New 80 series Cup holder design:

[bhicks]

so no go on one with cell tray? looked on the page but do not see it there

Sorry, but I sold the last one yesterday. That print failed more often then it was successful and cost me a LOT of money in the process. I tried every trick in the book to get it to print consistently but in the end I had to let that design go. You have to know when to fold and I finally realized that time had come. At this point I will only bring that design back if a new type of plastic comes onto the market that can be sanded and painted and handle LONG print times without any warping or cracking. There are plastics like Nylon, HIPS, polycarbonate, carbon fiber, and a few others that can all handle long prints but are either not paintable or sandable or cost a TON of money. There are quite a few new printing plastics getting ready to come onto the market, so hopefully one of them will be the answer to all my problems and I will be able to bring that design back. I'm also looking into a totally different type of extruder nozzle for my machine that might allow me to cut the print times in 1/2, which would also solve my problem. That option still needs a lot of research before I make that expensive purchase.

 

[Chachie]

Sorry, but I sold the last one yesterday. That print failed more often then it was successful and cost me a LOT of money in the process. I tried every trick in the book to get it to print consistently but in the end I had to let that design go. You have to know when to fold and I finally realized that time had come. At this point I will only bring that design back if a new type of plastic comes onto the market that can be sanded and painted and handle LONG print times without any warping or cracking. There are plastics like Nylon, HIPS, polycarbonate, carbon fiber, and a few others that can all handle long prints but are either not paintable or sandable or cost a TON of money. There are quite a few new printing plastics getting ready to come onto the market, so hopefully one of them will be the answer to all my problems and I will be able to bring that design back. I'm also looking into a totally different type of extruder nozzle for my machine that might allow me to cut the print times in 1/2, which would also solve my problem. That option still needs a lot of research before I make that expensive purchase.

OK then i will look at the others. You hinted toward more stuff can you tell us what is up your sleeve?

 

[Dissent]

I'm really sorry to hear about the printing not working out on the phone holders. Glad to see the single and double cup holders are still going strong.

 

[bhicks]

OK then i will look at the others. You hinted toward more stuff can you tell us what is up your sleeve?

The two immediate projects that are next in line is the "TOYOTA" grille badges and the FJ40 TEQ badge that mounts to the expanded metal grille that came on all 40 series. I will also be working on a shaky mirror fix, droopy visor fix, rear double cupholders, and a few other things.

 

[bhicks]

I'm really sorry to hear about the printing not working out. I've dreamed of having one someday but it looks like the tech it's still in its infancy. Like I said before, I managed to get 4 cup/bottle holders in my LX for about $70 and most of that was for the Land Rover Discovery cup holders. Check out my projects for ideas. It only took a few hours one day to bend up some metal and cut up some Nalgene bottles.


...via IH8MUD app

Luckily it's only the cupholder with cell tray that had to get the boot. The single cupholder prints perfect every time and the double prints perfect about 80% of the time (which is good enough to keep moving foward with that design). It also looks like I might be getting close to meeting the demand. I have had a batch of double cupholders and single cupholders on ETSY for 2 days now and I'm still not sold out. If any are left after a week then I know am close to that saturation point and can move on to my other projects.

 

[Dissent]

Gotcha. Didn't mean to detract from the other products, glad to hear only the phone holder is out for the time being.


...via IH8MUD app

 

[bhicks]

3 more sold today so maybe I haven't Hit that saturation Point. I guess time will tell.

 

[bhicks]

well it definitely seems like orders have slowed down. I have had both designs on etsy for a few days and have not sold out. It looks like I'm at the point where I can move on to other projects. I will finish up this batch of cup holders through this weekend. Next week I'm going to focus my attention on my other designs like the Toyota grille badge and the FJ 40 Teq badge. I will continue to make the cup holders but instead of trying to do one a day I will be doing one to two a week.for those of you who still want one you may have to wait a little longer in between batches but you will eventually get one.I am excited to take a break from the cup holders and get into something new

 

[80ways]

Cool. I'm looking forward to seeing the rear cup holder design... I think it will complement my now-limited production cup holder with cell tray.
Thanks for doing this.
Bob

 

[bhicks]

so the last few cup holders are going up on ETSY today. I might be able to add one or two more by Sunday (assuming no failed prints) I should have 5 of each design up. I am going to take a break from these for a month or two and focus on my other projects. when I restart production of the cupholders, it will be at a much slower pace. Maybe 1-2 a week. Once I have ALL of my ideas finished and perfected and ready for production I will probably then switch gears and start posting all my products on other forums and websites. By then, I hope to be a vendor on here and have my own website set up. I also hope to have my new machine set up and all dialed in by then and maybe even switch over to injection molding.

