accessory prices

[skysculptor]

Hi All

Im sure im not alone in this but why oh why are prices for simple accessories so well Astronomical! for instance from looking around you can find dovetail bars for £50 + all manner of adaptors for connecting one thing to another never less than £20 to £30 crazy, i'm glad i'm good with my hands, Im sure that many of you can find good examples of ridiculously over priced parts and accessories.

Just felt the need to mention it!

[Kai]

There is a world of difference in making something for yourself ( how much do you charge per hour ? ) and something that is manufactured , distributed and finally retailed as well as paying the relevant taxes and vat.

[E621Keith]

To be honest astronomical adapters are quite cheap when you compared them to the cost of it custom made.

Relative to adapters used in photography, astronomical adapters are expensive because astronomy is a niche market. Most adapters would be made in small batches, as such the proportion of design and tooling cost goes up.

[skysculptor]

As it goes i'm a professional sculptor, and i buy materials of all sorts, lots of metals etc and even though these materials are increasingly expensive. a small piece of extruded aluminium with some taped holes in it is not £50+ worth, more like lets just come up with a price and see if people will pay it!I no i sound slightly Cynical but some of these prices make dealer car parts look like a bargain.

[Bizibilder]

I have access to metalworking machinery and have considered making my own adapters, dovetails etc. Unfortunately the cost of metal (Aluminium mainly) and tooling (milling cutters, drills, reamers, taps, dies and lathe tools etc) mean it is often not economically viable to do DIY compared to the prices charged by our suppliers. (And I'm not including the cost of the Lathe, milling machine, rotary table, drilling machine, hacksaw machine etc etc etc...................). It's amazing just how cheap they are!

[Steep]

Without actually seeing what part you're talking about it's hard to comment. In general as Keith has said there's no real economy of scale when it comes to accessories for astronomy, at least compared with other hobbies. That said, I thought £8 was a lot to pay for a mount for my Telrad but I couldn't make one myself so maybe it's not so expensive.

[John]

I think astronomy is rather a niche market with a limited customer base in the UK. How many cars are there in the UK compared to telescopes ?

[skysculptor]

well i guess its supply and demand to some extent, however with a bit of creative thinking and some basic tools and a degree of heath Robinson-ness i think its possible to make alternatives to at least some of these things like dovetail bars etc with out to much time and trouble, i guess this is also why the DIY forum is pretty popular.

[ollypenrice]

The trouble is that we calibrate what we consider reasonable on the basis of the cheapest items we see, and these tend to be things made by the million. Astro adapters are not made by the million. If you think it's a quick buck why not join the market, design the item, get them made and undercut the present suppliers so that you greatly outsell them? You really want to try? I don't.

The Telrad base has to be made (plastic moulding costs a fortune at startup), held in stock and destributed. Someone has to process your order, see that you've paid, add your address, orgainise the post. How much would you want to do all that? I'd want more than 8 quid.

Olly

[Marki]

I think astronomy is rather a niche market with a limited customer base in the UK. How many cars are there in the UK compared to telescopes ?

On the other hand I have 4 scopes and only one car....

[upahill]

New printer with cartridges £40 - replacement cartridge set £40

If they made it cheap & long lasting you go out of business.

If they made it cheap & short lasting you out of business.

If they made it expensive & short lasting you go out of business.

If they made it expensive & long lasting you stay in business.

I recently looked into having a part made for an unrelated project (with a view to maybe selling them in the future) and just the mould making process was £15,000+ and thats after protyping, testing, certification where required.

[skysculptor]

Im not interested in manufacturing Adaptors, i rather do what i do in sculpture its more for filling , and i agree setting up a shop to manufacture parts costs££££, I am somewhat

amazed at the prices of some accessories and i guess because im used to making things I see something like a dove tail bar and think i can make an alternative that will work for a lot less or even i know someone who has a metal machine shop who'll make me one for a tenner!