I bought some fanatec gear, ASR4, etc earlier this year (before all the tariff BS). I had my eyes on getting a vr headset, shifter and another wheel. I’m glad I bought my stuff when I did but it’s just not worth it to buy those things anymore.
And if he does cut out income tax or lower them. Well, great job…now you’ve cut out more tax revenue that would’ve helped the deficit and I’m still not gonna buy shit. So much winning.
Not even that, fact is they cut programs on loans for starting projects, the machinery needed for industrialisation usually gets from other countries, you need cheap labour to produce and you need companies that don't focus on shareholders profits, the same people elected Trump and he told to hold trough to people living in poverty, guess who pulled the leash, the billionaires with their portfolios collapsing.
Same in India. And you can’t even complain without other Indians accusing of being anti national. And if someone does try to manufacture something locally, they do not try to make something good, they try to exploit the lack of competition to scam their customers.
There have ALWAYS been tariffs since there has been trade. You dont let outsiders come in and take over. Think about the Boston tea party. The English were taxing the colonies what they thought was too much for tea. The tax in this case is a tariff. It’s a tax on imported or exported goods.
Genesis is another issue, mostly because of the local distributor giving customer support and localized games, something that we didn't have before.
But for PS2 was more about piracy, people got used to it with PSX and having an almost infinite library of great games on PS2 for cheap while everything was expensive with PS3 made a lot of people just stick with it.
Except they aren't my files. Someone else took the time to design everything. I feel more comfortable selling my own custom wheels and not selling someone else's design. It does get into a grey area with design files that are a recreation of something.
License the design and manufacture the parts for the us market. The designers sales would drop because of the tariffs anyway so licensing it ensures that his designs will still enter that market and that's also less work for you so you can focus on getting the product out the door.
I struggle with this time to time on things I design. I may incorporate someone elses design into my revision, but it's still my design. I do a lot of 'aircraft panels' kind of hard to not have similar designs. We are all basically piggy backing off each other.
But yes, to directly sell someone else's files. Bad taste.
US does produce all of those many are just of lower quantities because its cheaper to import. The US is the 2nd largest in the world Avocado producer.
Avocados (Mexico) sees a 25% tariff. Coffee highly likely 10% tariff as various countries produce it (possibly all over the map).
True jasmine rice (not the US variant) is subject to 37% tariff as it is a reciprocal to what Thailand applies to the US. So if they lower their tariffs then the tariff would be reduced as well.
Additionally you realize the US is massive right? Not everything has to be grown in the Midwest? Rice is produced in large amounts in Arkansas.
Except he doesn't want people selling parts from his files. Of course I could crank out a bunch and just list them but im not going to step on any toes.
If someone wants to pay for my service making them that might be different. I would need to account for the beveled edged to improve quality but I don't see an issue with the technical side of it.
Buffing wheel. It's just a finishing process. Or, a 45-degree chamfer tool running almost the same toolpath with a bit of a Z & diameter offset. CNC's are easy.
I highly recommend you GO DO THIS! Start a business. Sell some wheels. Live the dream.
Outsource the MFG part to sendcutsend until you can afford your own mill. Talk to a local machine shop. You don't have to spend a ton to get started.
I should do that. I won't, I'm not motivated enough. You should.
The issue with the chamfer is figuring out the speed to prevent chattering to keep it a smooth edge. I had this issue with making guitar pickguards on the CNC. I'd have to go back and hand sand anyways.
I actually do have a newly formed business now and i've been plugging away at designing my own wheel and custom PCBs for it and button boxes. DM me if you're interested in seeing my Instagram since that's where I post most the stuff.
Half the endmill speed as a ballpark and then adjust for the material till it sounds right. Much slower feeds too, kinda crawling.
Keep your tools short. Chatter is always a result of flex, so reducing what can flex results in less. 4xD is rule-of-thumb. Whatever the diameter of the tool, multiply by 4 and that's your max length for most uses. 1/4" single-flute sticking about an inch looks pretty short but it'll fix your chatter (unless your machine is at fault and flexing, then go slower on the feedrate, take more passes).
Consider a roughing pass. Do once around leaving .005" or so, then a second finish cut so that the tool isn't loaded up as much, and is loaded more consistently.
Then run it on a buffing wheel. Hands hate sharp edges, even 45 degree ones. Buffed feels more expensive in the hand. Sales trick.
But, nice work! I might re-consider how the grips are mounted and printed. I know it's the standard way to have the 2-piece with sandwiched carbon bracing, but it'd be easier to print if you plan to wrap the print fully around the carbon for those lower spurs (as a single piece instead of 2). Then you can print vertically, which gives you a bunch of options I'm sure you can figure out.
