[Oblarg]

Originally Posted by AdamHeard

We do tube and gusset for pretty much every system. We did't have a pneumatic riveter until 2011, and did hand until then.

It's certainly meaningful quantity, and it's certainly worth it. The time saved is huge.

I like to think of labor in terms of minimum wage. If the cost of a tool saves enough labor that it's "making" more than minimum wage, it's worth it (as our kids make well above minimum wage when they're out fundraising). The flipside is true too... any fabrication we do that "saves" less than minimum wage is a bad decision, and should be a COTS item.

Too many teams work themselves for below minimum wage.

Unfortunately, the reality for many teams is that time spent is not some limitlessly fungible resource where any time saved in manufacturing can be converted to money through fundraising efforts.