[hackerspaces] Tools for pricing consumables

[Arclight]

For machine tools, you can price out 3/8" shank brazed carbide tools for
the lathe (usually $2-8/each in 10-packs) and a few other stock items that
get used a lot and broken by novices. Like 1/4, 3/8, 1/2" endmills.

For metal stock, we let people take reasonable amounts of cheap stuff,
which is usually left over from projects anyway. We do a bulk order of of
square steel tubing that is popular for furniture and other welded projects
every few months.  That gets priced a bit over cost.
Anything really expensive should be marked, so that someone doesn't use $95
worth of brass or Ti when $3 of Aluminum would have sufficed.

The TIG welder is probably the most expensive-to-run machine we have, and
folks generally buy supplies themselves and pitch in for Argon refills.

Arclight
 On May 11, 2015 9:19 AM, "Joshua Pritt" <ramgarden at gmail.com> wrote:

> Our only consumables are the 3D printer filament and "laser food".
> 3D printer filament we just put a small scale next to the printer and have
> a "piggy bank" next to that labeled "10 cents per gram".  So the money in
> that bank goes to buying more plastic and any repairs for the printer.
> The laser food we keep one of those long, rubbermaid "under the bed"
> storage boxes under the laser table and keep it full of sheets of various
> colors and thicknesses of acrylic, corrogated cardboard, hobby plywood, and
> cardstock paper.  There's a sheet of paper on top with the prices printed
> out and people just toss their money directly in that rubbermaid tub to go
> towards more laser food to feed the laser.
>
> On Mon, May 11, 2015 at 12:12 PM, Shirley Hicks <
> shirley at velochicdesign.com> wrote:
>
>> Good morning from Birmingham, Alabama (US)
>>
>> What is everyone using to price their consumables?
>> What consumables are you pricing out separately, and which are you simply
>> rolling into workspace/lab overhead?
>>
>> We're gather high/low data regarding local paper and inkjet/laser
>> supplies, as well as commercial printing charges, and using that to build a
>> pricing model for paper consumables.
>>
>> We're also doing the same for our 3D printing ABS spools.
>> At this point it's rough (a couple of data  points for each), but will be
>> good enough for our purposes.
>>
>> We're staring with Excel spreadsheets, but are looking to automate both
>> the gathering of the data and the pricing ASAP.
>> Is anyone using "data scrapers" to gather this, and if so, what are you
>> using?
>>
>> Would there be interest for an automated pricing model to make this
>> process easier?
>>
>> Shirley Hicks
>> Red Mountain Makers
>> Birmingham, AL
>> www.redmountainmakers.org
>> shirley at velochicdesign.com
>> redmtnadmin at redmountainmakers.org
>>
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>
>
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