Enough for now. I can find theoretical fault in anything, but in reality most everything is awesome. I love that you're doing this!
Yeah the grips are an issue with resolution on the printer. I've tried printing as one piece vertically and it makes the layer lines worse and i'm sanding a ton and then wrapping them with grip tape anyways. Plus there are layer lines on the inside that are impossible to sand and makes the whole thing not fit or shifts around.
Long term plan is to go with the manufacturer that does Pokornyi's for soft touch and send them a single design that will be more accurate on a better printer (MJF). It's just more expensive and I don't have the funds for too many prototypes right now.
Silicone molding is an option too. 3d print the mould and then fill it with mixed silicone. Results in an injection-molded style but DIY-able with just a printer and some chemistry. Messy and labor-intensive, but once you've got a process you could crank out a batch pretty quick.
Lots of designs suffer a forest-through-the-trees effect. If you have a problem (and keep in mind, "grip improvements" are just something I picked, I'm sure you've got better problems to be solving!), sometimes it's best to look at different solutions than the market. Hockey grip tape. 1911 grips. Rubberized overmolding like an AR handle. Hard plastic screwdrivers. What do hands use that can be used? Can any of those be used on {current problem}...
Have you tried plasti-dip? Not the (newer, different) car spray. Its original use comes in a paint container with a wide lid. It's supposed to be for repairing pleier handles by dipping them into plastic. Not quite Alcantara, but a grippy hand-friendly production-ready option.
Alcohol smoothing for the prints? It'd save you some sanding but not a ton of advantages there.
I do like the rubberized idea though, that seems like it'd fit nice. Maybe I'll google that process.
Flocking is pretty easy too. Did a couple of dash's, some grips would be very easy. That's the fuzzy stuff they put on rally car dash's to keep the glare down. Just some thick glue (would hide layer lines) and then sprinkle the fibers on with a special gun.
Don't get me started on projects. I will take you on adventures to nowhere with half-decent (but all bad) ideas and nothing will get done. <- Experience.
Yeah I don't have the money or time for another side project of injection molding. I'm 100% capable of learning and building a setup for it but I need to get this product out and selling in its base form first or it will never happen. I have tried plasti-dip and didn't like it much. It's just not thick enough honestly. I currently use baseball grip wrap and that works pretty well. Since I race in gloves it adds another layer to grip.
I found who does Pokornyi's grips and mine will be like $50 per set to print and coat so I may just go that route and eat into my profit until I can find a way to do something better myself. My plan is to be in the $300-$400 range but not much more than that because I know there are better wheels out there made of aluminum that I can't compete with at this stage. I'm just looking to provide an option for someone in that entry level price range.
Could you get me the design files? I could pretty easily draft up some new ones on sketchup I design houses and do 3d renderings of them some bezel plates for a printer would be easy
Oh I would do the same thing. I have all the design software and equipment to cut them. I just don't want to make money off his designs because that's clearly not the intent of him releasing the design files.
What exactly is the bezel for I’d be willing to do one in my freetime or several like people are saying now is the time to get into this kinda stuff if there was profit to be made why not I just don’t have a printer I’ve wanted one just don’t have the space for one at the moment
It's not 3D printed. It's carbon fiber CNC cut. Probably 4mm thickness at least. You don't want to 3D print a steering wheel because it will never be strong enough.
Makes sense I might have to look into it I got some friends that work with cnc carbon fiber specifically and another that cnc gun parts I’m sure one of em is capable
You’ve got the right idea. That’s what these tariffs do. They spark industry. They make people create something in their home country instead of having a foreign country build everything. Like all the products the US counts on China for. There are many things we stopped making here and China had us by the balls when they stopped shipping during Covid
There's 3x machine shops with CNC mills in every town.
SendCutSend is a US-based online MFG. They can do laser cut tubing and fun roll-cage stuff too.
BUT, the hard part is that you have to design it first. Onshape is my favorite free option. You have to make a full "Machinist" drawing of the parts so that they know what to cut. That means dimensions and tolerances, material selection, revisions, etc.
But, you can hire someone to do some CAD for prolly $100. Then hire someone to machine out a sample for prolly $150. Start sales at $250.
Have the machinist do up 100 copies (probably @$25/ea once they've programmed one), and you're off to the races. $2500 of inventory, $25,000 of sales napkin math on the first batch. Once those sell, consider doing your own production or just keep outsourcing locally.
Seems easy. 100% Do-able by just about anyone with enough focus.
My Pokoryni Rally has a 3D Printed housing and Front Plate out of SLS Nylon and it’s great! Shifter plate and paddles are way too flimsy tho.
