Getting a tool manufactured

[Ian]

I think I've come up with an idea for a new tool and would like to look into getting it prototyped and potentially manufactured, depending on cost. Problem is, I don't have a clue where to start, or who to approach or, how much it might cost. Does anyone know anything about how you might go about doing something like this?

 

[Gazzer]

Richard at 365 drills may be a good one to chat with as would be ATS.

 

[peteablard]

What about waking to ATS diamond tools on here mate, you don't have to tell him what it is but he talks about tooling and making new designs, might be able to point you in the right direction??

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Richard at 365 drills may be a good one to chat with as would be ATS.

beat me to it!

 

[Ian]

Ahh yes, I've been racking my brain and those guys didn't occur to me! Sometimes the simplest solutions are right under your nose!

 

[peteablard]

Ahh yes, I've been racking my brain and those guys didn't occur to me! Sometimes the simplest solutions are right under your nose!

for helping I'm only going to ask for a small percentage when you go into production and make millions Bri!

 

[Tony73]

for helping I'm only going to ask for a small percentage when you go into production and make millions Bri!

yeh all of us will help you :lol:

 

[Ian]

It'll never make millions I'm afraid mate! It'd only really be useful for a tiler, and there's probably 10,000 tilers in the UK do you reckon? Might make a couple of quid, who knows!

 

[Tony73]

well , i have connections in eastern europe :lol:

 

[Peter]

TF free trials and feedback? :smilewinkgrin:

 

[Time's Ran Out]

If you send me pictures, costings, measurements, test results and any other odd bits of relevant information then I may be able to advise the particular office in the Patent department that you will need:smilewinkgrin:

Good Luck.

 

[Andy Allen]

whats the idea then..? i wont tell...:smilewinkgrin:

 

[Ian]

It's a robot that does all the tiling for you, you just drop it off on a Monday and then sit at home while it does a weeks work for you, then pick it up and take it to the next job, I reckon it'll cost about £10 to make, lol! I'll post here first if I think it's gonna be viable to make/sell it!

 

[Andy Allen]

It's a robot that does all the tiling for you, you just drop it off on a Monday and then sit at home while it does a weeks work for you, then pick it up and take it to the next job, I reckon it'll cost about £10 to make, lol! I'll post here first if I think it's gonna be viable to make/sell it!

i'll take 2 please...

 

[John Benton]

well , i have connections in eastern europe :lol:

And most of em are here already Tony :yes:

 

[The D]

A lot of what you will need depends on what the tool will be made out of. Just to give you some idea I had a simple innovation idea for a tool not a completely new tool just a adaptation of one for a tiler that already exists. It was to be made in plastic and the first costing I got for it was £6,000.00 for the design prototype then another 6 for the design of the tooling then 30 for the manufacturing of the tooling. Then we got in to the cost of production one company was saying if I wanted 10,000 they could make it for £1.20 per unit. So at this point it was going to cost me £54,000.00

I did some shopping around and managed to get a rapid prototype made for free.
A m8 of mine was messing with some design programs so he put me a disk together that I could take to the tooling people. I looked at tooling all over the world and got the cost of the tooling down to £6,000.00 and £1,200.00 for the tooling design and that was all in UK (it pays to shop around)
I got the production down to £0.56 per unit but I had to have 25,000 units
So now my costs are £21,200.00

I started to look a getting them out on the shelves and what they would sell for and what I could make on them and that is not good what I found was it was my idea my design my tooling and the best I would get was £1.00 per unit giving me £0.44 per unit so if I sold all 25,000 units I would be better of sticking to tiling.

There is a lot more to this stuff than you would think there is also the patent office to deal with and that costs. There may be better ways of going about it all and you may get better advice than I did so don’t be discouraged as I am not the sharpest tool in the shed.

 

[John Benton]

Bri could you get the patent, get someone else to make it and stand the charges, and then take a %age from each sale.

Sounds like Dragons Den I know but you could put an awful lot of time and effort into something that will make you very little, although you may get a lot of satisfaction out of seeing a product you designed on the shelves.

 

[Ian]

Deano, that's exactly the sort of info I was after, thanks mate. I'm not sure I could find a big enough market to sell 25,000 units, I think 5000 would be the limit to be honest, it could make a few quid rather than making me my millions. I'll have a look into it and if it's not financially viable to do, I'll carry on sticking squares and rectangles to walls and floors!

 

[The D]

Why only 5000 m8 is it specialist ????

 

[Gazzer]

Its hard to say really as we dont know whether this is a one time purchase or something that needs to be renewed occasionally.
Is it just for UK markets or worldwide. For professionals or DIY too ?

 

[Tony73]

It's a robot that does all the tiling for you, you just drop it off on a Monday and then sit at home while it does a weeks work for you, then pick it up and take it to the next job, I reckon it'll cost about £10 to make, lol! I'll post here first if I think it's gonna be viable to make/sell it!

if it does mitre mizz- i'll take 1

 

[Dougs Third Go]

Mrs Doug contacted Anne Summers..#toomuchinfo.com

 

[Dan]

Bri,

Try make a mock-up out of sheet metal and nippers (if possible) and take that to a tooling company. If it's just one tool needed to make the part, then it might not cost as much as you think, and once you have the one tool made, it'll fit various machines so you sometimes have a little bargaining power there as you can take YOUR tool elsewhere.

Chinese firms will be able to make it you the cheapest but you'll normally have to buy a half container or so.

I wouldn't go down the patent route unless it's really something other companies have the time to mess around with. If you say only 5k would want it, max 9k, then they might not be interested at 50p profit an item. Worth considering global sales though as your 5k figure sounds a bit glass half empty to me. Believe in your idea matey and give it a bash because you'll regret it if you don't.

Even deano seems to have tried and at least he can say he did now, even though still on tools.

 

[Andy Allen]

is it one of those grab thingy's for get spacers out the top row of tiles.....lol

 

[Ian]

Why only 5000 m8 is it specialist ????

Its hard to say really as we dont know whether this is a one time purchase or something that needs to be renewed occasionally.
Is it just for UK markets or worldwide. For professionals or DIY too ?

its not really specialist, it's kind of a trowel. Once you had one you wouldn't need to buy another, it wouldn't wear out. It could be used by DIY or pro, I suppose I'm just guessing how many might sell, it maybe more if it went global. I'm convinced it will help the everyday tiler. I'll keep you in suspense for a bit longer!

 

[Peter]

Must be made from the same type of material that Sigma make their cutting machines with. :lol: