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Author Topic: I have gone spinner crazy!  (Read 2945 times)

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jason6300

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I have gone spinner crazy!
« on: September 21, 2003, 10:22:15 pm »
I am a tempest fanatic and well like to build things so...

I downloaded all the plans for spinners I could find
Hard drive
twisty grip
Cheap spinner
I mean ALL I could find....
Any way I bought parts to build all of them many times over.
I was asking the forum if You Guys think there is room for another seller of spinners.

BTW: OSCAR spinners look to be the Best on the market Right now! (great Job Oscar)

But none the less I have 20 or so 1/4" shafts and 10 optic sensors. ETC ......bearings....etc

I'm only short a reason to put them togeter and the knobs for the top.

Awaiting opinions

paigeoliver

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Re:I have gone spinner crazy!
« Reply #1 on: September 21, 2003, 10:30:38 pm »
Don't make spinners with the stuff. Instead make a spinner like deal that can take those 3 spoke "Kustom" steering wheels that you can get for $20 at the auto parts store.

Acceptance of Zen philosophy is marred slightly by the nagging thought that if all things are interconnected, then all things must be in some way involved with Pauly Shore.

jason6300

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Re:I have gone spinner crazy!
« Reply #2 on: September 21, 2003, 11:40:44 pm »
Don't make spinners with the stuff. Instead make a spinner like deal that can take those 3 spoke "Kustom" steering wheels that you can get for $20 at the auto parts store.


I'll look at them this week!
Any more ideas or thoughts

paigeoliver

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Re:I have gone spinner crazy!
« Reply #3 on: September 22, 2003, 12:53:39 am »
I dunno, that just popped into my head.

I had always thought that the main problem with buying steering controls is that they are so heavy that it makes shipping real expensive. But shipping them without the wheel, and then picking up the wheel at Autozone would make it so much simpler for both the buyer and the seller.

Plus the prospective buyer could choose between the zillion different wheels that Grant (that is the name, just remembered it) makes.

Plus, those Grant wheels have a horn button in the middle which is a real bonus in my book.
Acceptance of Zen philosophy is marred slightly by the nagging thought that if all things are interconnected, then all things must be in some way involved with Pauly Shore.

eightbit

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Re:I have gone spinner crazy!
« Reply #4 on: September 22, 2003, 02:46:13 pm »
1/4" shafts aren't good for steering wheels, you need a much heavier shaft....
My statements are my own opinions. They have the value that the reader gives them. My opinion of my opinion varies between foolish and brilliant and these opinions often change with new information.

jason6300

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Re:I have gone spinner crazy!
« Reply #5 on: September 22, 2003, 09:49:19 pm »
1/4" shafts aren't good for steering wheels, you need a much heavier shaft....

I was looking at that today and would agree you need a MUCH larger shaft to do a steering wheel!

Back to spinners!

hyiu

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Re:I have gone spinner crazy!
« Reply #6 on: September 23, 2003, 02:50:09 pm »
I agree with the above....

Oscar has great spinners... and slikstick also has a smooth spinner....

there's not much room for spinner seller... (I would say... but hey... what do I know...)

if you can get 360 steering wheel going....
that's good...

but steering wheel shafts are much thicker.....
so... you'll need a gear to spin the encoder... (but not diectly...)

that would allow you much greater leverage....

and if also fit aftermkt steering wheels... that's COOL !!!.

 ;)
Another Brilliant mind ruined by education....  :p

jcoleman

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Re:I have gone spinner crazy!
« Reply #7 on: September 23, 2003, 04:03:18 pm »
There is plenty of room for more spinner manufacturers.  Personally I think that with volume and/or competition, the prices would come down.  I can't be the only one that thinks $90 is too expensive for a spinner.  And you still have to buy the interface!

