Laser material store?

Tags: #<Tag:0x00007fa4a5dd4e78>
#1

When it comes to laser materials I know personally I use a lot of 3mm ply, usually birch.
But when it comes to purchase I only ever need 5ish sheets at a time. Shipping for me is a pain because am only at home in the evening and getting a 600x400mm sheet of ply to the space on my bicycle is a challenge.

I was wondering if the space would be interested in buying in bulk and selling to members on an honesty system.
Hobarts sell 600x400mm 3mm birch for £3.49 each, for bulk orders of 50 or more this drops to £2.96.

Lets say the space puts a small fee on top %10 to cover any delivery or cost towards maintaining the laser cutter.
Maybe also make a space for off cuts which are free to use.

I know there is more in this world than 3mm birch. we could do a survey to get an idea of demand?

2 Likes
Laser cut ply and acrylic available to buy at the space
#2

I think it might make sense to stock the main materials - birch ply, clear acrylic?

As you say it would make it easier for those who cycle to the Space.

@lasertechs?

#3

PS Kitronik prices look pretty competitive, and they have a great range. If kind to try the oak faced ply.

https://www.kitronik.co.uk/materials/laser-plywood.html

#4

This is a good idea. I would be happy to pay the %10 extra

#5

This has come up recently in another thread.

It has some useful thoughts. If someone can find it.

@lasertechs should lead on this.

#6

Remember half the laser techs are also directors, so they are pretty busy, there is probably need for some people to take over since I stepped down and pete became a director, that just leaves Tim.

#7

Yes, this falls under the need to recruit more members to many of the tech areas, as mentioned at the meeting.

But as a point of principal they’re the guys who need to gauge interest, and drive it forward as they see fit.

#8

I thought there was a general consensus not to store new- free for use materials

I see a few issues.

  1. its a never ending sinc of money
  2. how can we cover all materials when we have no idea what peoples projects entail
  3. do we have the space (in the main room)
  4. how do people know what they cab or cant use
  5. people assume material will be available, then it isn’t and they kick off.
  6. if its not free, someone has to look after and administer it, and collect monies from people

If we have space to store extra ply in the snug perhaps we could have a dedicated put your ply here, and have a section on discourse where members could advertise spare sheets etc…

Or after a storage request then this could mean members could buy more then they need and use it over a period of time.

1 Like
#9

The suggestion is that people pay cost + 10% so it’s a source of money, assuming SLMS members are honest.

We provide 3mm birch ply, 3mm clear acrylic, 3mm black acrylic. I reckon that would cover 75% of laser projects. Anything else members provide their own

We use one of the shelves on the laser materials storage unit

Use the stuff on the labelled shelf on the laser materials storage unit

This may be a problem. Let’s see how it goes? It it’s a vital project, maybe members can be trusted to bring their own materials, or ask before they make the journey in?

It would be @lasertechs which is why we are waiting to hear from them.

But if you as a @lasertechs don’t support the idea then we don’t do it. Simples!

#10

I think there is a real issue with getting materials for laser cutting, but honestly, I think it would be too easy to take without paying.

#11

These are all good points. I like the idea of people selling their unused sheets.

Yeah this could be an issue, I think we would only purchase ply, maybe A4 sheets of acrylic. If we run a survey for most wanted materials, if more than 5 people would use it then it should be considered, based on cost and volume discounts.
Maybe limit it to 3 skews. When we reorder we can run another survey, maybe reorder every 1 or 2 months.

This will need to be clearly labelled with a price list. When we order we can create post with what will be available and for how much.

I am happy to manage this, as I am the one who brought it up and would personally use the service.

But of course only with @lasertechs and @directors blessing as the initial cost will probably be over £50, and only if we can generate enough interest.

If we can get the interest we could do a one of trial next year, the basis for success should be how quickly we moved the inventory, that the budget for the service doesn’t run in the red.

1 Like
#12

I hope I am naive and probably am, but I hope that with a physical material maybe people will be honest.
Also if the service runs into the red it will be scrapped.

#13

Experience of visiting other similar spaces shows that honesty boxes don’t normally work.

#14

I think it’s worth a try.

EDIT: we had an honesty box for cutting, that worked well enough. Although we didn’t have a way of qualifying it, but the impression was that people generally paid for what they did.

#15

I concur. Would need some careful co-ordination and monitoring though @KylieJudd are you willing?

#16

Yeah I am happy to give it a go. I will be away until mid Jan. So something we can kick off in the new year.

3 Likes
#17

sounds very interesting.
lets give it a try.
some great points.
ild be happy to see some usuful bits in the space. i dont think we need to try to cater to 100% of people needs. we may be able to satsfy like 80% quite easily - and let people buy there own for larger more ‘non-standard’ projects. i guess im saying it could be a nice useful thing for a lot of stuff, but not worry about it solving everyones ply needs for the rest of time.

trialing it sounds like it could be useful to get some real data on this:

  • get some data on how much needs buying / gets used.
  • what that looks like in ££££££
  • get data on what type / size gets used.
  • get some data on how many sheets don’t get paid for
  • if the data showed usage under £30 a month in might be worth considering it being a free consumable
  • if it turned out to be a popular winner maybe some kind of clever amazon collection type thing could work. you buy the plie via a web page. get a one off access code to the ply box in the space. honest about what you take out and blah blah blah.
#18

In an effort to keep my posts shorter.!

+1 from me

1 Like
#19

So it is agreed this will become a thing in the new year when @KylieJudd can arrange the nessecery and take it from there.

Good stuff :slight_smile:

#20

If you folks allow me I would like to take inspiration from this to propose something else here

Parcel locker