There are really only 3 ways to build a CNC, or any product really, that costs less.
Option 1 is to use massive scale to bring the prices of the SAME parts down.
Option 2 - the more travelled route in this industry - is to use cheaper parts.
Option 3 is to simply not make them.
Wait, what? You mean you never learned that last one in business school?
To explain, we need to discuss how we make - or don't make - the lemontart 33metal. Instead of the traditional method of putting your investment money down, having 1000s of a product built, and then desperately try to sell said products at a profit, lemontart is built one machine at a time, made to order for each customer. The design IS locked, but there is no stock, there is no warehouse. If you buy a machine today, over the next 2 weeks that machine will be manufactured just for you, and then sent directly TO you from our manufacturing partner JLC. This cuts out a huge amount of wasted money sending the machine around the world for no good reason. So we can drop the price by dropping our margin because we don't have a massive overhead to pay.
It also means we can sell just one machine as easily as 20. This is key.
When it comes to accessories, some of them are simply not worth marking up at all. It is not worth the time to even get involved, because if I need to mark them up 20, 30, 50%, then the price just gets too high and no one buys them. So instead those accessories are provided as downloadable CAD file projects, complete with instructions. With only a handful of exceptions most of our accessories will come as CAD files and almost all of those will be completely FREE. This means you can download our index block, or enclosure, or side mount ATC, fire off your order to JLC (or anywhere else you prefer), and get your parts made and shipped to you directly.
Now, some parts are more complicated - like a 4th axis, or ATC - so in addition to free files, we will offer localised sales of pre assembled parts. These will obviously cost a little more, but for some people, that will be worth while. For others there are the free CAD files.
Now, you do get a reduced level of support with these free files, but all of the accessories will still be built and tested before offering them as official lemontart products. You wont be guessing if a CAD file set is actually going to work in real life. It absolutely will.
A handful of accessories will NOT be downloadable, because they require equipment and skills to assemble, test, calibrate. The HSK ATC turret is one of these. It has custom PCD's, servos, bearings, and fussy bits so that will only come pre assembled.
For more information, check our other articles, and the FAQ, and as the website is a work in progress, don't hesitate to contact us with a question you can't find the answer to.
- the miniMonster team