It seems absurd that hair thin thread costs more than a whole assembly of permanent magnets and copper coiled in a stator. Just thinking from first principles.

It seems absurd that hair thin thread costs more than a whole assembly of permanent magnets and copper coiled in a stator. Just thinking from first principles. Whats driving the cost? The processing? For scale, Omnipod only makes this one product and they're on the S&P 500 because they sell so many of them. I'd guess 10 cents in bulk but who knows. It's a SparkFun link for DIY hobbyists. They're not charging the bulk rate. They have to make a margin. But maybe it is more expensive. Then they probably choose it for the reliability, and a simple and quiet design. Or perhaps the button batteries don't have the energy to drive a pager motor.