Thread: DVD Towers

Harry,
Once you get the design worked out I would charge material costs + 60-75$ (AU) per hour that you worked on them. Anything less would be selling yourself short. They look Great! Very elegant.
-Ryan

Very nice work indeed

Harry,

I am with Ryan here, and hence voted for $200+ (although I am afraid cabinetmakers here only earn about $30/hour). I presume these are made of pine, but if they were made from a decorative hardwood, I don't see why you could not charge several hundred dollars.

It might be worth providing a means to fix the top of the tower to the wall, so that parents of toddlers could be reassured about the possibility of the tower falling on their child.

Rocker

Harry,

I voted for $200 because I think anything less will be unjust. The workmanship is fantastic. However, a lot of people might not think they worth that mush because of the timber you used. Anything made of pine does have the “reject shop” or "Fantastic Furniture" look. (sorry I am not trying to be rude).

I totally agree with Rocker. Use better wood and also simplify the design a little bit. I don’t think the door is necessary. It will only cost you more timber and the hardware.

I built a DVD cabinet for a workmate last year and I used Tasmanian oak and some recycle floor boards. It costed me about $80 and I sold it for $250. My workmate still thinks it is very cheap. You can buy Tasmanian oak from bunnings for a reasonable price. ($6 to $8 p/m)

Good work mate.

Nice work Harry. $200 minimum. You could even have the door as an additional extra. Or have a pine line as well as a premium australian hardwood line. Check out the prices that Myer, Harvey Norman, David Jones (and the cheaper craptastic furniture style shops) ask for to get a feel for the market. My jaw hit the floor when I saw the prices that the mainstream furniture shops are asking for pine furniture, let alone hardwood. Mind you until I got married a milk crate was classed as furniture.

I also have been looking for locks with a hook shaped cam but can only find Box Locks or Chest Locks where, if used for a cabinet door, the key would be orientated horizontally instead of vertically.

Good initiative Harry!

They are really great, but because they are made of boring old pine, I would be inclined to walk on by. If it were something marginally more exciting like tassie oak or an Australian native, then I would be willing to pay the $200 that people are quoting. Unfortunately, with furniture imports at the moment, customers are not looking at the labour involved and comparing furniture that comes ready to go from places like IKEA, Freedom, Fantastic Furniture and Java import places. Good point re the anchoring - kids tend to have a tendency to climb towers like this (a rather inviting ladder when the DVD you are after is at the top!). I like the design though.

All the best.
Cheers
Dan

time and materials. thats the go. nice job but.

are they stable ? they look tall and skinny....

I voted $190 cos it sounds like a bargin compared to $200
Those towers look really good, and solid pine is still ten times better than MDF!
I agree that a nicer wood would make them even better, spend an extra $50 on materials and get an extra $100 for the end result, same amount of work. Once you get the design / production sorted you should be able to make a range in different timbers, with / without a door, all priced accordingly. Maybe glass panels in the door would work too?

Cheers

Ian

Thanks fella's, I would like to make them out of a nice hard wood at a later date. I need to be able to shift them at a reasonable rate, as in bulk orders from shops this is why Im aiming for the $100-130 mark because once the retailer adds their cut the customers price is more likely to be around the $150-200 mark... any more than that and the customer proberly would expect better/bigger.(even if its only stained pine, most dont know the difference... unlike us woodies)
Most of the furniture shop's I've been haunting around home and Adelaide have tower racks all with the plastic incerts of around the same size for $120-200, all the wood ones are crapiarta none are hardwood(unless its a veneer).
Couldnt find any with doors at all, none are lockable...

Before starting these I talked to many people about what they'ed like in a DVD rack, every one of them said a door with a lock to keep the kids out, no plastic racks because they dont allow for odd sized DVD covers(with outer sleeve's)or CD cases.

Yeah def need to address the stability issue's, this is where the problem is at I want them to be able to open the door left or right by inverting the whole unit, I could increase the footprint size... but this will increase the weight at the top as the top needs to be identical as the bottom, thus I think it will not make the stabilty any better.
The only way I can think of is to use a counter balancing weight that can be transfered when the unit is inverted, the idea is simple the execution isnt... maybe I need to make a separate bottom piece that weighs 5-10kg and attaches by screwing into the back of the unit? Hmmmm its got me thinkin!

G'day Harry,

I voted 200+, but also have a few suggestions that you may like to think about, for what it's worth :

- Ditto on the opinion that "nude" pine gives your pieces a bit of a disposal store look. I reckon you should at least spray on some stain, and as mentioned elswhere look at using some premium materials.
- Being a dad, I'd also be worried about the high centre of gravity for these units (topple factor). Perhaps you can play around with the configuration of the units - maybe two panels high and two wide with double doors ?. Looking at the pieces, they look great side by side so maybe a simple mod might be to make a two panel wide by three high unit, with doors opening from the middle. If you end up with a lot of shelves, it's probably worth making some of them adjustable so the client can customise the space inside.
- In terms of playing around with the look, maybe use narrower stiles & rails as part of changing proportions of the piece.
- The gentle lines and radii on the top (cornice?) and bottom (skirt?) of the pieces looks a bit at odds with the "elegant" sharp lines of the raised panel work. Maybe you could change the edge profile of the pieces that form the top & bottom to a sharper profile, or look at using some applied moulding to build up a profile more in keeping with the overall look (which is largely influenced by the raised panels).

Hope this helps - congrats on getting a saleable item up and running - it's a bit of a buzz. Good luck on your future prototypes and production units.


Cheers,


Justin.


P.S : A good resource I've found on commercial aspects of woodworking is this site (even though it's American) :

http://www.woodweb.com/

Click on "Business And Management" forum, there's been some interesting discussions on the board about pricing of work and related topics.

Good stuff Harry . You've got something thats a bit different and you should be able to charge accordingly but as a lot of the guys say , with better timber and perhaps a more traditional plinth and pelmet - perhaps you could help the stability by having a slightly larger and separate plinth that the tower could be attatched to either way up .I voted for $220+ . BTW does your $60 cost include labour

Cheers

"BTW does your $60 cost include labour" No thats materials only
"plinth" thats the word I was looking for(a separate bottom piece that weighs 5-10kg)

Mate, very nice job on the DVD cabinet. Very good idea as well. When you are talking stability issue, maybe you should cut a hole in the bottom of the inside, then insert a weight of some description. Alternatively, maybe a spot for a couple of dynabolts (reinforced) might be good for those people who will only move them once every couple of years. Maybe you could sell the dynabolts with the cabinets as part of a kit?

Cheers

Kris

Harry,
I voted for 200+. Looks like you've sussed it out already, but I was going to suggest interchangeable plinths and crown moulding pieces to overcome the stability/door handedness issue. Just a minor point, and it's just personal taste, but I don't think the metal knob suits the unit. I think a handle rather than a knob, possibly timber and fitted vertically would be the go. And maybe to overcome the lock issue you could fit the lock close to the edge at the centre of the door and set the handle back from there. You may have to get a handle and make a dummy lock by drawing on a bit of masking tape and then play around with placement. Good luck in your endeavours.

Mick