A bit of real advice needed !

[mayhem]

Oky i need a bit of advice.

I keep getting emailed from various people asking about perchaseing my arcade units that im building.

The problem i have is

1) There not complete

2) i have no idear on price

3) No matter how much i say "I cannot give a price" they still keep hassling me.

Allanon1599 has sent you a message:

Re: Re: Re:C-Macc

I understand all that, I am just asking how much it will cost once you have it complete. Price is not an issue for me.

C-Macc 2 looks far nicer, thats not up for debate. I just want something that will fit nicely in my arcade and either C-Macc I or C-Macc II will help it out, although C-Macc-II will draw far better due ot its more modern look.

Give me an estimate on both time completed and price and I will be very interested in purchasing a model.

Thanks

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This is from you tube wich i have had a few of these.

What should i do .... Because im really stuck on where to go from here !!!!

 

[JN]

I suppose it entirely depends on your situation. If you're not against the idea of selling them and could do with some cash, then work out how much each one cost you to build in parts, add to that how many hours you've worked on them @ say £50 p/h and then slap an additional 15-20% on top of the final price.

If that sounds like a price you'd be happy to sell them for then maybe add another smallish artificial amount on top for 'haggling' and see what the guy says.

 

[mayhem]

My financial situation is the killer (im out of work). I can get the frame produced easily with help from my friend who owns the factory but all the hardware is the killer as its not cheap to build and im still developing the hardware to run it all.

All so i dont know any ware , were i can get the wood work cnc'ed as this would make life so much more easy and would save alot of time and all so keep them all to the same spec. ....

Ive been told to go approach a bank but my credit rating is bad and i know they would just laugh at me. Some one even suggested i finished off this new one and have a go at dragons den but again its all a bewildering.

The time to get to the stage i have now would be in the hundreds of hours of working out all the electronics and all so ive been lucky enough that i have had a friend who has helped out with the remaking of the frame to the state it is now. I never payed for tools or any thing like that just the metal which was only £60. The wood on the other hand was more expensive as i binned alot of it and rebuilt it several times over.

How ever if i could find a CNC operator that could cut my designs out it would save time and money.

I know so far system two has cost in the region of Approx £4000 to develop and build and i still need to sink in about another 1 g to finish it.

yes i would love to produce these but i cannot afford to lol ...

 

[Rastalovich]

... then work out how much each one cost you to build in parts, add to that how many hours you've worked on them @ say £50 p/h and then slap an additional 15-20% on top of the final price.

If that sounds like a price you'd be happy to sell them for then maybe add another smallish artificial amount on top for 'haggling' and see what the guy says.

Was going to say something similar.

U would be best served to inform the guy too that it's not a price "that they will be selling at" and that it's a price for him atm.

 

[mayhem]

Yeh i sort of figured out a price and its just not a viable option as things stand as it way over the top and just not worth it.

The problem is he's wanting this to go into a arcade and this system has not been designed to go into one. If he was to put this in such a environment in its present state i doubt it would last long esp with the way the touch screen system has been implemented and all so dare i say the main screen wouldn't last 5 min before some wally pressed hard enough on the screen and broke it.

Im currently working for a different arcade maker who saw my designs and has got me designing them a Juke box system that is totally different from any thing out there atm. But this company is paying all costs involved up front and all so supplying me with all the hardware i could ever dream off.

I wont see payment though until its complete so im still not earning any money yet lol ... All so all the equipment and hardware is there's and not mine which is a bummer but that is life.

 

[JN]

yes i would love to produce these but i cannot afford to lol ...

The easy answer to that would be to tell the guy that you need additional funds in order complete the project (or maybe a deposit to secure the item for him). Judging by the email, he sounds like the kind of guy who has a couple of k to spare, so it might not be such a big request as you'd think.

Once you've got the first one out of the door then put the profits towards the development of the next one and if you need any additional funds put together a portfolio/success story of your first sale and take it down the bank wearing your best suit.

