn't drop below $10 until you order fifteen or more.

I can't say the single unit cost is unreasonable considering the effort, but it's just not practical for anyone to order a set or two for their own use.  It would have to go the way of a bulk order that I mailed out to anyone interested.  I'm not really opposed to going that route if enough people need them, but I haven't seen that many people wanting to do the replacement.

Edit:

Browsed a little more, and it looks like OSH Cut (https://app.oshcut.com/) can fill smaller orders for a more reasonable price, about $24 for a pair in stainless steel, but you still run into the problem that these places are geared towards rapid bulk orders, which means the cheapest shipping option for something you could slip in an envelope with a stamp is over $15, meaning you're paying over $40 for one pair.

I'll keep looking at options, but maybe the easiest thing to do is just to paste the cutting pattern, and let everyone browse for the best option they can find.

I'll do that in the main YF-19 thread though, we've probably derailed this one enough.  

 

 

Edited yesterday at 03:39 AM by Chronocidal