Looking good Stu. Looks like lighting a fire under the caster did the trick...

Yeah man, the fire of our eager $$$ to buy these buttons. I'm psyched.

The green is getting better from the previous one. I'd beg for a rich, darker green, but I'll be glad for whatever comes up. Thanks again for managing this process.

Now that I have the glow (Thanks Stu!) I need me some red buttons! Only looking at the red I think it tooks pretty good! I am excited for when we can get buttons back in production.

Thanks for posting photos, i'm sure i speak for myself and a handful of friends who dont post to or read this bbs, will all be happy to get ahold of whatever the final shades are!

Anything?

Sorry, no. His latest excuse is that he bought out another company and didn't have time to tend to his (paying) customers. Not sure what to make of that.

Stu

I think there's some kind of an ancient voodoo zombie curse surrounding button casting. At this point, how many people have tried to get a full production run going only to have it fizzle at the end?

The closest we ever had was Brian, and he made some fantastic sets and then mysteriously disappeared...

What's his phone number

Haha, or his address. I'm sure the people awaiting buttons would gladly go to his place and cast them FOR him. Just show me where to pour the green plasticy goop and I'll sit there day and night cranking them out like a mindless drone.

Hm, or maybe I could CARVE buttons out of bricks of plastic. Shape them, sand them down, buff them out, coat them all nice! Why, to make one set, it would only take... 5 months!

I was just thinking if we all started telephoning the guy, from all over the world, "Where? you want buttons in Central Australia?"
:-) it's only a couple of dollars for the phone call

Well, you can find his number on his website at: http://www.scmodelworks.com/

Stu

*bump* ???

So, should we email this guy en-masse and see if we can gee him up? Nothing nasty, just a general "er... what's happening with our buttons?!"

Did it a few weeks ago, he didn't know anything about the buttons at all, and my second mail with details wasn't answered anymore.

Update (a sad one). He no longer wishes to work with us due to our "pushey" nature and the difficulty of producing quality pieces. He has stated he will finish the inital batch we ordered and no more and also return the mold to us. Anyone got any other ideas? If he told you he didn't know anything about the buttons, then he's lying.

Sorry guys we tried. There's got to be another caster out there willing to take this on. We were told that an aluminum injection mold could be made for about $1800. Seems a bit much for this application though.

Stu

Wow, that's a drag. It seems a crime that this guy has Stu's money and is just failing to deliver the product.

Apparently, the only way to get stuff from manufacturers is to be their WORST nightmare, hounding them constantly. Because they overbook themselves, and the only work that gets done is for the guy who shouts the loudest.

But if he's got Stu's money, then he should just return it. Better Business Bureau anyone?

I am not sure the BBB will be of any help in this. If the guy agreed to fill the existing order but nothing beyond that, all he has really done is wasted everyone's time. Especially if the order he is fulfilling covers the costs Stu has invested. I am not in a position to judge that.

Stu - if you want us (the board) to show him what pushy really is, or talk with the BBB, his suppliers, etc., just say the word... <intensely evil, almost malicious, grin>

Meanwhile, CastingFool has disappeared again, so that option is certainly out. This isn't over yet, though. There will be more translucent buttons...

I just sent a PM to _hardcore_ (Kaare). He had mentioned that he might be able to make the buttons previously, but did not want to get in the way of what was already in progress. I am also starting to look for yet another caster...

Sorry guys we tried. There's got to be another caster out there willing to take this on.

Wait, I've figured it out. We need to gather up all of the button castings Brian Mihulka ever did and put them together in a chest, then spill the blood of Brian's first born son over them. Only then can the curse be lifted.

Problem is, I hear there's still one button out there, and it was inadvertently taken by a maiden who didn't know the source of its power. We must comb the seas for it...




"But why is the rum gone?"

Dam, I had a feeling this would happen again,

I just want to say next time around, I am not really all that fussed about getting the Button colors exact,
If we could just get a clear or smoke button made up
Having just one color button might make it all the more simple to find a caster willing to do it,
I want blue but I might investigate the possibility of putting in Blue LED's

Gazz

We've begun proceedings to collect.

Stu

Any news on _hardcore_ or other casters? I was going to start sending out emails but didn't want to overlap your efforts.

I found these guys this evening but I'll hold off contacting them until I hear back.

http://www.matrixenterprises.com/

FireFox31 is also looking as well...

I'm very interested in seeking out new casters because I feel like I owe this community (and would love a set of buttons, no doubt). I just haven't sat down to scour the internet yet.

I know "grand schemes" aren't the best, but to avoid duplicating work (and to prevent some caster in Wichita, Kansas from receiving multiple seperate offers for "a very specialized casting project"), maybe we can work together. I'll start a new thread for the process. If anyone knows of casters, post them to the thread. Then, we can each contact some of them, following through and seeing if they'll do the work and what their prices are.

Stu, did you mention that you were receiving the mold for the buttons from your last caster? Maybe I'm out of line for asking, but if we found a caster who could use it, would you sell that mold to us so we could use it? That should recover your investment and put your hard work of designing, communicating, proofing, etc all to work. Interested?

Ok, I'm off to another thread.

I did mention that we would be receiving the mold. But this guy has turned out to be such a deadbeat, I don't know if it will ever show.

Stu

Stu, that sounds promising. I hope they come through.

If you have any information about the mold and if you have a moment to do so, could you please post it in the "Buttons - Specifics" thread over in the Projects forum? If we know specifics about it (what material it is, what machine it fits in, what plastics it works with, what process it's good for, etc), then we will have a chance of finding a caster who can use it.


In other news, I did a 5 minute search of the internet which turned up a (spammy?) "directory" of plastic casters, one of which is under 2 hours from my house. This local caster mentioned that they can accomodate small orders, so they are on my list to call once I know the specifics of what I'm asking for. It seems ideal to have a local company do the work, so if they try to vanish, I could appear on their doorstep and meet them face to face.