From: Christy Beckham (beckhamcdc_at_theriver.com)
Date: 03/07/00
Message-ID: <38C59769.B748141A@theriver.com> Date: Tue, 07 Mar 2000 16:57:29 -0700 From: Christy Beckham <beckhamcdc_at_theriver.com> Subject: Re: ball connection
If you are serious enough about this to develop the financing, injection molding is
the way to go. Injection molding would be capable of handling the volumes you are
talking about. The material I would try would be something like a HDPE (high density
polyethelene) with UV protection or maybe a glass filled polystyrene. I would not
use PVC, that would put you in a speciality shop, and increase the cost. Also, there
are many different materials that are less toxic than PVC.
Redesign with supporting ribs instead of solid mass for molding.
>
>
> This is not a small undertaking. That's why I'm trying to
> keep the designs simple and easy to build. It's also why I'm not
> focusing on how to make it easy for the home hobbyist, because that's
> not the path that will allow us to make good headway. Rather, I think
> making it easy enough for every person who's got a machine shop (and
> some decent quality-control processes) to get involved and make some
> of these is the way to go. I know of few (if any) companies that can
> manufacture 1.6-9 billion units of something on their own. (But I bet
> many of them would love a contract like that!)
>
> Remember also that those numbers are per-year, and that we're
> looking at 40-year sustained order loads, just to deal with today's
> homeless issues.
>
> Hopeless? Nah... I think "exciting" is a better word. (Not to
> mention "challenging"! ;^) )
>
> Pat