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[pct-l] Bear Cans



Hi Mike,

On Fri, 23 Jul 2004, Mike Saenz wrote:
> On a previous reply to this thread, I indicated that I'd be more
> inclined to attack the costs of these cans. Why, oh WHY does an
> injection mold can cost $70???

A friend of mine is in chemistry (CIT). His advisor has a company that
manufactures some kind of plastic that is very light and highly impact
resistant. (They also hold the patents). We estimated, that it should have
been possible to make a Garcia copy from the material weighting only 1.5
pounds. They people at the company briefly looked into it and found it not
very profitable to go into the bear can business, even if the material
cost would have been about USD 3-5. You have to design the mold, employ
quite expensive people etc. And most of the money of the customer stays 
with the retailers...

Now, my friend and I even toyed around with making a small batch for
myself and friends (as long as it is not commercial there is no problem
with patents) - but we are busy people and the cost of our time would have 
been prohibitive.

The technology is out there - just donate your lifetime.

Ilja.