Bulk Buying Laser Material

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Benjamin

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Feb 19, 2015, 9:29:50 AM2/19/15
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Hello all,
Would anyone be interested in combining our efforts in a large order from the BayPlastics and our Laser ply supplier. It will give us a bit of leverage to ask for offcuts, combine fuel costs, possibly get us a bulk-buy discount, and maybe alert them to our organisation (with a hope there will be a discount for us makers in future)
Please post a brief description of what you might be interested in at the moment (This is not binding, I will confirm before we order).
If there is significant interest, I'll begin coordinating it. (I'll be asking if anyone has a van, jigsaw, time to help come and get it)

e.g. I'm looking to get:

1m² of ~1.5mm laser ply
1.5m² of 5mm laser ply
1m² of 2mm clear laser acrylic
1m² of 5mm clear laser acrylic

NOTE: We can't assume that we can store it at MS as there will likely not be enough room for it all. We have yet to decide whether to cut it down to fit inside project boxes, or to cut it to the same footprint so it can be stored below one.. but any other significant quantities will likely have to be kept at home and brought in as and when you need them.

Chris

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Feb 19, 2015, 11:39:46 AM2/19/15
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I need to figure out what thickness and size, but some clear acrylic would be good. I reckon it's worth chopping it down to the size of the bed rather than member boxes. it'll probably be 5mm(or 6mm) 1m² 

and some laser ply 2 or 3 beds worth of 3mm..
 
Chris


From: Benjamin <sha...@gmail.com>
To: north-ea...@googlegroups.com
Sent: Thursday, 19 February 2015, 14:29
Subject: [Makers] Bulk Buying Laser Material

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Dan Nixon

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Feb 19, 2015, 5:27:50 PM2/19/15
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If your going to bulk order then you may as well buy from somewhere cheap (e.g. Technology Supplies for acrylic).

Dan

Ed Bisdee

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Feb 20, 2015, 5:33:39 AM2/20/15
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I'd like some wood, say 4 sheets of 6mm laser ply and 2 sheets of 3mm laser ply. I have the laser knowledge now. i am excite.



Iain Yarnall

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Feb 27, 2015, 4:49:12 AM2/27/15
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Can I get about 50 quid's worth of 3mm plywood please? Not sure how many sheets that will work out at.

Also I'd like to get some 0.5mm vaccuum forming plastic to test with but not sure yet which material yet.

Cheers

Iain.

Benjamin

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Feb 27, 2015, 11:00:36 AM2/27/15
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Sure thing Iain.. I'll hold off til Tuesday so people have time to make requests, the cost things up on Wednesday and ask everyone to commit, with the intention of placing orders and getting stuff on friday/ on the weekend.

Benjamin

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Mar 3, 2015, 7:19:37 AM3/3/15
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Hi All,
So far, I'm going to cost up only these:
WhoMaterialThickness (/mm)Qty (/beds worth)Price
Ben SClear Laser Acrylic25TBD
Ben SClear Laser Acrylic55TBD
Ben SPly1.54TBD
Ben SPly58TBD
Chris DClear Laser Acrylic55TBD
Ed BPly64TBD
Ed BPly32TBD
Iain YPly3 $50 worth
Iain YVac forming plastic0.52TBD



This is actually a fairly small quantity, but I'll get costs off:
- Technology Supplies (plastics)
- Bay plastics (plastics) http://www.plasticstockist.com/
- James Latham (laser ply)

Iain,
Have you had any thoughts on what vac forming material to quote for? If you get a few types, I'll chip in. I'd like to get access to a vac-forming machine


On Friday, 27 February 2015 16:00:36 UTC, Benjamin wrote:

Chris

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Mar 3, 2015, 8:07:26 AM3/3/15
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Ben,
  My acrylic beds worth is too much, I only want two beds at most.
 
but you can stick me down for two beds worth of 3mm ply.

It may be worth asking at lasercutouts as well. I can pick up from them if needed.

Chris


Sent: Tuesday, 3 March 2015, 12:19
Subject: Re: [Makers] Re: Bulk Buying Laser Material

Iain Yarnall

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Mar 3, 2015, 9:10:33 AM3/3/15
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Hi Ben,

I'd be after whatever forming plastic is cheapest so either polypropylene, polyethylene or polystyrene.  Basically enything other than PVC in case we want to cut it with the laser.  Also, I'll probably need about 10 beds worth as testing is probably going to be quite wasteful!

