Mux Posted May 21, 2019 Share Posted May 21, 2019 Hi everyone!So I had a company draw up a quote about creating reproduction cartridges. While the cartridges themselves are dirt cheap (about 50 cents/piece), the mould and shipping is what makes it come to (roughly) $5k for 1000 pieces. Is there any interest in me going forward with this? Ideally, I'd increase the run to 2000 or more but I would really need to be sure I can sell them :-)Thoughts?-Mux Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
+Gemintronic Posted May 21, 2019 Share Posted May 21, 2019 Are there enough O2 fans, repro makers and new game publishers to support a $5k purchase? I wonder if you could have a new cart design that has a bottom end separate from the main shell. The bottom end would come in different forms for each classic system: Coleco, Atari, O2, etc.. The bottom end would snap onto the main body. With niche markets like retro gaming the more potential customers (and systems) the better. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Mux Posted May 21, 2019 Author Share Posted May 21, 2019 The O2 is a niche system for sure. There are quite a few home-brews though but all devs tend to canibalize carts which is a bit unfortunate IMO. As for your idea, you'd need to make sure that it would accommodate different size PCB's as well.. The 7800 PCB *just* about manages to fit into a standard 2600 by utilizing the original plastic tab cutouts.. -Mux Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Mux Posted May 23, 2019 Author Share Posted May 23, 2019 Anyone? Anyone interested? If not, recommendations for cross-posting on other forums (already posted on videopac.nl) would be appreciated. I really would like to get this off the ground but can't spot the entire amount up front... Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
LS_Dracon Posted May 23, 2019 Share Posted May 23, 2019 Would be great if you have a way to produce brand new cart shells. The problem, 5k is like sell 100 carts at $70 ($20 for the production costs, $50 for pay the injection mould). It is difficult to sell that much in a short period of time. But you can sell the empty carts for homebrew producers, which helps a bit. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Mux Posted May 24, 2019 Author Share Posted May 24, 2019 Actually, it'd be $5/cart and, if there's enough demand, the price goes down to about $3/cart. Most of the cost is in shipping and the upfront cost of the mould. If you wanted to go all-out, you'd probably (again, in volume although a lot lower) come to about $10 for COG's (cart, pub, eprom, inlay and printed box). Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
bah Posted May 28, 2019 Share Posted May 28, 2019 Actually, it'd be $5/cart and, if there's enough demand, the price goes down to about $3/cart. Most of the cost is in shipping and the upfront cost of the mould. If you wanted to go all-out, you'd probably (again, in volume although a lot lower) come to about $10 for COG's (cart, pub, eprom, inlay and printed box). The supply of carts in the wild has dwindled for me but I still find groups of commons for around $4 each or under and I re-use the game pcb and metal dust cover. At this price it is hard to justify the new shell which will require a new pcb too. I also followed your path and drew up a new case in CAD and approached a local molder that had connections with Chinese tool makers. The costs were similar so I chose to not do it. Have you contacted 2600connection, (timdu on these forums)? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
ozyr Posted June 3, 2019 Share Posted June 3, 2019 Nice thing about repro carts: - no need to cannibalize older carts (these are for collectors). - biggest thing (as I see it), no need to remove labels from old carts (this is a pain in the ass, period). - at $3-5, the price is just fine. - if this is a true repro, there are already PCBs designed for this. I would be curious as to how this would be done? Mr. Mux, PM me if you'd like. I need more details. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
timdu Posted June 4, 2019 Share Posted June 4, 2019 I don't think I would be interested. I am fine with utilizing existing Odyssey2 cartridges just as I have been doing since 2012. Also, the market is very, very small. I do not think there is justification to make the new cartridges. This is just my opinion. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Mux Posted June 12, 2019 Author Share Posted June 12, 2019 Judging by the lack of demand I've told the manufacturer to put the project on hold. I've got a tentative order of around 200 units but that would leave me with 800 carts, which isn't great.. @ozyr - I contacted a manufacturer in China and sent them a cartridge shell to get a quote. Most of the cost goes to the initial mold (which you'd get send as well if there's ever more demand) and shipping, which comes in at around $500. The carts themselves are about 50 cents. *IF* there was a lot of demand the price would go down to about $2.50/cart or so but at this point, there is.. err, no point... -Mux Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
ozyr Posted October 11, 2019 Share Posted October 11, 2019 How long is the quote for this? Plus I'm curious if a 'new' cart was used for the mold. I am still interested, as destroying games is something I'm tired of doing (plus cleaning them up is a pain too). I used new PCBs, as the cost is low, and the product more reliable. I only ask about using a 'new' cart for the mold, as I would possible increase my amount. Plus I wonder what guarantee there is on this? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
+grips03 Posted November 9, 2019 Share Posted November 9, 2019 I wonder if there would be more interest in new Videopac cases (the ones that hold the games and manual). Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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