Cost to cast items?

[Dumontrudisel]

I'm in the market for a decent quality 3D printed Iron Man helmet cast at an affordable price. But here is the problem, these helmets go for $220-$300 and thats not including shipping. So I have to wonder, how much is casting material? My guess is that it shouldn't be so expensive that making an original, then making lots of casts out of it would cost that much apiece. I'd say $75-$120 and add more for shipping. Is it really that expensive to cast items?

 

[baronvondoom]

You also have to factor in the cost of the 3d master or time to create the original piece.
Silicone can be very expensive then you have the cost of the resin or fibreglass to pull the casts with.
There is also the skill of the guy doing it and the time factor.

 

[AmazonChitlin]

If you'd ever done it yourself, you'd charge quite a bit as well. The plastic they are casting with isn't that expensive, but the time and effort is. ESPECIALLY if you're casting up a few a day/week. I can say with 100% certainty that whoever you are looking to buy off of isn't getting rich off of the helmets.

 

[Shades]

I have these arguments with clients from time to time.

These skills to make these masks are hard earned with time and money. Most of the time there many expensive failures along the way.

Sellers have a right to charge whatever they please. Buyers have the right to not buy the item if they don't think the price is right.



Sent from my SCH-I605 using Tapatalk 2

 

[wiIIiam]

I don't bother advertising things for sale (I've only recently started sharing projects on the internet). Considering the time and effort involved in producing cast replicas, I know I'd have to charge a fortune were I to sell any, more than I think people would be willing to pay. While the casting resin itself isn't expensive, the time and effort in producing a master and mould is huge. If someone is charging a few hundred dollars for something, its because they are making incredibly small runs, and with everything considered, are probably only earning a few dollars an hour after their sale. Things like this don't get cheap until you have the capacity to put out hundreds an hour in a Chinese factory, which I suspect for the other members of this community, is missing the point of the hobby. The best thing you can do is learn from this forum and others and begin making the things you like for yourself, because then your time is free.

 

[joberg]

That's why you'll never make fists full of money trying to sell your art. It's more for the pleasure than anything else. Margin of profit as an amateur is negligible at best and you'll never charge the real price anyway. People who know how things are made, be a piece of furniture, a painting, a sculpture or a wearable helmet will not haggle or nit-pick over the price. Someone who doesn't know will:rolleyes

 

[Darth Mule]

You also have to factor in the old adage "you get what you pay for." I've seen a $75 helmet next to a $300+ helmet, and the differences are often astonishing. I know Volpin's Daft Punk helmets come at a pretty high price tag, but I've watched the guy polish his master mold to a mirror finish so that the mold would be absolutely flawless, resulting in a piece that barely needs any cleanup. I would never question his pricepoint because I know what I'm getting.

 

[mdb]

^ This. All of this. But then people wonder why fabric costumes cost so much when fabric is so cheap. Sigh.

 

[Dumontrudisel]

Thanks everyone. I have a better understanding about why they cost as much as they do

 

[Dumontrudisel]

So its more the value of the craftsmanship that goes into the helmets. Thats a lot more understandable. I mostly questioned this because clients still need to pay for any work to be done on the raw casts after they receive them

 

[wiIIiam]

^ This. All of this. But then people wonder why fabric costumes cost so much when fabric is so cheap. Sigh.

I wish fabric was cheap

 

[Kailon]

Simple way to see it, when you order a pizza for $10, it costs them less then $1 in ingredients to make, so why charge an extra $9? labor hours, utilities (gas/electricity) and then long term investments like building lease, phone, internet, franchise fees, and the list goes on, the profit on food items is usually 30% or less, but the more you make the more you sell, the more it adds up.

 

[jackdoud]

When I cast a fiberglass shell for a Ghostbusters Proton pack it costs about $30 in materials and takes a couple hours, mostly in curing time between coats. Making the mold to cast out of costs me about $500 in silicone, $80 in jacket material and another $50 or so in miscellaneous hardware and takes a couple days. The whole time you're hoping it comes out alright or else you have to spend the same money to do it again. Making the master from which to make the mold to make the copy takes about $80 in styrene, glue and putty plus weeks of cutting, glueing and checking reference. That's $740 to get one copy made a month after starting work and that's assuming you already have 20lbs of clay, mixing buckets, scale, disposables, all the necessary tools and a large enough space to keep it all in. Add in paypal fees, packing materials and cost of shipping to get the finished product to someone and I'm often amazed that people sell things for as little as they do. But you know, the shell's only $30 in fiberglass...:wacko