Cheers,

Iain.

Benjamin

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Mar 23, 2015, 11:47:57 AM3/23/15
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Hello all,

Wood prices are in!

1.5mm: 1bed @ £6.30

3mm: 1bed @ £2.73

6mm: 1bed @ £3.71

This is based on quotes from James Latham for some 5'x5' (1525mm x 1525mm) laserable plywood (and 20% VAT):

1.5mm: 1pcs @ £ 37.8

3mm: 1pcs @ £16.38

6mm: 1pcs @ £22.26


of course 600x400mm sheets don't fit nicely into 5x5ft, so there will be 324mm offcuts. Therefore I'll divide the offcuts amongst the people who paid for them and they can keep for trials/ donate the scrap to the shelves.


If anyone else wants to get involved, speak now :)


B

David Pye

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Mar 23, 2015, 12:24:59 PM3/23/15
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How come 1.5mm is so much more expensive than 3mm?  :-S

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Brian Degger

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Mar 23, 2015, 2:16:34 PM3/23/15
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i found it a bit strange too. 
(unless the sheet was bigger) 
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Brian Degger
twitter: @drbrian

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Alistair MacDonald

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Mar 23, 2015, 2:28:28 PM3/23/15
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Bigger is not always better. Not unless it is chocolate. I just can't see that being true. Urrrr. I don't think I am helping here am I? Sorry.

  Alistair

PS. Almost always not true for pie either.

Martin Raynsford

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Mar 23, 2015, 5:04:09 PM3/23/15
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It's harder to assemble the 3 super thin layers required to make plywood at 1.5mm thick. they have a tendency to break. 
2mm ply is even more expensive because they typically plane down 3mm ply to the right thickness,
Martin

Tommy

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Mar 23, 2015, 5:33:04 PM3/23/15
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Ben,

Could I add a big order for plywood to your list.
I'd like 12 sheets of 6mm ply and 12 sheets of 3mm ply. So almost £80 worth if my maths is right.

Thanks,
Tommy

jmarc...@gmail.com

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Mar 23, 2015, 5:56:04 PM3/23/15
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I'd take:

2 bed sized sheets of 3mm perpex frost 60% visibility for an LED project

5 bed sized  3mm ply.  

Cheers


Jon Davies

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Mar 23, 2015, 6:00:47 PM3/23/15
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Blimey!  Are you sick of cutting cardboard for the Maker Space sign?

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Tommy

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Mar 23, 2015, 6:57:09 PM3/23/15
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Ha ha, not yet. I've got a few projects in mind and wanted to buy enough ply to last me a while. Got to finish that damn Maker Space sign first though :-)

- Tommy

Benjamin

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Mar 25, 2015, 6:56:08 AM3/25/15
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Tommy, sounds like the passion for the makerspace sign is wearing thin.. hope it gets finished though, its looking so sharp.

Chaps,
The price difference is because the 1.5 is not made from the same stuff:

1.5mm 1525x1525 PEFC III/III Finnish Birch Plywood, phenol glue
EN314-2 class 3 70% PEFC Certified BMT-PEFC-0007
Only available with Phenol Glue line (would burn the edges using a laser cutter)

3mm 1525x1525 BB (II/II) Russian Birch Plywood *MR Glue* FSC Mix
70% TT-COC-001089

I'm just getting Trotec's quotes back, so will factor in the new requests and weigh up the options.

Does anyone know a man with a van?

David Pye

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Mar 25, 2015, 7:37:31 AM3/25/15
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I know a man with a large ish Estate if that will do...

Benjamin

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Mar 25, 2015, 8:52:34 AM3/25/15
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The large Estate will likely do for the Trotec order... wait, is he the guy with the club knockout record?

Here's the relevant MDF section of Trotec's catalogue.
Bear in mind that the bed size is 600x400, but the size of these sheets is 600x300, this is pre-VAT, and we don't get the scrap

Benjamin

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Mar 25, 2015, 9:12:04 AM3/25/15
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humbug. pasting images doesn't work..

Plywood Price List from Trotec

600 x 300 x 3mm 68987 £1.70=(£2.04)

300 x 300 x 3mm 68988 £0.90=(£1.08)

600 x 300 x 6mm 68990 £2.40=(£2.88)

300 x 300 x 6mm 68991 £1.25=(£1.5)

610 x 300 x 9mm 68992 £3.60=(£4.32)

300 x 300 x 9mm 68993 £1.85=(£2.22)

Pre VAT & (Inc VAT)


So you pay less but get quite a bit less.

