Tripod Legs

[Newbie85]

Hello,

I'm in 2nd year engineering at the university of toronto and i was wondering if you guys could help me out.

we're asked to design a new product choosing from a wide range of topics for a tradeshow. My group chose the one where we had to design a new support for wildlife photographer lens, because they are often heavy (eg. canon 500 mm f4 IS USM)

Anyway, my group and i have developed a support where the person wears a belt and suspenders, which has 3 beams attached to it (i'll post pics once we're finished everything).

Since our design does not require exact materials and specifications, since it's only a model, we have used television antennas for the beams because they extend like tripod legs (sort of).

My main question is how much would it COST to manufacture such tripod legs (made out of some aluminum alloy).

I have searched for such and i see it retails around $150. However, I was hoping some of you would know how much it costs to actually manufacture these legs because we need to incorporate all production costs to calculate the selling price.

Thanks in advance,

the newb.

[92135011]

thats a neat project you working on there

a few things:

1) less leg sections is more sturdy
2) try a Mg alloy that Gitzo uses on the section that holds the legs and centre column. Said to be lighter

good luck on that ^_^

[another view]

You'd probably be looking at something like a Gitzo 1410 (three sections, extends over 6') to support that kind of load with any amount of stability. Sorry, can't help you with the others...

[SmartWombat]

my group and i have developed a support where the person wears a belt and suspenders, which has 3 beams attached to it

Ah, for a moment that didn't translate to english(*).
I think I see what you mean, like a backpack harness (hip and shoulder belts) without a backpack.

You may find adjustable tent poles are a cheap source of material for the supports.


*) English might think first of the suspenders that hold up ladies' stockings and not braces that hold up trousers.

[PhotoGimp]

Speaking from someone who works in the extrusion industry(plastic), actually right down the road in London, prices will vary quite a bit depending on quantity and material, as well as quality. Quantity is the big one. After you get the design structure figured out for what you want, then you have to design the extrusion die(actually,2 or 3 of them if it is telescopic), and since it will probably be hollow, is tough to do and very expesive since you have to run a vacuum system to keep it from collapsing after it comes out of the die. Are these going to be telescopic and what kind of clamping system are you going to use. I run a small business on the side making custom tripod rings, mounts, custom machining, and have contemplated fabbing up a tripod similar to the gitzo explorer, but haven't because it is tough. If you want to get some more info, there is a aluminum extrusion shop in London Ontario called Kaiser Aluminum, and I'm sure they would be happy to help some University Students. But a good start would be to figure out how may sections then talk to a tool and die shop, and there are plenty in TO, get a quote for making those dies and call an extrusion shop and see what cost would be to run off 1000ft, 5000ft and 20000ft of each size. the footage may seem like alot, trust me it's not.

[Newbie85]

Thanks for the advice,

We've tried to get quotes from companies but they're pretty anal about it.

The tradeshow is in two days... and we hve yet to come up with a selling price.

We figure the tooling for the plastic parts would be a couple hundred bucks?

Those aluminum tripod legs - we were thinking of just having a distributor sell us three rods pre made and our "workers" will assemble it.

The two plastic parts and one assembled view are shown in the link. We figure the al rods will be max 6 feet in length and 0.3 inches in diameter

http://ca.pg.photos.yahoo.com/ph/san...lbum?.dir=33c1

Basically, the selling price is made up of materials and assembly...where the tooling cost is an overhead cost, which hopefully our profit will cover (number sold is based on number of votes we get 1 vote = about 25000 units sold, 40 groups).

Again, thanks for the help.

[PhotoGimp]

Sorry, "a couple of hundred bucks" won't but much when it comes to tooling. I looked at your blueprints and for the lens cradle which is the simplist one, would probably run you 5-10 grand, depending on what kind of material it was made out of, and the belt bracket would probably run 1 1/2 times as much. These prices are for injection moulding which is very versitile, predictible, and last a long time. On top of that is CNC machining, to do the cradle groove and holes, and the slot and holes on the belt bracket. I really am sorry if I sound like a dink, but alot of people don't think it costs alot to start a product, but it DOES. I just my two cents!