1/12th size furniture - I need some advice....

[Jensmith]

I saw the bit about yer Dads garage on the dolls house forum. That's why I mentioned it :twisted: :twisted:

I didn't realise you were on there too!

Sorry Jen, I missed the fact that there was a page 4! Is there any benefit in selling in kit form and would it not be easier for you to do the assembly? That was you would be sure that when it is fitted it is to the standard that you have set and not a possible bodge.

I was going the kit way because I thought it would appeal to people more. Lots of people on the forum talk about making various kits and there are quite a few options for furniture but only 1 other place does fireplace kits so it seemed a bit of a gap in the market.

I was also planning to offer them as 'made up' but for a higher price.

It seemed a good way to make them cheaply, minimising labout costs as the assembly is often the time consuming part, and then the customer gets the satisfaction of making it.

If you think this is going down the wrong track feel free to say so. I welcome poeoples opinions.

 

[Jonzjob]

I am not on that forum Jen. I just found it looking for bits on doll houses would yo believe..

I would be the last person to advise on how to start/run a business. I have no head for doing those things and take lots of advise myself.

The idea of offering a paper plan for the customer is a very good idea and I have used it many times as I too am into radio control model gliders, none of the noisy, smelly things, they upset my hangover! I have built a lot of models in the trad way from a plan and cut my own wood and built on that plan and it works very well. It may sound daft to have a plan to put together a few bits of wood, but if it ensures that those bits are all square and where they are supposed to be then that can't be bad.

 

[Jensmith]

Jen,

you may have missed my comments higher up (near bottom of page 3) a link to an easily made Drill-press thicknesser etc.

Although it is a commercial jig there is enough info to make one quite easily IMHO.

Thanks Dave, I've seen that now. Yes, it does give you alot of info and looks very handy.

There is a lot of good advice being given here - especially business advice, production methods (CNC etc), but, most importantly do your market research carefully - I looked into this market a few years ago and came to the conclusion that there were essentially two markets - those that want "hand-made" items at mass-produced prices (you cannot compete with the Chiwanese here), and those that want bespoke hand-made items with maximum detail - these people will often commision a 1/12th scale copy of their favourite furniture - the "real" collectors willing to pay serious money. Take care that you do not fall between 2 stools! Having said that, maybe you have identified a third market between these extremes, good luck

Dave

I am hoping I have found the third option. It's the option I would go for myself so surely that would also appeal to others? I think I can give it a go anyway in the short term.

 

[ondablade]

Just to emphasise CNC again. The low powered lasers and XY tables used for profiling cutting model parts are very cheap - only a bit more i think than the kit used by signwriters to cut out vinyl lettering.

You wouldn't necessarily operate it yourself, i've feeling there's subcontract services out there. (i've certainly seen them advertised in a model mag)

There's also fancier options (maybe with an extra axis) that can produce various textures and effectively do bas relief surfaces that you see in the US magazines.

Another variant is the use of fine routing tools on CNC tables to profile, do bas relief and even to carve smaller 3D shapes - there was a thread on here recently on one of those systems i think.

ian

 

[Jensmith]

Thanks Ian,

I think I will have to look into this in a bit more detail. Early impressions do seem to suggest it is the way to go but I have scant knowledge about it.

I suppose you need to look at the cost comparrisons between getting someone else to cut the mouldings for you and buying the kit so you can do it yourself. Some I've seen so far are very expensive.

I think I'll have a word with my Dad too as he's looked into CNC for his lathe I think and a few years ago he did a swap where he supplied some machinery and was paid with CNC software and the controllers I think but he's never actually set it up with anything.

Is a router the best tool for the job? I can see how it would be able to cut the various shapes as I've used one before for a storage unit I made for A levels.

 

[9fingers]

Is a router the best tool for the job? I can see how it would be able to cut the various shapes as I've used one before for a storage unit I made for A levels.

Some desktop CNCs use something like a dremel multitool, others use a router.

The router is heavier and so is harder to accelerate between the home position and the area of work so is overall a bit slower but can take heavier cuts. It also has better bearings and so has no end float in the z axis.

A dremel is light and therfore faster, but I think can suffer from z axis uncertainty so not good for small details.

A mid weight option might be a laminate trimmer type router which should give good Zaxis performance and good speed but I've not seen one used this way.

hth

Bob

 

[9fingers]

Jen,

You might find this yahoo group of interest

http://groups.yahoo.com/group/CNCrouters/

Their scope states
This group is for CNC Router's, namely smaller home built or commercial CNC Router's for Light Duty use in Hobby's, Model Aircraft, Sign's or what ever you can think of.

If it is like other groups I belong to, there are useful file areas that you can browse and generally lurk to pick a feel for how useful it might be before launching in with questions.
Sometimes moderators are very slow forwarding replies so expect more staccato interchange than perhaps you find in this forum.

hth too

Bob

 

[Jensmith]

Thanks Bob, I'll have a look at that this evening. I joined a google group for my mini lathe so I know how they can be a bit slow.