 

[BayouFJ80]

Received my teq badge wed and the cup holder cell phone holder yesterday. MAJOR props, shout out or whatever else you call it to Brad for making these. Never installed the 2 disco holders I bought and glad I didn't.

 

[dogfishlake]

I've had my double cup holder for a while but had to move the tablet mount to install the cup holder. Worked great, thanks!

 

[bhicks]

I'm glad u guys like your cupholders. This morning I removed the last double off my printer. I now have a "toyota" grille badge prototype on the printer now. I will get back to making the cupholders after I get these next 2 projects up and selling. What I have left on etsy is it for a while.

 

[bhicks]

so last night I finished up fj40 Teq badge prototype. I also got the Toyota grille badge off the printer and it looks like fitment Is really close to perfect. I should have fitment perfected in the next few days. I also started taking measurements and coming up with some rough CAD drawings for the rear cup holder. hopefully I will have a prototype to show you guys in the next couple weeks.

 

[artech]

Been waiting for those 'toyota' grille emblems! Make sure and do at least one in FJ font to fit a 95 please!

 

[indephenit]

Look into resin molding, a guy I do embroidery for makes pro fishing lures. He has several methods but for his larger lures (marlin, tuna) he resin molds these lures from a clay master mold and sands them down. They turn out great. With the cupholder I'm sure some sanding and paint/plasti-dip would work nice.

Here's an example of the lure:
http://eatmelures.com/images/static/custom-lure.jpg


...via IH8MUD app

 

[bhicks]

Been waiting for those 'toyota' grille emblems! Make sure and do at least one in FJ font to fit a 95 please!

I'm trying to narrow down my options right now. When I put this project on hold I had 4 design options JUST for the FJ40 font. If I offer these in black/white and black/silver then that doubles my options. If I do the same for the modern FJ font then I now have 16 options. I still need to make them so they can fit on the Landcruiser and LX grilles which doubles those 16 designs to 32. That just can't happen. That would make me go crazy. I need to narrow it down to 4 options. Meaning; I need to finish up my designs then start a "poll" thread to narrow my FJ40 and my modern FJ font down to one (most popular) design. I will then make that design in black/white and black/silver for the LX and Yota. If I have one option in the FJ 40 and 1 option in the modern FJ font and then offer them in two colors, I would have 4 options. Once I make them both for the LX and Yota then I am at 8 different options. That is PLENTY of headache for me and I just can't take it any further. At this point I just need to wrap up the final touches and get a poll going.

 

[bhicks]

I have been getting some emails and PM's regarding me stopping production on the cup holders. That is correct; I have stopped production on the cupholders but not indefinitely. I apologize for the confusion. Once I get the FJ40 TEQ badge for the FJ40 guys up and selling and the "TOYOTA" grille badges up and selling then I will return to the cupholders. It may be a few weeks or at worst case scenario; a few months. I am not quite sure how long the "TOYOTA" grille badges are going to take me. I have stopped making the cupholders for now, BUT I still have them in stock on ETSY. I finished the last batch over the weekend and everything I have in stock is now on ETSY.

 

[bhicks]

Look into resin molding, a guy I do embroidery for makes pro fishing lures. He has several methods but for his larger lures (marlin, tuna) he resin molds these lures from a clay master mold and sands them down. They turn out great. With the cupholder I'm sure some sanding and paint/plasti-dip would work nice.

Here's an example of the lure:
http://eatmelures.com/images/static/custom-lure.jpg


...via IH8MUD app

Thanks for the heads up. I will look into that. Your pretty confident the resin is sandable? I know I had dealt with resin for aquatic applications and that stuff couldn't be sanded with a belt sander hooked up to a jet engine.

 

[ToyotaTrailTeam]

What's the link to the cup holders on etsy?