Selling permission

Hello , I have a big question if anyone one can point me in the right direction. I’m new to the Reprap and presently looking in to building a prusa i3 kit and crunching the numbers I found it to be cheaper to source out in bulk, in other words building ten it cheaper then building one. My question is Can I sell the other nine, if so, from whom do I get permission.

Check the WIKI
[reprap.org]
The i3 design comes under GPL
Cheers
Björn

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[www.bonkers.de]
[merlin-hotend.de]
[www.hackerspace-ffm.de]

However, I've never seen a 'new' user build a solid printer in one try, so consider if it's really a good idea there is a good learning curve. Building just one can be a challenge, let alone building ten and making them work well enough so they can be sold.

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http://www.marinusdebeer.nl/

No, you can't build ten cheaper than you can build one. You can build ten so that the individual cost is less than if you built one. But what is the opportunity cost by investing the capital in nine additional printers that you have to advertise, eventually find buyers, package, ship as compared to just paying slightly more for just one. You don't post your numbers but I'd be interested in what the cost savings is building ten vs building just one.

Regardless, feel free to resell completed printers or just the parts. There's even a For Sale forum here.

Let me start by saying Adrian Bowyer movement is a fantastic, if every human thought would have his philosophy, we would have a much better world for all of us. I share his believes much like most of us in here. After all that is what got us interested in this kind of technology in the first place. And I’d like to say thank you to everyone that is making all of this possible, it also brings hope for the future. Now I do don’t want to capitalize with reprap in anyway however I do want to make it costly as possible.

To answer cdru: let start off with what I would like from a reprap printer. I know I would like to print in polycarbonate, I know I like the biggies build platform as possible, and also I would like multiple extruders. As far as the kits I see selling none fit exactly that. (At a reasonable price) lets start off with the aluminium frame and heat bed carriage. Most of what I see selling is around 90$ usd add the fact I’m in Canada , added currency plus shipping. Laser cut from local shop is $112cad for one, if I take ten that price drops down to $62cad almost half the cost. Stepper motors if I buy for one (6 motor) I pay around $15usd if I buy 60 of them they cost $8.usd = 7 dollars saving per motor. And that’s just naming a few in total I would save in the ball park of $250 to have a more complete printer then I would from buying a kit and doing all the add-ons that I know I would do in the end.

I agree having all the extra burdens of capital investments of buy for ten to own one. But if allowed to sell them it just might be worth it. I m sure I am not the first to fight with this question. I value everyone’s input, so please do share it.

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Tibuck
To answer cdru: let start off with what I would like from a reprap printer. I know I would like to print in polycarbonate, I know I like the biggies build platform as possible, and also I would like multiple extruders.

You're wanting to drive a sports car but you don't have your learner's permit yet. While you can learn to drive with a sports car, something that is a little more forgiving may be a better initial step until you get more experience. Polycarbonate is going to require elevated temperatures for moderate feed rates so an all metal hot end is going to be your choice. The larger the build platform you have, the more issues you'll likely have. Larger area means larger power requirements for equivalent amounts of heat. Time to complete a part also obviously increases. Generally speaking, unless you have an absolute need for a long or wide part, it's generally recommended to stick with the standard 200x200 platform. If you are really set on larger, I'd design the printer with a larger size in mind, but still initially go with a smaller bed until you get more experience.

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As far as the kits I see selling none fit exactly that.

Everyone's printer is different. What one things they need and want is unique to what someone else needs and wants. Consider that when you buy 10x what you need that there may not be 10 other people who want exactly what you want.

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Laser cut from local shop is $112cad for one, if I take ten that price drops down to $62cad almost half the cost.

So it's $112 vs $620. Yeah it stinks, but I know personally I have better things to do with $508 than to spend it on a very specific design that is going to have limited interest. If there was a demand for that cut out, you'd probably be able to find it already cut out probably somewhere between that $62 and $112 price.

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Stepper motors if I buy for one (6 motor) I pay around $15usd if I buy 60 of them they cost $8.usd = 7 dollars saving per motor.

Again, you're looking at $90 vs $480. Now motors you probably can find more uses and takers to buy them, but still, same idea applies. What size are those motors and do those prices include import duties and taxes? I got my motors from Automation Technologies in Chicago (ebay store and website), specifically this stepper. It's $10USD and they usually sell them for $9 on ebay as part of a set. Send them an email for what you want and an offer and they'll work with you. That's what I did when I got mine (they didn't have any auctions for 5 when I ordered mine). It may not be $8, but I bet that $8 doesn't include shipping and taxes. Even if it does, it's still not a bad deal and you don't have to worry about selling 54 steppers you don't need.

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I agree having all the extra burdens of capital investments of buy for ten to own one. But if allowed to sell them it just might be worth it.

I think you might be overly optimistic in the resale potential, but it's your money. If you can tie up a few grand potentially indefinitely...

You still need to do your homework.
You can easily source your parts cheaper and only buy 1 set.

You are putting the cart in front of the horse.
If you plan to sell for profit, it may be classed as a business.

I dont know about your country, but there are always extra cost involved.
Shipping, duty, taxes, shipping to your end buyer, company expenses.etc etc...

You would need capital.....

How did the farmer make $1million dollars in 1 year???
He started with $10million...
But he probably knew that he was going to make it back in the folowing years.


《Hypothetical situation 》
With all the information you know now.
-Write it on a piece of paper.
-Go to the bank.
-Ask for a $15k loan for your project.

What will they ask you?

Well a few things they will ask are
-who are you?
-what is your experience?
-how are you going to pay back the loan?
-what have you done so far?
-where do you see yourself in 5 years.
-what sets you apart from others?
-and lets have a copy of your business plan

Now imagine all the questions they may ask.

Then figure out what your answers will be.
This might take months. Crunch more numbers then you knew existed

What i am.saying is that there is a process. Otherwise any project or business venture will usually fail.
And i dont want to see people lose money.

5 p's
Proper planning prevents piss poor performance

And btw.
You probably dont want to list your buy price, this is the internet. And internet lasts awhile. And keywords are searcheable
You probably want to make a profit? Buy cheap and sell at a lower markup than similar models...

If you only want to buy and sell 10 to pay for 1, do yourself and just buy the 1 outright. And shop smarter.

Another thing about the farmer.

He is one of the only business's i know of, that buys retail and sells retail....

And it should probably stay that way.

Humm…. Well, thank you for your option pushthatbolder. Perhaps my pen uses less ink then yours. And thank you for looking out for my financial well being I’m perfectly capable of financing a small project like this with out my financial institutions help. I’m sure your smock remarks was to attempt to help me, I appreciate it Thank you.

I think what a lot of the others are getting at, in their own way, is that there are a lot of challenges to building a printer and the first build for self sourced printers often do not go according to plan.
Often getting things "Near enough" or temporarily fixed is ok. once the printer is printing, upgrades and permanent fixes can be arranged.

This type of approach would be less acceptable in a Kit, buyers generally gravitate towards kit to avoid the self sourced experience.

now they may very well be underestimating your abilities and you may just be capable of setting up a kit that assembles just fine first time, however you could also be wrong, I don't know your skill level.

What most Buyers and other kit developers would want to see is a tried and true kit of parts being sent out to customers rather than a jumble of parts that should do the trick. Most good kit suppliers go through a multitude of variations before actually assembling a final version of a kit for sale.


Now, for some helpful advice.
there are websites out there that enable groups of people to join in on bulk orders of products, you could use a site like this to arrange for bulk purchases of parts to be obtained and then send them out to the individuals, you could do this one part at a time and get the lower price for the majority of your parts without too much hassle (well less than what is involved in making kits).