Given that this is a venture in restocking supplies, I'm going to try to coordinate the more cost effective bulk-buy.
If I can't coordinate it, then just pay the extra for convenience (defeating the point of this whole exercise)

Plastic prices to follow.
Message has been deleted

Ed Bisdee

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Mar 25, 2015, 9:21:13 AM3/25/15
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I can easily get stuff from trotec, and i also have a van

Benjamin

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Mar 25, 2015, 9:29:42 AM3/25/15
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It's much more cost effective to get 5x5ft sheets from Lathams and cut them to size.
But they close at 3:30 and are in Felling. Is that doable?

Benjamin

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Mar 25, 2015, 12:26:58 PM3/25/15
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So, next stage is cutting it!
Does the space hand a table-saw or something similarly efficient at slicing up large sheets of wood? (circular saw, or bandsaw with an overhang >600mm)
Alternatively does anyone have one that they can bring in?

Ed Bisdee

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Mar 25, 2015, 12:50:33 PM3/25/15
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Ive got a circular saw that'll do the job

Iain Yarnall

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Mar 25, 2015, 1:33:25 PM3/25/15
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Sounds good.  I used a jigsaw last time which was a hassle and quite slow.

I've been wondering lately about making a replaceable panel for the bench in the machine room to drop a table saw (or circular saw) into it.  It would make the job so much easier, especially with a nice fence to go with it.

Cheers,

Iain.

Benjamin

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Mar 25, 2015, 4:20:13 PM3/25/15
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Yet again its Ed to the rescue!

Jon Davies

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Mar 26, 2015, 5:03:48 AM3/26/15
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I'm sure I've seen a circular saw loitering about the power tools section. Perhaps it was Ed's in fact, or someone else's rather than a donation? Ed, if you can't use yours for whatever reason, I have one too that you/Ben/I/whoever can use for this job.


On Wed, 25 Mar 2015 20:20 Benjamin <sha...@gmail.com> wrote:
Yet again its Ed to the rescue!

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Ed Bisdee

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Mar 26, 2015, 5:13:35 AM3/26/15
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I think it was jon powells and i think he took it home a while back to do exciting woodwork with.

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Benjamin

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Mar 26, 2015, 6:43:42 AM3/26/15
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So I'll place this order at 2pm today so speak up if you want any more or want to amend quantities, Ed has kindly agreed to pick it up tomorrow morning, and depending when we can coordinate to drop it off, I'll cut it up on Saturday afternoon with whatever kit and assistance happens to be around.

Here are the prices for everyone's requests (based on what I've been quoted by Latham's):
WhoMaterialThickness (/mm)Qty (/beds worth inc offcuts)Price/ bed + offcutsSubtotalTotal
Chris DPly32 £                      2.73  £            5.46  £       5.46
Ed BPly64
 £                      3.71  £          14.84  £    20.30
Ed BPly32
 £                      2.73  £            5.46
Iain YPly318 £                      2.73  £          49.14  £    49.14
TommyPly612 £                      3.71  £          44.52  £    77.28
TommyPly312 £                      2.73  £          32.76
J MarcPly35 £                      2.73  £          13.65  £    13.65

We would get 40% less per penny if we'd have gone to Trotec.. still they're worth considering if you don't have access to a van because they pre-cut their sheets, and sell plastics and wood.
PM me if you'd like their catalogue

B


On Thursday, 26 March 2015 09:13:35 UTC, Ed wrote:
I think it was jon powells and i think he took it home a while back to do exciting woodwork with.
On 26 March 2015 at 09:03, Jon Davies <jon.d...@gmail.com> wrote:

I'm sure I've seen a circular saw loitering about the power tools section. Perhaps it was Ed's in fact, or someone else's rather than a donation? Ed, if you can't use yours for whatever reason, I have one too that you/Ben/I/whoever can use for this job.

On Wed, 25 Mar 2015 20:20 Benjamin <sha...@gmail.com> wrote:
Yet again its Ed to the rescue!

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Iain Yarnall

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Mar 26, 2015, 8:08:19 AM3/26/15
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Thanks Ben and Ed,

If you need help unloading on Friday evening, I can be there from around 5:45ish so give me a shout if you need me.

Cheers,

Iain.
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