3 ms·
I wonder what their profit margin is per unit.
by icey 17y ago
I wonder what their profit margin is per unit.
- replicatorblog 17y agoTheir BOM is open source so you could figure it out with a little Sparkfun sleuthing. In any case I would guess they are at least ramen profitable.
- ax0n 17y agoMy guess is probably around $100-150 per unit, and I'd also guess that the main part of the profit is in the laser-cut parts, at $200. Now, they take quite a bit of time to cut, and laser cutters aren't cheap, but look at the numbers. That's a lot of profit. My hackerspace mix-and-matched a whole bunch of stuff from makerbot industries because one of our members had a laser cutter and could make those in his basement. The MakerBot "Laserless kit" is modeled after the order we put in. We compared a lot of part prices to those found in catalogs, and the price difference was so negligible that it would have been more of a pain in the butt than anything to buy all those parts (hardware, motors, microcontrollers, pulleys, bearings, belts and the like) from catalogs. Sure, they order in bulk and get a discount. There's profit being made on the small stuff, but I'm still betting the laser cut parts are the cash cow for them.
- steveklabnik 17y agoActually, compared to 3D printers themselves... laser cutters are pretty cheap.
- ax0n 17y agoNot $750 cheap.
- steveklabnik 17y agoOf course. But give Neil Gershenfeld another year or two. He's working on it.
- st3fan 17y agoOurs was cheaper :-) (Ok ok it was a dead one from craig's list that we fixed) http://www.andrewkilpatrick.org/blog/?page_id=914 http://www.andrewkilpatrick.org/blog/?page_id=914
- ax0n 17y agoI knew you guys had a laser cutter at hacklab, but I'd never heard the back story. Thanks! That was a great read!