[thechris]

Quote:

Originally Posted by Boba Fettuccini

I remember reading an article in 2005 saying those sorts of machines would be affordable consumer products by 2013. Think about what you could do! That could concieavably hurt the toy industry in the long run though. Oh well.

I own one of those, just haven't gotten around to doing much with it yet. It's collecting dust in my basement along with my 3D plastic mold injector, a massive $20,000 wide format printer that prints up to 5 feet wide, any length, up to 1 inch thick, a pad printer. I could literally start a toy factory (which at one point was my dream) but I realized how much work it actually takes even after getting the equipment. Plus people are cheap and unwilling to pay me for the amount of time and money it would cost for me to get this stuff sorted. Let's say I made a cool playset, people would want to pay no more than $30 for it and it took me $50 in plastic to cast one prototype, $100 to cast a silicone rubber mold. Months to design it, 10 hours to machine it, etc. Also, you've got to realize that these machines go through wear and tear. It's simply not a good idea to have the machine arm carve your entire prototype and mass produce the product through the machine which while easy would quickly burn out your very expensive machine. Casting a head is one thing but when you get complex, there's really no money in it at all. Like I said, people are cheapskates. They want to pay Hasbro and Mattel prices, and because they wouldn't know who I am, they'd expect to pay even less for my "no name" toys. I do, however, produce some pretty badass customs.