Man this is more people than I thought... I'll try to get that mold quote request out tomorrow, hopefully they are a decent price.

Add me to the list....

My set came in the mail today. I'll post some pics when I get them installed.

Very cool! Taking my running boards off this weekend and am interested in a set

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Let us know how the quote works out. I think there's probably enough interest here to help out with the setup costs.

I sent all the info out for a quote, I should get a response sometime next week. I asked for the part material to be Polyurethane 80D hardness. Fingers crossed that it's not absurdly high...

I sold one set to phattyduck. The last set is probably going to bizmo21 (the first name on my list for these things) but he has yet to respond... I'll give another week. If not, they are going to TRD_4RNR.

Fair enough, I'm hopeful that the molds work out and that will make the process a whole lot easier and less time consuming for you. And that way everyone who wants a set can have one.

I'm in for a molded set as well if you go that direction. Would prefer the full flap if possible but I will buy whatever you have. Thanks!

I quoted urethane casting with an American company a few weeks ago and it was going to be like $400 per set of the "reduced size" mudflaps

I just got the quote back from a company in Hong Kong that I was referred to by some coworkers. Their site looks good and I was really hoping they'd be significantly cheaper. This is the company: Able Industrial Design & Technology Ltd. ? From Concept to Reality

I requested a quote for 25 pieces of each mold flap. Their quote worked out to being $140 per mudflap set (not including shipping, fees, taxes, etc). That's only about a third of the cost of the American supplier and the quality would be the same, but it's still too expensive. Here's the breakdown:

$1750 left mudflaps (qty:25)
$1750 right mudflaps (qty:25)
$30 estimated shipping my mudflaps to HK (for the mold to be made)
$150 estimated shipping for 25 sets of mudflaps from HK to USA
$105 import tax on parts - estimated at 3%
$105 paypal fees, if company does not like that I have to use paypal instead of wire transfer

total = $155 per set
+ $15 to ship from me to you

= $170 per set, and that's with me making zero profit. Hypothetically, I'd probably want to make at least $30 on each set (and that's a super small margin of only 15%, most companies shoot for 40-60%). That would make me $750 which really isn't all that much, considering the amount of work it would take to organize something like this.

In summary: I'm an engineer, not a businessman. Free downloads of the CAD are available for everyone -- now you figure out what to do with them!!

I do want to sincerely thank you for your interest in this project! If you find someone that can make the parts (a single set, or multiple sets that you can sell) then go for it!

I don't "like" that it costs so much to have done, but do like the research you did. It shows people where the costs of goods can come from.

Small volume companies shoot for 100% gross profit (cost is 50% of sale price), at least. Successful ones find opportunities that are 300% gross profit (cost is <25% of sale price) or more... Only large consumer product companies can run on small margins and survive.

I think the real answer here is to find a good 3d printing option, sadly. Molded parts really only start to make sense in the thousand+ quantity range. It is hard to find China suppliers that will do small runs and US suppliers are expensive (geared towards aerospace, generally).

-Charlie

This is 100% correct, and even more sad, given the cost (time and materials) involved in molding and 3D printing, this is never going to be a viable mass production product with as limited an audience as there is.

It's almost cheaper for the Sport flare guys to upgrade to Limited flares, or roll their own front end caps/mud flaps

I think we're saying the same thing but with different words: 50% margin = 100% mark-up = cost is 50% of sale price

Out of curiosity, I checked 3D hubs and it looks like you can get somewhat decent prices on the parts (prices shown are per pair). You would still have to buy the epoxy to coat them yourself. Maybe this is a reasonable option for some people who are interested.









I recommend ABS with 200 micron layer heights

I've been considering offering to help print these if there's still interest. I have a CR-10 S4 with a print bed of 15.75" x 15.75", or 40cm x 40cm.
I'm wondering though, wouldn't PETG work? Is there a reason not to use it? Also, what infill are you going with? 100%, 35%.. etc, sorry if I missed that.
I typically have a live stream going of parts I'm printing, so folks could even watch their parts being made in real time (and see any screwups). Youtube Link
EDIT 9:33AM 12/29/2017: Current stream finished (print finished) and YT is processing it. Should be viewable once processing is complete.

I'm interested

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