Giving back

[Jim Watkins]

I hope showing this photo is not against the rules as my website is listed under my profile, but I wanted to share a stand for drum sticks which I am going to be placing at a recording studio in my area.

I used 1/8" birch ply for this. You only need to lightly sand the tabs to fit quite nicely.

Just change the face plate for your site or contact information.

Have a great evening all

Jim

[Mike Null]

Now that could really be called thinking outside the box.

Good idea. Thanks

[Vicky Orsini]

That's wonderful! I've been trying to come up with something just like this. Thanks! :D

[Vicky Orsini]

Only problem is that I can't open it in V11. :(

[Scott Shepherd]

Saved in V11 Format below. Hope you don't mind.

[Jim Watkins]

Not at all Scott, thanks.

[Vicky Orsini]

Thank you both, very much! :D

[Carol VanArnam]

I hope showing this photo is not against the rules as my website is listed under my profile, but I wanted to share a stand for drum sticks which I am going to be placing at a recording studio in my area.

Have a great evening all - Jim

Thanks Jim- I love the box. I've got a question for you on the drum sticks. I've wanted to start engraving these sticks and sell them. Do you have any ideas on prices or things to engrave on the sticks? Does it matter what part of the drum stick you laser engrave (upper, middle, lower parts)..... Have you sold any yet and what did your customers think?

[Jim Watkins]

so far I have not sold any, but I just got the stand finished the other night.

For ideas on designs, I went to the local music store and a few of the employees told me what they wanted and I designed accordingly. I gave three pairs away for the publicity. They are willing to tell their friends.

I offer to scan and engrave their signature plus the other side printed name in the font of their choice. basic price $6 a pair then $12 to $15 when a design is added. The drummer provides their own sticks. Price is for engraving only.

I have not decided what is fair for any design time though. I am open to suggestion from all of you great people.

I'll keep you all posted on how it goes.

[Mitchell Andrus]

Offer quantity discounts.. a busy drummer can go through a set of sticks in six to eight weeks, shorter if he plays rock.

Set up a few standard designs for free use, and then charge for designing customs, adding a slogan, names, etc.

[Jim Watkins]

I don't know if the price I am charging is enough. Your thoughts?

Time for signature and printed name is about 1m 20s @ 300dpi. I figured $6 ea for 1-5 pair and $5 ea for 6+ pair.

Time for the above plus this design, which goes all around is about 4m 10s @ 300dpi. I figured about $12-$15 pair for 1-5 and $10-$12 for 6+.

Drummer supplies the sticks.

What do you guys think? I am so new, I am not sure what to charge for engraving time or design time.

All thoughts welcomed.

[Tom Radachi]

What a terrific box. The drum sticks looks awesome as well.
Very well done!

[Bob Cole]

I was talking with a friend of mine and did his drum sticks. He buys the cheapo sticks and says he can go through a pair in a night.

I don't have the rotary attachment so I just did one side. I did several different passes at different power/speed settings. Turned out pretty well.

Have you thought about trying color fill? The wood that he gave me wasn't finished so not sure about the bleed, but think that could add some more wow factor.

Thanks for the idea. This laser stuff is just amazing.

[Jim Watkins]

I'm considering blue taping (painters tape) it and burning through it and then paint it. Alas I have yet to get an email or phone call on these. But I still hope...

[Nancy Laird]

Jim, I don't think you can burn through the blue painter's tape. We use it on products to make sure that the image we are going to engrave is in the right place. The laser only turns it white.

If you're going to laser only a name or one or two lines on the sticks, you can make a jig and make sure that you are lasering small enough so that the job doesn't go out of focus at the top and bottom. We do our pens that way all the time.

Most drumsticks I've seen are light-colored wood, so you would probably want to color-fill the engraving, but unless they are finished, you will run into a bleed problem. Shooting the sticks with a couple of light costs of lacquer from a rattle can before lasering, then another coat after lasering (or wax, as we used) to seal the cut grain, will keep the bleed to a minimum, if at all.

A good number of engravers charge by the minute for laser time at anywhere between $60 and $120 per hour - $1 to $2 a minute, rounding up for fractional minutes. If you have an hourly charge for art work, you might want to think about calculating your art charge (say $35.00), add in the charge for lasering the sticks, and divide the total by the number of pairs you are doing (if that makes sense).

Offhand, after doing a quick and dirty calculation, I'd say that your pricing is just about spot on.

Nancy (123 days)

[Jim Watkins]

Nancy and all,
With tests I found the following about painters tape:
With my 45W Epilog Mini 24:
3M Blue Painters Tape:

Raster 100sp @ 54%pwr @ 300 DPI = Clean burn through of blue tape without damaging surface (need to rub a little to rub out the sticky stuff)

Vector 100%sp @ 3% pwr = clean cut (No Damage or mark on surface)

I hope you all find this useful

Nancy, I also use the tape on glass at 20% power and 100% sp for testing the position of an engraving. Great trick my friend Dave from Cutting Edge Systems told me about.

[Nancy Laird]

Great trick my friend Dave from Cutting Edge Systems told me about.

I think I picked it up from Joe Pelonio very early in my membership here. Really helps when you're trying to insert a name into a slow on a 12x24" marble plaque that belongs to someone else!!!! :)

Nancy (123 days)