• I want to thank all the members that have upgraded your accounts. I truly appreciate your support of the site monetarily. Supporting the site keeps this site up and running as a lot of work daily goes on behind the scenes. Click to Support Signs101 ...

Talk about "upping" your game...

GAC05

GAC05

Quit buggin' me
Interesting, but I think I will hold on until they roll out their desktop 12" Waterjet Maker.
 
James Burke

James Burke

Being a grandpa is more fun than working
signage said:
I'll hold off until they make the dual machine 3D Waterjet and 3D printer in one:thumb:
Click to expand...

Behold, the time shall come.

The reason I posted this was to help people begin the thought process of what they need to do to remain relevant in today's marketplace.

More is being done on desktops today than what was being done in specialty prototype shops 25 years ago. And, in some cases, the cost of that technology today is about 1/100th the price.

I get a bazillion ads a day for some machine or another that was virtually un thought of back when I was an apprentice tool and die maker in 1982. I can only imagine what's to come.


JB
 
James Burke

James Burke

Being a grandpa is more fun than working
But on a totally unrelated side note: Plumbers are still demanding a premium price for extracting yesterday's dinner from your clogged toilet, so I guess technology isn't all that it's cracked up to be.


JB
 
Texas_Signmaker

Texas_Signmaker

Very Active Signmaker
James Burke said:
But on a totally unrelated side note: Plumbers are still demanding a premium price for extracting yesterday's dinner from your clogged toilet, so I guess technology isn't all that it's cracked up to be.


JB
Click to expand...

They have seen a big change too. Pex has become the standard in new homes
 
Simon Nussbaum

Simon Nussbaum

Beautiful Signs for a Better Planet
James Burke said:
It never ceases to amaze me how the desktop maker world is ever evolving.
This little gem has dual heads and tangential control, with a fairly impressive assortment of tools...and just $400.


JB

https://cricut.com/en_us/cricut-maker
Click to expand...
It is amazing. Basically a desktop Zund minus optical registration. I doubt repeatability and durability (can't you see the heads being changed out wiggle around after a bit?) are in any way comparable to production equipment so it wouldn't last in a sign business long but there's a point at which I'd rather buy a machine like this then another plotter.
 
J

Jeremiah

New Member
My neighbor has one of these. I looked at price of accessories and material. It's crazy expensive. Transfer material for her to make 1 tee shirt is 6.00 her cost. She pays it
 
Simon Nussbaum

Simon Nussbaum

Beautiful Signs for a Better Planet
Notarealsignguy said:
Is it cheap or is most sign equipment very overpriced?
Click to expand...

My take is it's a machine that can do a lot of what sign equipment does, but not as well, not as large, nowhere near as fast and that it would "catch on fire" if you run it through one day in a busy sign shop...but it's cool that it's out there.
 
gabagoo

gabagoo

New Member
...but there are people trying to make money from these machines. I joined a facebook group on vinyl cutting and unaware of what it was about. I kept reading post after post with very basic questions about how, where, how much, etc... and then the posts on how horrible the machine works...but then I started clueing in when they mentioned the names of these machines which were nothing I had ever heard of. I know the Cricut was more or less invented for the scrap booking industry, but has advanced over the years. There are also a ton of people doing iron on transfers with these machines.
 
SeeEmWhyKay

SeeEmWhyKay

Print Plug & Pigment Procurer
gabagoo said:
...but there are people trying to make money from these machines. I joined a facebook group on vinyl cutting and unaware of what it was about. I kept reading post after post with very basic questions about how, where, how much, etc... and then the posts on how horrible the machine works...but then I started clueing in when they mentioned the names of these machines which were nothing I had ever heard of. I know the Cricut was more or less invented for the scrap booking industry, but has advanced over the years. There are also a ton of people doing iron on transfers with these machines.
Click to expand...

I used to work for Alphabroder and had to deal with these people every day- anyone with a Cricut, a stack of Gildan tees and a clothes iron thinking they were the next hot thing to hit the streets but want to price match Walmart for $1.50 shirt. Okay big baller...
 
James Burke

James Burke

Being a grandpa is more fun than working
Jeremiah said:
I looked at price of accessories and material. It's crazy expensive. Transfer material for her to make 1 tee shirt is 6.00 her cost. She pays it
Click to expand...

You've just cracked the Cricut business model and it's nothing new. Study the entrepreneurial efforts of Mr. King Gillette. If you're so inclined to read more, there are a lot of examples here: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Razor_and_blades_model


JB
 
You must log in or register to reply here.
Top