Or there is always the option to come pick it up and not pay any shipping 
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…sales tax
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I do have that turned on and my application in with the state
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and meet and kibitz with the all star Jonathan!
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@Jonathjon is an all-star. When he’s on off time regarding his shift, he can assemble and finish LowRiders faster than imaginable.
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I noticed that a bit after my post. I had just managed to click on the 24" one.
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@Jonathjon that’s 
awesome!!! Good luck 
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Thank you!!
Congratulations 
!
Time for all of us to think through all those businesses, schools, organizations and friends that have resources and not enough time to build a V1CNC and tell them the good news. The ideal first customers are someone who knows one of us and can get rolling faster with JJ’s head start. Then just let the snowball roll.
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I just got my first order!!!
And luckily it’s someone that is familiar with the machines! He has a stalled LR3 build with no motivation to finish and wants to just purchase a ready to go unit! Looking forward to getting home and getting the build going!
Also got my V1 box today with the upgrade kits to go with the 2 LR3 kits i purchased several months ago in preparation for this day!
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It started!!!
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Many school systems have areas of vocational training, but don’t currently offer CNC related classes…yet…
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@Tokoloshe found something pretty neat that I think might be a big help when it comes to packing and shipping…
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I’ve been wondering how you will package and ship these. I have shipped a few boxes in my day and randomly I was thinking about expanding foam in plastic bags that is used for shipping instead of custom die-cut closed cell foam. It could be interesting or a disaster, or potentially both.
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I have thought about this stuff too but I have no idea where to get it at. I have seen videos of it being used and it looks like it would be awesome for this. But I fear that at my extremely low volume it will be too expensive. Even using trash bags and great stuff would get expensive quick I think
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Packing it yourself for $5 a can plus a $6-10 box vs paying to have it packed might be worthwhile once you get the procedure dialed in and you know it won’t expand any more and break your stuff.
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Maybe so. I have no idea how far one can will go. So we will see how that goes I guess.
My current plan is to build a box out of 1/4” mdf and take 2x4s and rip them in half for the ribs. I can get 1/4” mdf for $14 a sheet and 2x4s are cheap. Then I know it will have a lot more protection than a cardboard box and hopefully not add too much to the weight
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I no longer know any packaging engineers, (shipment packaging as opposed to electrical packaging).
You really do need some help with this.
Although OSB/Plywood/MDF shipping boxes and crates are commonplace, they don’t translate to affordable shipping for a 4’ x 8’ machine that costs $1200… (which, I fear, you’ve priced too low to start with.)
Have you shipped one yet? What did it cost you in time and materials to make your crate, and what did it cost your customer to have it shipped?
Did it arrive in good condition, or have damage you have to repair/replace?
There’s a reason commercially shipped products have engineered packaging to restrain and manage the shocks and forces encountered in shipping. Engineering includes designing for cost, and commercial product packaging does a lot of work in this regard to reduce the cost to product manufacturers, distributors, and consumers.
Edit: So an example from the things I’ve seen real packaging engineers do: Imagine that you had your X axis gantry as a full assembly. Imagine there being a foam or cardboard matrix endcap on both sides that perfectly envelop the two YZ plates. Then put that into an outer cardboard box, with a few inner foam or cardboard inserts that again cradle the gantry. This, inside a box, becomes a much more protected peice that is probably subject to less damage in shipping.
Laer cut foam and cardboard box can be very inexpensive in low volume, and for higher volume these become die cut.
Even a foam-in-place version of that, following a recipe for properly protecting the gantry and all its’ essential components, would be much better than many alternatives.
You could also envision adding design-for-shipment features into the LR design. But that turns a simple post into a book.
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This for me is the absolute worst part of owning a business. I absolutely hate pricing and selling stuff. I am NOT a salesman by any stretch. So I will take any help/suggestions I can here. They aren’t exactly flying off the shelf at that price so I’m not really sure what to do
No I have not shipped one yet. I only have the one order so far and I got it after I got to work. Won’t be home to even start on it until the 23rd. Just trying to think things out as much as possible to be prepared. I have been looking at rates and as long as I can keep the box to 18” x 18” (the length didn’t seem to make a huge difference if any. I think I remember reaching out to 60” just to be sure and it stayed the same). As soon as you cross the 18” the price more than doubles.
Isn’t this pretty much what @orob was talking about? I want to do what I can to make sure the machine arrives in one piece and ready to go. But at my current volume I can’t justify getting custom packaging made. If the volume increases then at some point that might make sense. But currently it just doesn’t to me.
Thank you for taking the time to write all of that out. I greatly appreciate it. You guys know I can build a LR4 no problem. But all the other aspects of this are where I fall short for sure. I will take all the advice tips and tricks I can get. Keep me from constantly bugging Ryan with every idea or question I have lol. After 5-6 months of my random questions I’m sure he is ready for a break 
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I work for someone else, so take everything I say with a giant grain of salt.
That said, you don’t need them to fly off the shelf.
You need each one that does sell to generate enough net income that it is worth your time to do the production.
Yeah if i remember correctly the dimnsional rates are fickle as are the weights.
What exactly are you shipping? A finished beam, or a fully assembled machine with a table?
Yes. Though @vicious1 can help you with negatives of the gantry ends, as an example.
Laser cutting the right kinds of foam is easy and inexpensive, and you can glue up the parts to make pretty cheap, very good packaging. I’ve seen this done by a couple of startups that incubated at the big makerspace. They used our CO2 laser to great effect. A 3’ x 4’ sheet of foam can be cut into flat parts that transform into. awesome packaging. Once the job is designed, it takes only a few minutes to run.
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