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$500 mobile solutions adjustable template or $50 homemade templates


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Ive made many of my own templates, however over time the mdf will change sizes on you due to the router bearing riding against it, and when you need to stack shapes for something more advanced sometime the template tape holds on too tight and tears a top layer of wood off.

I tried making some out of abs, but that is too soft and router bearings will melt that down in a second, so I made many out of 1/4 inch hdpe, and started buying templates here and there and just piecing together my own set as money allows.

 

 

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Sure it's just $50 in materials but hours of thought, design and of course hours to make.  The finished product has imperfections and doesn't appear to be perfectly consistent.  Like Brian said, they will wear out. Do what you gotta do to get by, i love it!!  It's actually a cool little set.  I'm just saying there is a reason some stuff costs what it does.  There is so much more involved then just the sum of materials.  Ever break an $80 router bit before? How about 2 in a row? Ever have to toss a $300 sheet of flatstock in the dumpster because your run had a flaw in it? Ever see the electric bill for someone that runs a CNC with a dust collector on it all day long? Need lights to see what you are doing and those are on all day.  The employee's, the website / bandwith, the webmaster, the bills, the fans to keep the shop cool while it's 115 outside....the paper, the labels, the ink on the labels, the cardboard box, the tape...it go's on and on.  Oh ya, anything you make you get to answer for at the end of the year and give some of it to Uncle Sam.  Might need to hire a CPA to keep all that in order.  You will if you are successful anyway. 

Making a home made product is always cool and totally encouraged if you are so inclined. I do that shit too!  But if you think your product is good enough to sell, wait till you see what is involved to mass produce it and bring it to the people.  Just wanted to point out the difference between your homemade $50 and a proper kit from Mobile Solutions. :)


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3 hours ago, meade916 said:

Sure it's just $50 in materials but hours of thought, design and of course hours to make.  The finished product has imperfections and doesn't appear to be perfectly consistent.  Like Brian said, they will wear out. Do what you gotta do to get by, i love it!!  It's actually a cool little set.  I'm just saying there is a reason some stuff costs what it does.  There is so much more involved then just the sum of materials.  Ever break an $80 router bit before? How about 2 in a row? Ever have to toss a $300 sheet of flatstock in the dumpster because your run had a flaw in it? Ever see the electric bill for someone that runs a CNC with a dust collector on it all day long? Need lights to see what you are doing and those are on all day.  The employee's, the website / bandwith, the webmaster, the bills, the fans to keep the shop cool while it's 115 outside....the paper, the labels, the ink on the labels, the cardboard box, the tape...it go's on and on.  Oh ya, anything you make you get to answer for at the end of the year and give some of it to Uncle Sam.  Might need to hire a CPA to keep all that in order.  You will if you are successful anyway. 

Making a home made product is always cool and totally encouraged if you are so inclined. I do that shit too!  But if you think your product is good enough to sell, wait till you see what is involved to mass produce it and bring it to the people.  Just wanted to point out the difference between your homemade $50 and a proper kit from Mobile Solutions. :)

This is about it. 


I used to think Steve's products were kinda expensive.
Honestly, I still think they are expensive, but now that I work in a machine shop, I completely understand why. Everything's easy until you actually get to making shit. Some things just fuck up when they really shouldn't and you get set back. 

For the time being and probably until I'm out of college, I have to make just about everything on my own, practically copying others designs. But man, if I had money, I'd just fork out the cash for things I know are well made, highly quality, that I'm not going to have to bullshit and fiddle with, and if for some reason something fucks up, I can almost know I'll be sent out a replacement without any haggling. That's what you're paying for, not the ~$4 or less worth of plastic and ~$3 worth of metal hardware going into a speaker terminal. You're payin to not deal with tha boooooolshit. 

 

Always bound to be a fun day when you walk in on a new $50+ bit mysteriously broken. Like, first fucking use of an endmill and they ran it counterclockwise into solid steel broken. Just quietly hidden back to where it belongs, broken part hidden, for the next motherfucker who actually knows what they're doing to find.
Still drills tho. 

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Probably not smart to undermine an SMD vendor in the title of the post, but i dig the FUCK outta custom made tools. Good job, OP. 

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28 minutes ago, WalledSonic said:

Probably not smart to undermine an SMD vendor in the title of the post, but i dig the FUCK outta custom made tools. Good job, OP. 

I don't really think it's undermining. I mean, no small hobbyist only installing their own gear/a few friends really needs to spend the money on gear like that unless they really do have the money to spend. They're definitely not going to use it for what it was made for. The way I see it, Mobile Solutions stuff is made for people who are going to be using it all the time on professional work. It has a tight tolerance range that isn't going to be skewn by repetitive use. If some of Mobile Solutions stuff does wear out, with the price you paid, they should have your back aswell. It's buying quality shit you know is going to work and not give out on you, plus some insurance. Thousands and thousands of poor as fuck people read these threads unregistered, just lurking. Always good for them to be able to know how to make things within their reach. 

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The quality of a home made template vs a machined or even laser cut templates will never compare. I still use a bunch of my home made ones all the time for Steves terminals that he sells and I offer on my enclosures and even my hdpe templates are showing wear. I remade them a few times as well!

I never tried PVC, but to get big sheets of PVC would probably be costly. Im already on my 3rd or 4th sheet of 1/4inch HDPE due to throwing templates over after a few uses because the edge gets messed up.

Even as is now I have a hard time spending money on templates, Ill probably never get the shapes (because everyone I see with those huge big kits just hang them up for them to collect dust and never use them (cough soundman cough)), but the adjustable angles, curved, straight, and circle ones are what Im after..

Hell not even going to lie, twice now I used my Mobile Solutions circle templates for getting a nice perfect cutout when I redid the flooring in my rental under the toilet, and when I redid my bathroom. Came in really handy!!!
 

When you get into making custom panels and other fancy things you can really make bank due to the templates though!

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@meade916 i was trying to disrespect any one of your vendors bruh. I love mobile solutions i even went to a training class they had with MESA. I was just trying to show off the templates i made to get me by until i can afford the MS product. Guess i should have worded this differently...lol i dont mind spending the money on good product cause you get what you pay for but i just needed something to get me by

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