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Well, like I said on the previous page, I priced out something similar through a machinist buddy, and it's simply expensive to make G10 panels. Part of the problem is that you have to start with thicker sheets of material because there have to be recoil lugs on the backside, and then add in $2.00 per two keymod nuts plus a couple screws, machine time, and overhead, and it may not be worthwhile unless you sell them for quite a bit.
Compare that to molded panels like the NSRs or even really high quality panels like on the Centurion CMR which are $12 a set (but a few thousand $$ for the mold up front).
Yeah this ^. For example buying just the rail inserts for Geissele rails, same idea. It's the work involved but not necessarly material. I like the idea of these. I wonder how they would act in place if a VFG or handstop, maybe make a more aggressive set and it would be nice to act almost as a finger guide for correct grip if mounted in correct locations.
Right on par with the Tango Down VFG (the non QD version) which is just a piece of plastic. Not sure how this is that outrageous of a price.
"Remember, if it doesn't violate the BYU Honor Code, it's not worth doing"
-Daniel Tosh
Price is a deal-breaker.
I understand all that but with just a quick search i can find a block of g10 1 1/8"x1.5"x6" for $33 and $5 for shipping. It seems pretty high to me. So hopefully this is just the start up cost while they figure the process out.
Considering for that price you can get 6 sets of Noveske polymer panels.
"The most important rule in a gunfight is: Always win and cheat if necessary." ~ Clint Smith
Has anybody seen the backside of these to confirm they have recoil lugs?
aka, "TWANGnBANG"
I have no problem with the price. The only problem I have is having to buy 3 of them. I'd like to try a 4" section on the bottom flat of a KMR in front of a KAC stop. Anyone want to split a pack?? GH
I don't want to turn this into an economics discussion, but a block of G10 for $38 shipped further proves my point. There's far more to the process than you think. Also, the dimensions of that block would be terrible for making panels like the railscales because it would be very difficult to clamp that into a machine and end up with panels unless you waste a ton of material. Lets just say it was possible to cut up that block, without wasting any material. You'd be looking at $38 to cut 4 panels. From a business perspective, that's a terrible investment if you're only going to sell 3 for $70, because the cost is far more than just $38. You have to include the keymod nuts, the screws, the machine time and overhead, and paying someone to design it in solidworks and program the mill. Not to mention you need to own a $100,000 mill and all the associated tooling and maintenance costs.
Generally you sell a product for 4x the total manufacturing cost (not just cost of materials). This way you have room to sell at a dealer price, in addition to retail. Otherwise it's not worth it to go through all the trouble of R&D, production, and marketing.
The cheapest way to make G10 panels is to start with a big flat sheet that is just thick enough to account for the maximum thickness (recoil lugs on the back to screw height on the front). On McMaster you can get a sheet of machinable black Garolite(G10/FR4) that is 36" x 48" x 0.5" for $246.78. Next you have to account for the fact that you can't cut them exactly next to each other, there has to be a border. Going off the finished railscale size of 0.625" x 4", add 0.25" on each side and you end up with an unfinished size of 1.125" x 4.50". That means you can potentially cut 320 panels out of the full sheet. That's approximately $0.77 per panel in garolite. Then add two keymod nuts @ $0.95 each and two screws @ $0.15 each for a total per-panel materials cost of $3.12.
Now consider how they're actually milled. The panel has to be clamped down, and the mill has to come in and cut the backside of the panels first, leaving material behind that would be the recoil lugs. That means quite a bit of material is being removed. While cutting the back, the holes and slots for the keymod nuts and screws would also be cut.
Unfortunately you can't simply flip the panel over to cut the front side, because you have all the recoil lugs sticking out. So a custom jig would have to be made, with matching reverse lugs so the piece of garolite is properly supported when it's flipped over and clamped down. Then the front would be cut, and you'd have to figure out how to keep each panel from flying off and smashing against the inside of the mill as the tool cuts the last bit separating it from the large sheet. This probably means you need to run a screw through each mounting hole, which would be tedious and time consuming.
So after all that, let's double the materials cost and say that covers all the machine time, overhead, marketing costs, and other things associated with running the business. $6.24 per panel. So three panels costs $18.72. Now multiply by four to get the retail price: $74.88.
Now you know why railscales is charging $69 for a set of three.
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