John

Homebrew

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Re:I have gone spinner crazy!
« Reply #8 on: September 23, 2003, 05:05:50 pm »
There is plenty of room for more spinner manufacturers.  Personally I think that with volume and/or competition, the prices would come down.  I can't be the only one that thinks $90 is too expensive for a spinner.  And you still have to buy the interface!

John

More competition won't necessarily lower the prices.  Don't get me wrong, competition is great when you have big companies that do all their own work in house, but when you dealing with smaller scale manufacturing, competition won't necessarily bring down the prices.  Take Oscar for instance.  If i'm not mistaken, alot of the parts for Oscar's spinners are machined for Oscar by other companies.  What i mean is the machine work for the parts is outsourced.  Oscar has to pay for the machine work in addition to parts costs.  
      If Oscar had access to equipment to do his own machining, his profit margin's would be a bit better, but in all honesty after all Oscar's costs, i don't think he's making much off each spinner.  Now i don't know what the other spinner manufacturer's situations are, but that seems to be Oscar's from what i've read on here and i've seen no reason to not believe it.  I really don't think 1 more spinner manufacturer would cause a drop in prices.  I agree with the others that it would be nice to have someone offer a kit to make your own steering wheel though.

-Kevin

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Re:I have gone spinner crazy!
« Reply #9 on: September 23, 2003, 08:09:11 pm »
More competition won't necessarily lower the prices.  Don't get me wrong, competition is great when you have big companies that do all their own work in house, but when you dealing with smaller scale manufacturing, competition won't necessarily bring down the prices.  Take Oscar for instance.  If i'm not mistaken, alot of the parts for Oscar's spinners are machined for Oscar by other companies.  What i mean is the machine work for the parts is outsourced.  Oscar has to pay for the machine work in addition to parts costs.  
      If Oscar had access to equipment to do his own machining, his profit margin's would be a bit better, but in all honesty after all Oscar's costs, i don't think he's making much off each spinner.  Now i don't know what the other spinner manufacturer's situations are, but that seems to be Oscar's from what i've read on here and i've seen no reason to not believe it.  I really don't think 1 more spinner manufacturer would cause a drop in prices.  I agree with the others that it would be nice to have someone offer a kit to make your own steering wheel though.

-Kevin


I couldn't have said it better myself.  My newer spinners (Push/Pull & Vortex) are completely outside shop-fabricated so my pricing is dictated by the shop rates.  I only tack on a couple % to cover business expenses, I'm certainly not getting rich off of them as my wife will attest to!  :)

Regardless of how much competition there is in the spinner market, it will not affect my pricing whatsoever.  I'm content making "a nickel on the dollar" since this has always been more of a hobby rather than a business for me.

So far I have helped 3 other companies design custom spinners for their control panel businesses so they could make them in-house rather than buy from us "commercial" guys, so competition is obviously of no concern to me.  BTW, these other companies are brick 'n mortar operations without online presence, so you likely have never heard of them.  The MAME controller/cabinet market is *much* larger than most people realize.

Good luck on your endeavor jason6300!



Homebrew

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Re:I have gone spinner crazy!
« Reply #10 on: September 23, 2003, 10:14:05 pm »
Glad to see you're reply Oscar, i was hesitant to post what i did because i didn't want to spread any misinformation nor did i want to seem like i was speaking for you.  I just wanted to point some things out.  I think we all sometimes overlook things when making conclusions about product pricing(not just in this hobby, but products in general).
     Having tried my hand at computer product sales and not getting far, i have an appreciation/understanding of how costs can be greater than people realize.  Now i always try to take a step back and really think about what costs are involved in a product.  I think these days, very few products have a high profit margin.  Really the only way to make a lot of profit  The real cost in those jobs is time.  Sorry for going on, i certainly didn't mean to derail the thread.  My apologies jason6300.  Definetly let us know what you decide to do, i'm sure the community will welcome any new additions.  

-Kevin

jason6300

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Re:I have gone spinner crazy!
« Reply #11 on: September 23, 2003, 11:09:56 pm »
Wow!
Alot of info.

