Any news on the 4 way steck connector

[Birdie]

Earlier someone mentioned that the minimum for organizations that want a special set made is 20,000. I wonder if they would be persuaded to produce a new mold if we gather up 20,000 pledges to buy this part.

That's pretty interesting, actually. You wouldn't even need that many people, if they're all prepared to buy 10 or more connectors.
Sign me up for 20 (10 in grey and 10 in brown) 

[Baron Marshall]

I would buy up to 200 if I could... all the steck parts need to be in the ds range even if they are online only and take 6 weeks to arrive and don't appear in the  catalog... and for that matter the system x parts... is this a "direct service" range of products or a junk sale? 

[Tiermann]

If I remember correctly from the tour a couple years ago the low end cost of a new mold is about 200,000 Euros. If you could come up with 1000 people who are willing to buy 10 each then it would still cost 10 Euros per connector. They did replace the solid steck wall mold, but that's because it is used in multiple add on sets they have re-released. The better tactic it seems to me is to convince them there is enough demand for the old farm that used the part as an add-on, plus the general demand for just the part, to make it worth doing the mold again. It's something for those of us going to the meetings over the next couple of months to talk to them about.

[tahra]

Earlier someone mentioned that the minimum for organizations that want a special set made is 20,000. I wonder if they would be persuaded to produce a new mold if we gather up 20,000 pledges to buy this part.

I'm not sure that figure is for new molds... Could be for a set made of existing parts (or new colors?)

[Tiermann]

I know some individual molds that mold in multiple colors cost as much as a million Euros each. It's something you can ask during the tour next month.

[Ismene]

I'm not sure that figure is for new molds... Could be for a set made of existing parts (or new colors?)

Yeah, I'm not sure either. It would be a good thing to ask. I wouldn't think that this mold would cost as much as a completely new mold because there's no designing necessary. They should be able to use the part as a basis for the new mold. And maybe we could get the demand up to 200,000.

[Rasputin]

say 2000 people
each buys 10 4 packs or 40 individuals
That is a total of 80,000 pieces
If each piece was say $2.50 or $10 per pack or $40 $100 per person
That is $200,000

would that cover a mold or not?
would 2000 people each put up $40$100 into an account to place an order?
How do we get enough funds to make our own order with Geobra as a wholesale customer like TRU?
We could do this often as a collective group. Place custom large orders at wholesale 

[Pippa]

say 2000 people
each buys 10 4 packs or 40 individuals
That is a total of 80,000 pieces
If each piece was say $2.50 or $10 per pack or $40 per person
That is $200,000

would that cover a mold or not?
would 2000 people each put up $40 into an account to place an order?
How do we get enough funds to make our own order with Geobra as a wholesale customer like TRU?
We could do this often as a collective group. Place custom large orders at wholesale 

I know I would be willing to put up $40 or $50

But I'm not sure it would be enough - even if we could get 2,000 people to each advance $40, that's only $80,000 and they would have the cost of a mold and the normal production costs, etc.

It would be nice to know how much it would actually cost though.

We'll all have to keep hounding them.  I can't believe that it wouldn't be profitable for them to continue offering more steck through DS considering the demand on ebay.  I assume that the re-releases do well since the keep doing them.

[Baron Marshall]

Perhaps the molds for  whole new set might cost that much, but if individual part molds are that expensive then the fairy princess stuff is going to bankrupt the company. I know the molding machines themselves cost around 300k so it seems unlikely that a single mold to go into the machine would cost as much unless they are talking about molds for a whole new theme or large set, like the pyramid for example.

[Rasputin]

our child hood friends family had a machine in a barn at their tomato farm. It spat out RC helicopter blades all day and night. They bought the machine to cut their own designs out of metals. It was not a fortune to set it up.

A simple mold is about $20,000

The four way is actually a complicated mold if you think of it. You have to separate the mold casts in a special way. Its not just a gun.

Can a 3D printer make the part?