[Richard Wallace]

Originally Posted by Andy Baker

Another option for this example, Richard...

If a company who sells the service of making rapid prototypes can give you a quote for making 1 piece for under $400, and that is the commercially-accepted price, then a team could make a custom part on one of these machines.

For instance, I made our first plastic Omniwheel for AndyMark on a dimensions 3D printer that used ABS plastic as the material. The company who made this part for me charged me $250 for each side of the omni wheel. This cost covered their material usage, labor, and overhead costs. Anyone off the street could take a similar design, of similar size and get approximately the same price. As long as it's done during the build season, this would be legal, in my interpretation to the rules stated above.

Thanks, Andy. For the record, Emerson does account for actual material and labor used when we make SLA parts, so the costs can be allocated to the appropriate project. Others had suggested that 931 could use those calculated costs, maybe adding a profit margin, to account for SLA items on its robot BOM. I rejected that because Emerson is not a vendor of SLA parts as defined in the FRC rules.

I should start looking for a free-lance SLA operator that can fabricate with the same resin that Emerson uses, and is willing to quote parts.