Why frames are soo expensive?

T

tstrike

pendejo grande
Bimo should check out one of the members here, Mattpvc. Guy's nailin it with his home built gear and he post all his builds with info for the home gamers.
My dad used to say "Don't talk out of your own pocket" meaning just cuzz my pockets were empty, the guy's next to me might not be. We later had him committed but that's another story...
 



SMP

SMP

Member
I'm going to take the opposite side of this coin. Here's why:

If any of you have followed any of Holco/Bart/Boris/Droidworx builds, you'll see that 90% of the posts are evolutionary. in other words, these guys spend hours, days, sleepless nights, in process improvements; making sure screws line up, holes are perfectly aligned, maintenance is possible, multiple FCs are considered, performance improvements, the list goes on and on. Very little time is spent on carbon, wood, aluminum etc... yes, as Bart mentioned ultimately it's still just a Quad, 4 sticks etc, except that Barts sticks line up and for Me, as the customer and the guy using it on a daily basis, those are the little things that stay with me long after the initial price.

Dont get me wrong I personally think the Tarot stuff looks great but I haven't heard from anyone yet who's had one forever and still loves it. I do know that I've reconfigured the smaller Droidworx frame half a dozen different times and have only had to drill once. Thats future proofing. Both camps exist for a reason but just because these guys (the Engineers) ask for a return on their time doesn't necessarily make it expensive.

(Oh and TStrike, you're a funny cat man, that one made me laugh!)
 

Breezemont

Breezemont

Member
Anyone who designs a frame has the very same issues to overcome.
Equally effective frames can be as cheap as a couple of bucks or as expensive as your pockets are deep.
Whispershots was getting brilliant DSLR footage several years ago with a $30 homemade tricopter, so don't let anyone convince you that hundreds or thousands of dollars are required to accomplish that. The same goes for so-called "heavy lifters". For $10 I can make a lightweight wood frame that will hold 30 lbs up. For $50 and an afternoon in the shop with simple hand tools I can whip out 5 of them. In my experience, the money is better spent on the quality of the components rather that the bits that holds them all together.
One of the best reasons to DIY is the repair factor. When (not if) your lovely machine ends up in a heap, it's a lot less painful to pick up the pieces from a cheap frame, even less so if you whipped up a spare or two.

This is not intended as a knock on frame designers at all, as a designer myself I know how much time it takes.

As always, YMMV. :)
 
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Bartman

Bartman

Welcome to MultiRotorForums.com!!
the reality is that a lot of people want a product where the design has already been done. there's a market for frames so there's a supply. if/when the demand dries up so will the supply.
i'm happy to make frames so long as there is a demand. it's a lot of work though and every time i think the workload is under control it doubles.
 


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