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Need help with the prototyping stage

JbiggsJbiggs subscriber Posts: 1
edited July 2009 in Developing Your Invention
My product is simply just a see through vinyl bag that is waterproof, has a waterproof ziplock, is roughly in the shape of a triangular prism, and one side of the bag is made of a waterproof clothy material  instead of vinyl (like nylon, gortex or cloth with plastic lining).  I did make a prototype myself, but the adhesive I used to bind the plastic together doesn`t hold up well in water, and it`s quite hard to get the ziplock to be completely waterproof ( i just cut out the ziplock from a glad ziplock bag).  I can`t melt and fuse plastic together to completely seal them and make it waterproof, so i figured it`s best to get a professional to do it.  I live in Toronto and I`ve talked to companies willing to make it for me and they said they`d have to charge me around $1000 to perfect the preliminary research and design and probably around another $1000 to make the prototype.  I know some of these other prototypes cost a lot more, but a lot of the them are a lot more complicated and involves molds and circuits.  Mine is a relatively simple vinly bag, so I`m just wondering if paying $2000 to get this done is a ripoff.  I figured i can defintely get this made more cheaply somewhere else. But where can I find them? And if I can, I don`t know if I should, because the company I was talking to acutally consolidates all the processes together (research, prototype, and manufacturing), so those stages ensures my design is not flawed and the prototype they make wll be almost identical to the real product that I can manufacture.  In other words it seems like the whole experience will be more under control and it`s more likely that my product won`t be sloppily made.  I`m just wondering if I should go ahead with this or keep looking for cheaper ways to do it myself, even if it means wasting more time to scramble around (my budget is pretty tight).

Comments

  • minimegeologyminimegeology subscriber Posts: 26
    Jbiggs,
     
    I have not made a prototype likes yours but $2000 doesn`t sound that bad to me.  Once you have your prototype, are their minimum order amount and cost per unit good?  You can also searched www.thomasnet.com.  You can usually find good companies on that site who can help you.  By the way, don`t overlook the phone book.  I found a great manufacturer for our bags once because I simply looked in the phone book.
     
    On using the company you have already found, use your instincts.  You sound like you want to use them for many good reasons.  I`ve run into some similar situations with purchasing parts for my kits.  I`ve had situations where I paid a little more for parts because the company was easy to work with, I knew the quality would be good and knew that down the road the cost would be in line.  Then, I`ve had other situations where I just wasn`t comfortable with how hard the process seemed just to get a quote so I kept searching and eventually found the right one.  For your product, it seems that high quality is really important to ensure the water-tight aspect.
     
    Good luck!
     
    Tracy
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