Thing is, you've got talent, you've found a niche. Don't let money get in the way of doing what you're clearly good at. Easy to say i know, but you'll kick urself later on in life.

 

[mayhem]

Ive sent him a mail back asking him what he expects out of the system and what it will be used for then i can Taylor a plan for him.

If he responds with more detailed info i can think about how to go from there. Think im going to have to get off my fat ass and find a CNC operator who can produce the side panels for me as this would give me the confidence that it can be reproduced in a manner that im willing to take a gamble on.

i had offers in the past from my first arcade but it turned out that some of the hardware i had created was not out on the market and a certain company was just after my plans on how i got every thing to work in harmony and i was lucky enough to suddenly realise that i was being taken for a ride. So i think im all so very wary of people.

 

[Pseudonym]

Can you secure a patent on the things you've designed? Probably not on the C-maccs idea as a whole, but on the smaller bits that make it work.

Where do you live, someone might be able to point you in he direction on an good CNC plant. Why not make your own CNC machine? They're not that hard for normal people to make and you're clearly good with electronics.

 

[mayhem]

the wooden parts would be quite large i all ready have a small cnc system i built a while back but its no good for my needs as i dont have the room to expand the system to a large scale system

The cnc system i built all so is only made up of stepper motors out of a old printer and lego lol...

No it would need to be done on a proper system.

 

[rapidman17]

The easy answer to that would be to tell the guy that you need additional funds in order complete the project (or maybe a deposit to secure the item for him). Judging by the email, he sounds like the kind of guy who has a couple of k to spare, so it might not be such a big request as you'd think.

Once you've got the first one out of the door then put the profits towards the development of the next one and if you need any additional funds put together a portfolio/success story of your first sale and take it down the bank wearing your best suit.

This is by far the best way to solve your problems mate. If the guy wants it that bad then he will def agree to this, meaning you can charge as much as you like and get the capital to finish the project, and then even start a new one...

charge him like 20k man

 

[mayhem]

well ive had no reply so as per the norm say one thing do another lol .. will give it till tomorrow.

Thks for the advice though lads youve got me thinking now ...

 

[Freak]

I would ask him to invest.

So that you are able to start finish it off. Once its then finished I would think that there would be people that would like this kinda thing, companies - you mentioned a juke box, why not ask them?

 

[mayhem]

Well i emailed him back and since then he has not responded so its probably some one messing around esp once i said i need to know what environment you will using it for so i can Taylor the build to your needs.

this happens alot to be honist but when it comes down to detail or cost most ppl jump.

As for the Juke box system that ive been working on this is a test run i think for the company to see my skill they all so came up with some other ideas but im waiting to see how this goes and to see how much if at all i get payed. lol

 

[rapidman17]

Well i emailed him back and since then he has not responded so its probably some one messing around esp once i said i need to know what environment you will using it for so i can Taylor the build to your needs.

this happens alot to be honist but when it comes down to detail or cost most ppl jump.

As for the Juke box system that ive been working on this is a test run i think for the company to see my skill they all so came up with some other ideas but im waiting to see how this goes and to see how much if at all i get payed. lol

Hang in there mate.....from what i've seen you seem to be reall good at this... you should have no problem in gettin paid...

 

[Freak]

TRue, there is no reason to do anything. Unless you need to.

Is there any harm in just holding on to your work and admiring it in its state its in now?

 

[mayhem]

what unfinished lol .. still a long way to go and still a lot more development of the hardware and software lol ...

No pressure though my 2 mini sponsors don't mind as they only gave me a minute discount to mention there names lol .. which i have done but i all so went into more depth about there products in the main places (forums) and even made them some sales.

I suppose im lucky in once sense if i was fully sponsored id be fretting by now as you have to hit dead lines and worry about for filling there every whim lol...

Once winter sets in and the kids stay in more ill have some spare cash to do what i really what to do lol ...