Canadian Transformers News and Discussion Forum

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Originally Posted by FreedomGundam

Here's the approximate tally of the costs I paid to build these, not counting the 4 Detolfs:

- 30"x72" 1"-thick melamine particle board [local hardware store] = ~$45
- LEDs [ebay] = $7
- switches [ebay] = $5
- DC jacks and plugs [ebay] = $6
- power supply [ebay] = $3
- JST connectors [ebay] = $4
- 2x Dremel 3/16" straight router bit [ebay] = 2x $14 = $28
TOTAL = $98

This is not counting the small strips of plexiglass I used to stick the LEDs onto, nor additional wiring, wire-wraps, heat-shrink, adhesives, melamine trim, etc, that I already had lying around from other projects (mostly arcade-stick and arcade-cabinet related).

Not to mention that I put in probably upwards of 10 hours of work into all of it (cutting, drilling, routing, soldering, assembling and cleaning up wiring).

Overall, the end result is amazing, but I can feel that it may not be worthwhile for many people to put in THAT much money and effort into it. Hell, for the price of the materials, I could've bought myself yet another Detolf at retail (or two used off of Craigslist/Kijiji), and my 10+ hours of work into it "costs" quite a bit too.

Not bad, I might have to try my hand at something similar in the future