celticfable wrote:
Hi Aerethan
Just finished reading that thread.... Very interesting indeed!?
When I set up PDC Limited (the serious engineering outfit) nearly 5 years ago I used some spare cash to try and implement the basic set up that was outlined in the thread... I bought a Galomb hand moulder and a second hand micro mill - total outlay $4000. I played at it in my spare time a d discovered that: resin tools make a handful of pieces and then begin to deteriorate ( and I went through all different types ending up with the metal loaded stuff that goes through a complicated annealing process to boost its max temperature resistance), anything less than a full on workshop lathe (second hand about $6000) doesn't cut metal that well, you actually need a spark eroder to get the cavity shapes of anything more detailed than the minimum radii of your cutter and after all that the size of the mould on these hand moulders is very small!, very finicky to work with and really is only good for say making 25mm custom bases... And a REALLY good 3D printer (circa 25micron(metric!)) accuracy is a godsend too... Add $70k to the pot...
PDC now has lots of equipment and out of hours capacity to let PDC Gaming dive in and play. I agree with the post about it being a tough commercial pitch - although our model pays PDC Ltd for the actual sprue moulding process it wouldn't fund the whole entity as a stand-alone; and needs the staff to do all the development work for free... And access to a full-on engineering business prepared to be flexible with their kit.
Luckily if our Kickstarter funds it will output a viable suite of mould tools that would then be able to operate anywhere - allowing the business to eventually spin off from PDCLimited - though prolbably to the garage of one of the founders! ;-) and because we will be running a modular tool build additional tools will become even more affordable (hence the stretch goal extras)
Many thanks for highlighting a very interesting post; I've been in the plastics industry for 25 years and this modelling project has been one of my most difficult (and that's down to working on a thin budget, not the complexity of the thing!?)
Wish us luck!
Celt
Admin, PDC Gaming
I agree that quality machinery is the crux of making the idea work, and you are quite fortunate to have access to said equipment early on from an already established company.
Once I figure out exactly which pledge level I want, I will definitely be adding my name to the list of supporters.
