2022, updates and game plan

Thanks!

I could just raise the price of the LR and keep selling them, but that does not feel right to me. I rather just focus on a new less expensive, more capable version than take people’s money buying overpriced parts from anywhere I can get them.

I had a company that was sourcing and bagging hardware for me. So I made the LR with the smallest hardware possible and no real concern for unique part count. That company turned out to…well I am back to baggin in house. So now unique part count is killing me and sourcing some of those sizes got 3x the price. Oddly the Primo costs for hardware went down a couple pennies. So the new one will be made with an eye on hardware prices for each size.

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I’d like to add my thanks too Ryan - postage costs aside (because you can’t control them) I greatly appreciate the effort you have gone to, to package stuff and support us as a group and individually.

March you say? Give me a break, I don’t know if I’ll even have my LR2 actually making stuff by then let alone having to think about replacing it!

I really appreciate the “layers” of thought in each piece you’ve designed not just the whole (I have to be careful not to wax too lyrical here lest I be thought of as some sort of fetishist), and watch each iteration of your machines with real joy.

If lose control and order try to buy stuff for the next one before I’ve got this one making stuff, can you please put a block on my order!

All the best!

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I have been testing UPS and USPS cubic rates. So prices have come down a touch for a few people. As a whole though, January is when all the shipper raise their rates. So for some it has gone up a bit. Can’t win the shipping game.

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I can say that UPS sucks for cross border shipping into Canada. The cost for “brokerage” (Basically punching in the sales tax amount) can be outright abusive. The worst case I remember myself is buying a used LCD monitor for $25 USD, plus $30 for UPS shipping. UPS then charged me $82 at my door for “brokerage and taxes” so I ended up with a used monitor that would have cost me $210 brand new at the local shop for about $190 after exchange. Pretty sure that I just stopped buying most things that had to be shipped cross border by UPS at that point. I remember telling one small vendor that I couldn’t buy from him if it had to be UPS shipping because of the brokerage policy.

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Dang that is crazy!

Currently, UPS is the only way to ship into Australia and New Zealand. I have not heard any bad reports yet, but now I am nervous.

Being fair, that was a long time ago. I’ve usually still avoided cross border whipping with UPS since then, so I don’t have much in the way of recent experience. One place that I deal with in California for my kendo stuff only ships UPS, but the taxes are prepaid, so it doesn’t hit at the door. (And the taxes are what I expect them to be.)

I’d still rather pay a bit more for postal service than UPS, because it takes a long time for a bad taste like that to wash out…

I wonder what it takes to figure in the taxes, I would have no idea how to even do that.

Into Australia - if the total package including shipping is worth less than $1000AUD there are no other charges currently applicable.

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I think this is enough to go the wife and start the justification of a new machine / purchase. He said it was going to be wild.

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Thanks for the updates Ryan, looking forward to seeing what you come up with for the new full sheet machine! It’s also great to see you are trying to keep prices down but if you can’t I think we all understand as well since the entire world economy going crazy right now.

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Don’t we all… Don’t we all… Well, most of us… :see_no_evil: :christian_grey:

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I saw that typo after I hit the post button and figured … You know what, it’s appropriate…

I’m looking forward to building a new LowRider. :star_struck: :stuck_out_tongue_winking_eye:

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Oh nooooo…I built my CNC in series. Does this mean I’m obsolete now?? :stuck_out_tongue_winking_eye:

Seriously though. Thanks for this update and keeping these projects going. I take breaks from time to time, but I always love coming back and learning stuff!

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If you install dual firmware, the series wires will still work fine. So no, you’re not obsolete, you are OG.

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Heyoh!

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If only we had the means by which to build some sort of robot(s) that could help us with repetitive tasks.

I joke but I know how difficult that task truly is. Sounds like you need to hire some child labor. Any teenagers around that would like making a few bucks under the table?

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The biggest issue with that is the insurances and taxes. At the $600 dollar per year mark you have to file paperwork, much above that you have to hire them. So business insurance goes way up if they work here, workers comp ~2%, taxes ~15%, sick leave, I have to change my “simple” no employees other than owner retirement plan to a “real” one, and payroll $45/month.

Tricky… I am sure it would be worth it. I was planning on hiring someone when I got back from MRRF 2020…then well we couldn’t. So we will see how this year starts to play out and it is a possibility soon. I want to make more things and take 2 days off a week.

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Ryan,

Since you are looking to retire the LR2 and launch a new design, would you consider bringing your new idea for the design to the forum for brainstorming? I’m a recent adopter of LR2 and have built it into a foam cutting machine to make large (88"x35"x6" is my bed currently) plugs and molds. Since building it in November, it’s been running pretty much every day since. I have a lot of ideas to enhance / improve it (for my application), but have not had the bandwidth to implement the changes.

Would it make sense to bring your new design to your customer base in the design phase, so all of us LR2 owners could help drive the design?

Despite being stuck with Marlin mode, and having the screen go glitchy on occasion (freezes, but finished the routine), I’ve made the LR2 an intricate part of my business. I would happily pay twice as much for the kit. Of course I would rather not…

Looking forward to hearing what the LR3 will be all about!

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I am not sure how I am going to do that. We do have an idea thread already started. Most of it is standard requests, things like horizontal are always suggested but always a maybe.

For this one I need to work on my main idea, if it works I will probably start asking very specific questions about the design at that time.

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