Thanks Seymor! These look great and very professional. You have proven you are very serious about presentation here. I will be placing another order in a few days and I updated the top of the page. Quick thing these guys will notice right away is the future HuCard Trays (for CD cases) you plan to sell. Got any pictures of the prototypes? Description? I know all of us here will eat those up.
I don't have any pictures of the prototypes for the HuCard trays just yet, but I can describe them.
The idea is to make a tray that will accommodate HuCards, and be designed to fit in any standard-sized single CD Jewel Case.
It will look very similar to a CD Tray, except that the center of the tray will have the four curved "L's" found in standard HuCard Trays, and a tab that will hold the card in place.
The design of the tab that holds the HuCard itself is not final yet, but I'm thinking about doing something similar to those tabs found in PS2 Game Cases, that hold the manual in place.
Whatever tab design I go with, will have to be short enough to not mess up, or obstruct, HuCard Manuals, and I also hope to position it in such a way, so that you can use it with an Arcade Card as well.
The Arcade Card is the one with the thicker part/lump, that's opposite the metal contacts, right?
Anyway, are there any other HuCards that have thick lumps on them?
I'm going to need to buy any weird, lumpy, HuCards I currently don't own, later on down the line, so I can test em' out, when it comes to the actual prototyping phase.
Any suggestions on what Lumply HuCards I need to put on my list, would be most helpful.
I need to sell roughly 120,000 HuCard Sleeves, in order to be able to raise enough funds to get the trays made, so it may take a while.
That's roughly 4,800 of the 25-Packs.
I'm hoping that opening up sales to other countries (once I sell out of this first run) will help me reach that goal pretty fast, but I won't know until I try.
In the meantime, Sparky might want to spend some of his free time prototyping Rear Tray Inserts for every HuCard ever made,
so he'll be ready to print and sell em once I'm able to get the new trays made.
I wouldn't recommend he print them out en mass though, at least, not just yet, but instead wait until I'm able to get the trays made, as 120,000 sleeves are A LOT OF SLEEVES to sell...
I'll send him some pre-production samples of the trays for free, if he wants, once I get that far along, so he can test em out with his Rear Tray Artwork, if he decides to make it.
Once I have the pre-production samples in my hands, it will take at least two weeks for the trays to be mass produced. Probably longer.
It depends on how many I have to order, to achieve the quantity-discount sweet-spot.
I estimate that to be somewhere between 30,000 and 100,000 trays for the first run, including the mold cost.
The mold will cost anywhere from $15,000 USD to $ 100,000 USD, depending on multiple factors.
Ideally, I'd like the Mold Cost to work out to be one cent or less, when you divide it by the # of trays I make on the first run.
And, of course, I need to make sure the per-unit cost of the trays is as low as possible.
It's a tricky balancing act, especially since, like the Sleeves, I'm going to have the trays Made in America as well.
Actually, there's a local Injection Molding Plastics company here in Texas, about a 45 minute drive from my home, that I'm probably going to go with.
I've spoken with them a number of times, and showed them my sketches, and they seem confident that they'll be able to make them, no problem.
I only have rough estimates on prices to go by at this point though, and they are subject to change.
The mold itself will consist of two (or more) huge blocks of metal, and as you know, when you are dealing with that much metal, it's cost is determined by two main factors.
What metal it is, and what it's market value is.
Also, the metal I choose will determine how long it will last / how many trays I can make, before it wears out; it's another thing I have to take into consideration...
On a lighter note, I re-tasked my old PC Speakers, and have them throughout my warehouse, playing internet radio while I work.
What can I say...? It helps to keep me sane.
Lately I've been listening to either Anime NFO or Japan-A-Radio.
Somehow, it seems to set the right mood, as I work on the vintage gaming stuff.
You can find em on
SHOUTcast, if you wanna listen to em too.
