My latest to be created. An Easter egg. Ok well it's just one of those cheap snap together eggs, so yes you could say I just reinvented the wheel. But still, I drew it, it's in my hand, and soon will be on store shelves. View attachment 1469
It's not unusual for people to read me saying this ... But I'm confused lol Are you saying that you designed the egg that you are holding, and you recieved it manufactured from a different service? OR Are you saying that you have this egg, and you are about to make it using shapeways? -Whystler
oohhhhh I see ... Did you make the original with Shapeways, or did you send your manufacturer a digital file, and they made the prototype as well? And what did this sort of thing cost you? -Whystler
I can't say too much, I sent it off to a factory, in this case a few months later a sample is on my desk and by Easter will be on store shelves. To do it in the US start up price is at least 50,000 for just the mold. Other places start up is about 5% of that. If we pay for the mold, it is ours and we can do with it as we wish. If the customer pays for the mold then it's theirs. Oh and it's not really a prototype. More of a sample. In case any mold changes need to be made.
Wait....you paid US$50 000 for a mould of an egg? That's waaaaay overpriced. A chinese factory will do an injection mould of my 4" toy for US$2000 and print out 1000 copies of the toy in any one colour for .30c so all up it is costing US$2300 to get a THOUSAND made. I own the rights to the toy since my logo is stamped on the bottom with my copyright. I also own the mould once it's made. Seriously, if you spent nearly five quality cars worth of money getting an egg made then....wow. There has to be a decimal point missing there somewhere or your talking about the egg, what's inside the egg which may be a range of different designs which would mean multiple moulds and then this national distribution which would mean a print run of hundreds of thousands? I guess all will be revealed?
I said if it were made in the US the mold would cost 50,000. Else where it costs 5% of that. 5% of 50,000 would be 2,500. Now a company in the US will send you the mold and you can mold as much as you want in your factory. I do not own a factory, but the company I work for does. Your Chinese mold, tell them you want your mold. Ain't gonna happen. And don't be too surprised to see your design with your information burnt off it. That's the price of dealing with China. Also their speed leaves a lot to be desired. If you need a lot and often, they can't do it. If you want a lot or a little every now and then. Yea they can do that. I didn't pay a dime for any mold .
Which isn't what you said at all........you've completely changed your story from paying for it to getting it for free. Congratulations, just about anyone can make moulds in their backyards for free, hell I can make them from lego and sticks like a female Macguyver and make twenty zillion toys from urethane for about fifty bucks but they'd be crap. I'd love to meet these chinese factories that burn the logo HASBRO, KIDROBOT and BANDAI off the bottom of their toy lines before mailing them out since aren't they made in China? I'm not sure I'd know what to do if a U.S. company mailed me a big ole metal injection mould of my toy since I don't own a vinyl injection machine to use it with so I think I'll stick with the method EVERY MAJOR TOY COMPANY in the world uses to make my toys. pblpblpblpblpblpblpblpbl!
No, what I said is I, me myself personally, did not pay for the mold. The company I work for paid for the mold. I have worked with Chinese molders in my previous position as well as my current. They do not care about US copyrights over there. If you send them a drawing of the parts of a Hasbro toy, they will make it for you. Where do you think "Knock offs" come from? At my previous position, my boss told me that when he went to the factory, he saw a casting for another companies product. He asked if they could make that for him. They said if he sends them a drawing they'll make it for him. They even had a lawsuit against a company in California, that was stealing our drawings from our website, and using them to have our products made in China and sold here. I had a meeting with my current boss earlier this week where we were discussing a product that we get here, that they burn the name of the other company off of to sell to us. We got a shipment that they forgot to burn it off. I've dealt with China factories for over 2 years now. I'm not assuming these things. I know and have seen them. If I'm being too vague it's because I'm not going to release who I work for or the process by which we get, make, supply our products.
Wow, it's really interesting to read about these things. I mean we all know about knock-offs and that they come from abroad mostly. But the blatancy is just incredible! That they shipped you a product without the original company's name burned off is hilarious! -Whystler