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The imminent demise of the shoebox case

YNWOAN

YNWOAN

100% Analogue
As some of you will know my friend Andrew (AKA flatpopely) decided some time ago that it would be a good idea to remanufacture the famous Naim shoebox style 'sled and sleeve' case. Naim themselves have not made this case for many years and when Andrew sought their permission to make copies Naim willingly granted it - even going so far as to divulge the full details of the textured paint finish used. Unfortunately, having the required aluminium extrusion custom made (funnily enough by the very same company that made them fro Naim though unfortunately the tooling no longer existed) proved to be more expensive than anticipated and a very large order number had to be committed to. Nevertheless, Andrew went ahead and for some years exact copies of said cases have been available.

Moving to the current day Andrew is now in the position that all painted cases are now sold (a German gentleman bought the last sixty). Some cut extrusions do remain but they are not yet painted. As Andrew has made a financial loss on the whole affair he is in a dilemma as to how to proceed. He could scrap the remaining cases at this point as the material has a scrap value (being aluminium) and minimise his losses or he could have them painted and sell the remainder. However, there is no point in doing so if he is going to make a further loss.

If anyone is seriously interested in any of these cases I recommend they PM (or email Andrew). It is likely either a deposit, or full payment, upfront will be required. Approximately 100 case extrusions remain. When these are gone (if they are not scrapped) I absolutely guarantee that no more will ever be produced (no Nap250 or 135 cases will ever be made either).
 
I'd take half a dozen of the raw extrusions, at least. I know Les was interested too. No need for boxes or painting.

Not everyone wants them to replace Naim sleeves...
 
This is sad. I guess from the loss you describe Andrew just ended up selling them cheap to get his money back?

Stefan
 
Just to be clear, if you guys are seriously interested you will have to contact Andrew directly as I have nothing to do with these cases (I never have done other than drawing up the plans).

I should also say that I think Andrew has unpainted sleeves - I don't think he has any internal sleds.
 
orangeart said:
This is sad. I guess from the loss you describe Andrew just ended up selling them cheap to get his money back?

Stefan
Click to expand...

Basically, yes. As it transpires he hasn't even made his money back but he has made less of a loss than could have been the case. The price of aluminium extruded cases on eBay from China is way below what can be produced in the UK.
 
As an owner of 2 of these cases they are SUPERB in build quality, sorry to hear the venture/group buy ended up costing you.
 
It's a shame that you didn't break even on the cases, expectations on price were low when the project started and actual costs were higher than people were willing to pay.

I certainly can't complain, they've been good to me and I've bought a shed load of them over the years.

As I stated earlier, I'd happily buy a boot full of them, unpainted, undrilled, unboxed. They're worth £30 a pop to me in that state. I'm just guessing but I reckon that's 5x the weigh-in value of them at the foundry. So maybe it would help Andrew to mitigate previous losses. I'm all for that.

But I'm all in at £30 based on the cost of sleds in small numbers and getting them powder coated.

Let me know Andrew, as usual happy to collect, and I'd pick up misterdogs and check with Les for how many he wants.
 
flatpopely said:
Why the rolleyes?
Click to expand...
Because in thread #55 you changed a PFM DIY room non profit making Group Buy into a personal business venture, Im just a little surprised that the OP would come back to the DIY room looking for sympathy in you personal loss in that business venture?.
Great product though I have to say :cool:
Shouldn't this thread be in the Trade Sale's section though.

Alan
 
Hi Alan.

Yes, I agree the thread change did piss off a lot of people. Still I had them made at great personal cost but many couldn't get past the £30 I had originally quoted.

It's why I'm inclined to scrap the lot, I just can't do with the hassle and make more loss as well.

If someone wants to invest in making some I'd be happy to point them in the direction of the manufacturers.
 
People just don't get it Andrew, I've run group buys. Yhe drop out rate is huge, the costs significant. You took on a huge cost buying the tooling and people just thought you'd suck up the multi thousand pound risk and they'd get a free ride.

Let's lay it out. Design costs for sled and sleeves, hundreds of hours to source all the parts. Thousands upfront cost for dies and metal stock. Transport. Storage, delivery. Amortisation.

Do whatever you want with the remaining raw sleeves, no one else stepped up to share a split of the costs beyond wanting to buy a few cases. **** em.


I'm just greatful I was able to buy some, so a big thank you from me.
 
337alant said:
Because in thread #55 you changed a PFM DIY room non profit making Group Buy into a personal business venture, Im just a little surprised that the OP would come back to the DIY room looking for sympathy in you personal loss in that business venture?.
Great product though I have to say :cool:
Shouldn't this thread be in the Trade Sale's section though.

Alan
Click to expand...

I wasn't looking for sympathy and didn't have anything to do with the thread you mention. However, the problem with the original 'group buy' idea was that it just wasn't viable. That is to say, the manufacturers needed a large order commitment and a large amount of money up front to make the dies required - neither of these could be practically funded by a group buy unless a lot of people agreed to a lot of cases and were prepared to pay for them all up front.
 
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