Keith Outten
10-13-2012, 1:35 AM
Recently I was contacted by a guy that runs a small electrical business, he specializes in changing out light bulbs in parking lots. He needs to have new lenses made periodically for lamp fixtures that are no longer available from the manufacturer.
The first set of lenses I made for him are simple 5" by 5" and 5" by 6" pieces made from 3/8" thick clear acrylic. These were cut on my laser engraver. There is a step to machine along two edges of each piece that is 1/2" wide by about 1/4" deep. This can be done on a router table using a fence. That's about all there is to the job.
I priced the lenses at $48.00 per set of four pieces. Material cost for a 24" by 48" piece of acrylic was $76.00 delivered to my shop door. I have made four sets of lenses and still have a fair size piece of material left over. Based on my numbers so far I can order a half sheet of acrylic and make ten sets of lenses this size for $150.00 with a billing cost of $480.00 in less than one hour of labor. Add a couple bucks for router bits and this ends up being very profitable, about $280.00 for less than an hours work.
Since there are parking lots at shopping malls and other large businesses everywhere there has to be electrical companies that do this type of work who would be more than happy to save a lot of money dealing with a local shop that can fabricate these lenses. My customer was concerned about the low price I gave him, he wanted to make sure that it was profitable for me to continue so I know he is saving serious money over his previous supplier.
Check your phone books for companies in your area that provide this type of service. I suspect that this could end up being a very lucrative monthly recurring type of job. I hope the next order is for 50 to 100 sets of lenses :)
I will post some pictures as soon as I can.......I'm working on a sign sample for a hospital that has to be delivered on Monday morning.
.
The first set of lenses I made for him are simple 5" by 5" and 5" by 6" pieces made from 3/8" thick clear acrylic. These were cut on my laser engraver. There is a step to machine along two edges of each piece that is 1/2" wide by about 1/4" deep. This can be done on a router table using a fence. That's about all there is to the job.
I priced the lenses at $48.00 per set of four pieces. Material cost for a 24" by 48" piece of acrylic was $76.00 delivered to my shop door. I have made four sets of lenses and still have a fair size piece of material left over. Based on my numbers so far I can order a half sheet of acrylic and make ten sets of lenses this size for $150.00 with a billing cost of $480.00 in less than one hour of labor. Add a couple bucks for router bits and this ends up being very profitable, about $280.00 for less than an hours work.
Since there are parking lots at shopping malls and other large businesses everywhere there has to be electrical companies that do this type of work who would be more than happy to save a lot of money dealing with a local shop that can fabricate these lenses. My customer was concerned about the low price I gave him, he wanted to make sure that it was profitable for me to continue so I know he is saving serious money over his previous supplier.
Check your phone books for companies in your area that provide this type of service. I suspect that this could end up being a very lucrative monthly recurring type of job. I hope the next order is for 50 to 100 sets of lenses :)
I will post some pictures as soon as I can.......I'm working on a sign sample for a hospital that has to be delivered on Monday morning.
.