Need for Aluminum Gears and Sprockets?

[Cory]

Originally Posted by Dick Linn

What is the difference, rule-wise, between a COTS part and a "custom" part? Let's say I can order a sprocket from stock from somewhere for $15. Or I can get something made-to-order from another for-profit business for $30. Isn't it just a matter of accounting for the purchase cost?

My entirely uninformed guess is that it depends where you get it from.

If you bought it from a reseller who is just the middleman between the machine shop and yourself, I'd say you probably account for just the purchase cost of $30.

If you bought it from a machine shop that is selling gears to people (such as this scenario), you account for whatever the labor works out to when billed x hours at whatever the shop rate per hour is.

As far as I can remember the rules have never really specifically addressed this.