Excellent overview, but I was lost at the beginning of the video because I had no context. Thankfully, I was able to find some backstory in one of your videos from ~3 years ago.
I was ready to take issue with tooling costs since I know a little something about that: I own a CNC mill and have produced a couple molds in the past. But then I got to thinking about just how many separate molds would be required to produce an entire figure: these ain't yo daddy's simple G1s. And this is before you consider the cost of the CNC (~$40K-$100K...ish if you want something better than a hobbyist machine) (I'm assuming they don't own the CNC outright and are still paying it off or are renting time on someone else's machine), maintenance/run costs, steel blanks for the molds, replacing broken end mill cutters, etc. It adds up fast. Especially when things go sideways. And this is apart from opportunity cost: if your machine is tied up with tooling X, you can't tool anything else until the cycle finishes. And I haven't even mentioned all of the time and effort needed on the software side of things to get the CAD and CAM right.
Thanks again for the insights
2023-04-17 18:52:14 +0000 UTC
Definitely some "bastard" activity here. very comprehensive, if not sad story, but very well told. One of your strong suits imo. Had to go check out my Skullface signed Skiff after watching this. Also, huge thanks to the Kitchen Table guests. Love the stories and experiences, mixed with plenty of seriousness as well as humor. My favorite episodes here, and hope to see more!
