So I'm moving into a new house and I'm having a heck of a time coming up with a design that my wife will sign off on. My woodworking skills are terrible, I literally have a hard time making a box that's passable.
So...
I was looking into a few options:
1) Hire someone in China to do a run of CNC flat packs, save a couple for myself and sell the rest. Yes, I know this option is probably fraught with peril, but my 3D skills are great, and I feel confident that I wouldn't supply them with a model that didn't "fit together."
Also, I'm cheap, and I figured it would be a lot cheaper per unit to have ten or a hundred made.
2) Hire someone locally to CNC the cabinet.
I'm a bit wary of this, because I figure it might cost $100 for the wood and $1000 for the labor. But I'm new at this, so if I'm wrong, someone correct me please.
3) Same as option 3, but use someone off Craigslist. There are a handful of people on my local CL who say they offer these services. Naturally, no idea what the prices are.
4) Just buy my own CNC. I've noticed that you can get an X-Carve for under $2000 now. I don't need to do big pieces of wood; my projects tend to do be small, but with a lot of crazy angles, so they're kinda ideal for CNC and 3D printing. Up until now I've largely done everything with a 3D printer, but I'm running into real issues because a little bit of warping in a 3D print really ruins the cosmetics.
So...
I was looking into a few options:
1) Hire someone in China to do a run of CNC flat packs, save a couple for myself and sell the rest. Yes, I know this option is probably fraught with peril, but my 3D skills are great, and I feel confident that I wouldn't supply them with a model that didn't "fit together."
Also, I'm cheap, and I figured it would be a lot cheaper per unit to have ten or a hundred made.
2) Hire someone locally to CNC the cabinet.
I'm a bit wary of this, because I figure it might cost $100 for the wood and $1000 for the labor. But I'm new at this, so if I'm wrong, someone correct me please.
3) Same as option 3, but use someone off Craigslist. There are a handful of people on my local CL who say they offer these services. Naturally, no idea what the prices are.
4) Just buy my own CNC. I've noticed that you can get an X-Carve for under $2000 now. I don't need to do big pieces of wood; my projects tend to do be small, but with a lot of crazy angles, so they're kinda ideal for CNC and 3D printing. Up until now I've largely done everything with a 3D printer, but I'm running into real issues because a little bit of warping in a 3D print really ruins the cosmetics.
The shipping from China will kill you even if the workmanship is good, which can be dubious.
San Diego.
I found a place in Redlands that's promising. (Shout out to JB Fabrication and Welding)
It turns out they've done quite a few speaker building projects. One thing that's a sticking point right now is that it looks like it gets expensive / time consuming to have the CNC router chamfer the pieces.
IE, if you have two pieces that meet at a 45 degree angle, it sounds like it's faster/cheaper to cut them square and then route them with a 45 degree bit.
So I need to look at my model and see if that's an option.
CNC ROUTING for cutting wood, plastic, foam, acrylic, aluminum
Wow! That's incredible. $300?!
Because I have a hard time making decent looking cabinets, I've been looking on eBay for classic prosound cabinets, like JBL speakers from the 70s and 80s. I have zero interest in the actual speaker, I just want the cabinet, and some of these guys are asking for $500-$1000 for speakers that will need to be completely refinished.
For $300 yours looks 10X better.
Because I have a hard time making decent looking cabinets, I've been looking on eBay for classic prosound cabinets, like JBL speakers from the 70s and 80s. I have zero interest in the actual speaker, I just want the cabinet, and some of these guys are asking for $500-$1000 for speakers that will need to be completely refinished.
For $300 yours looks 10X better.
- Status
- This old topic is closed. If you want to reopen this topic, contact a moderator using the "Report Post" button.