I am by no means looking to become a huge spinner mogul.
I understand how hard it can be (I ran my own Screen Printing Buisness for 7 years).
Now I do alittle better ($$) running "The Big Boss Mans Shop"
And ALOT Less hours too.

I Just have all the extra Spinner parts and was Wondering if it would make since to make 15-20 or so just for the Project and to Have alittle Feel of Ownership in something Again!  ;) :'(
Poor Poor Me Workin for the Man.. ;D

Oh ya Did I mention (Why Yes I DID)
OSCAR SPINNERS RULE!
It is ONLY my stir crazyness that Makes me think that I should Make Spinners
« Last Edit: September 23, 2003, 11:12:29 pm by jason6300 »

Homebrew

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Re:I have gone spinner crazy!
« Reply #12 on: September 24, 2003, 05:36:28 am »
Oops, hope i didn't sound discouraging.  I was just trying to comment on jcoleman's post(no offense or anything to him either).  Since you have the extra parts, i see no reason why you shouldn't go ahead and make some to sell.  Someone will be interested i'm sure.  Best thing to do since you have the parts anyway is to make a few and post some pictures.  If you're inclined to do so, maybe send one over to Kevsteele for review.  I think when it comes down to it, what you price it at will be a determining factor.  While as i said, you're prices won't really affect the market for spinner, if you price them low enough, they should be no problem to sell.  Just my $.02.  

-Kevin

jason6300

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Re:I have gone spinner crazy!
« Reply #13 on: September 24, 2003, 09:56:00 am »
Homebrew,
Thank you for the "$.02 "
That is exactly why I posted the Question.
I'm looking for everyones' "$.02."
With enough "$.02" worth of opinions You get I a great picture of what is going on.
I am very pleased with all the info you guys are giving me.
Thank You
Jason6300


jcoleman

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Re:I have gone spinner crazy!
« Reply #14 on: September 24, 2003, 10:00:07 am »
Just to be clear, I was referring to the Tornado from SlikStik.  If I had $60 extra I'd have myself a Vortex within the week.  :)

John

dirt

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Re:I have gone spinner crazy!
« Reply #15 on: September 25, 2003, 08:45:11 pm »
hey jason6300 i would be interested in one of your spinners.could you post a picture of one and how much you are looking to get for it?

dirt
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hyiu

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Re:I have gone spinner crazy!
« Reply #16 on: September 26, 2003, 12:57:40 pm »
(ok.... jumping in with my $0.02...)

more choices is always good !!!....

but we already have quite a few choices in spinners....
(and frankly... their qualities are good !!...)

if you want to do a small batch of spinners and compete with cheaper prices.... yes, I think it'll be ok... but cheap price alone won't manage in the long run.... quality product rules in the long run....

if you really want to sell.... think about steering wheels !!!!
there're currently no such thing out there !!!...

I think I have seen an Arknoid spinner before....
the spinner itself deosn't share the axis with the encoder... but through 1 or 2 gears....

to support the wheel.... you'll need 2 bearings (like the Tornado)..... and a thicker axis.... then 1 gear and that connects to the encoder wheel...

and on top... maybe a screw and nut top so that you can mount any gneric steering wheel.....

and I think this WILL SELL !!!..... ;) ;D

but I really... really don't have the time for it.....
nor the skill set to make this happen....
(still cutting pieces for my cab....)
 :-\ :P

hopefully.... I'll be able to finish before winter comes...
(then it'll be too cold to work in the garage....)

Another Brilliant mind ruined by education....  :p

RandyT

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Re:I have gone spinner crazy!
« Reply #17 on: September 26, 2003, 04:46:11 pm »

if you really want to sell.... think about steering wheels !!!!


The question is, what is someone willing to pay for a steering wheel?  One of the problems is finding a decent wheel at low cost and still have it be something you can build upon.

Just curious.......because I have built a wheel in the past that worked quite well.

RandyT