Hard lesson

[Gregg Vaughn]

Being new to estimating jobs, I've made many mistakes and learned from them. A recent mistake was a considerable tesson and one I thougt I would share for others new to all this. The job was for 55 1/4" x 5 1/2" x 7" wood signs (poplar). I priced the job out at 2 x my material costs + $1.50 per minute for laser time. The signs were all the same and were a stand-up design that involved 2 peices that joined togeather in a "T".

When I engraved the prototype I set it up correctly on the laser bed to run in the quickest time. What I forgot was that the peices had to set in the laser with the grain running along the Y-axis. The difference in running time was substantial, not something that trashed the job, but certainly a bite into profit.

Another tip from experience, Poplar does not engrave uniformly dark. It does not look bad, but not nearly as nice as alder or maple.

[Joe Pelonio]

Until you become more familiar with estimating/quoting, on a large quantity it can be a good idea to actually run a sample for accurate timing. If it's an expensive material you can run it with the top open so it doesn't fire just for the time.

[Bob Davis]

Look at it another way; you made the same amount of money, it just took longer.