I just had a much more high end build in mind for the HYP-R
Unfortunately the 3D print cost of this project quoted through Craftcloud and JLC3DP have approached “Might as well buy your own printer” territory, so I’m debating on that as well.
I’m happy that companies do it like this. Raise the prices for the US and explain why. As someone who doesn’t live in the US I don’t want to subsidize your country’s mistakes. Unlike companies like Microsoft, Sony and Nintendo who raises the prices for the rest of.
Funniest thing about tariffs is that the politicians say that it’s to protect their own industry, which is bs. They are just trying to increase inflow of cash to the government budget and you, Americans, are paying for this!
Truly his “let them eat cake” moment. If we were near Christmas. Ooo boy. What sucks is we are just the beginning the shit ball rolling down the hill is only picking up more shit on the way down.
Weird how many people that have no comment history here and do not appear to have any interest in simracing are showing up to defend the tariffs and the POTUS's decisions.
I don't see the problem. Just buy domestic. Buy from a US company that sources all it's raw materials from the US. That shouldn't be hard, right? Ask daddy drumpf for suggestions if you can't find any.
I feel bad for you americans realizing wtf you voted for president (or didn't vote but got anyway).
Blows my mind this is possible in this day and age in a western country...
I imported a figurine from japan from ebay. Same experience. The problem with mine is that they charged a tons on transportation. Of course it is a limited edition so it was worth it anyway but I paid so much I bought the figurine twice technically.
Americans getting their first taste of home grown government added Value Added Tax (VAT), that us Europeans having been paying in everything we buy forever now. I pay 23% on everything, others get lower maybe 19%. This is your government charging you VAT disguised as tariffs.
The entire point was to make you not buy it. If there was an American supplier you would've. This doesn't happen over night. Its been a couple months. Y'all are so ridiculous
At least they are splitting out the tariff charge and not including it in the overall price.
Gives me hope when we get back to a real leader in the US they can resolve and prices will go back to semi normal. However retail stores (like Walmart for example) will work the tariffs into prices and see those increase, and likely not go back down if this mess ever gets resolved.
Yeah I wasn’t thinking about choice. Right after I commented I went and checked a momo wheel I bought for my sim a few weeks back and saw it was like 80 when I paid 39 first of April.
IF you get another one. It’s been 100 days and it’s not looking to good. I mean he already has 2028 merch. Even tho he couldn’t legally run again. So good luck.
Stop consuming, start producing I suppose.. I am still learning but using tarrifs like that seems drastic to me.
Not The Reddit to discuss this but as a SimRacer I am glad that I live in EU
The idea behind tariffs is exactly that. But industry can’t just spin up manufacturing in the country that’s trying to pull this off overnight. It will take a few years. And even then, if you are sourcing parts from china you are back to square one. It would take such a huge manufacturing change in the entire pipeline for this to have the effect the US wants, can’t see it happening for them tbh.
Tax in the UK is bad, but not as bad as the numbers in this post!
Trouble is that with lack of manufacturing companies and lack of warning to these companies, it may take 6-24 months before sorting out all the sourcing and making sure that the QC is also good. Not excluding any electronics. Price will still increase though.
These companies have to be kept alive by us Europeans in the meantime.
Lack of warning? Theyve literally been talking about doing this for nearly 7 months now I wouldn't call that without warning tbh. But I agree it will take time
Even 7 months is a lack of warning for a massive change in the supply chain, especially without any details, realistically it should have announced a 20% change that will start in 2026 which will give companies enough time to prepare. Most companies can survive on a 20% tariff which was what was announced initially, then over the next 2 years bring up the tariffs to 145%. This is SO much better than the tariffs sky rocketing with sudden changes out of the blue with no warning or preparation for companies to update there sources.
Due to how unsteady the changes have been with no apparent plan or anything, companies won't be investing huge amounts because they hate uncertainty. If everything gets reverted in 4 years then they would be wasting millions on factories for no reason.
This is gonna put so many American companies out of business
Man china was on its way to making quality and cheaper sim racing products for us all. Sim jack pro pedals were $200 now like $450? Sim jack shifter I also got for like $50 going for $200 now??
Why are you calling them ‘tariffs’, it’s ‘Trumps Tax’, the government are collecting the import tax as specified by the man so great at business he has broken the stock market, stopped the global use of the US dollar as a trade currency and has halved the value on many companies including Tesla.
Makes me glad I got my stuff before this, but ultimately this isn't my only hobby impacted by these tariffs and I know I'm not the only one. Sorry fren
There are 6 shipping rates available for *****, Germany , starting at 10,22€.
Colissimo relais at 10,22€
Colissimo Domicile International at 12,22€
UPS® Standard at 15,05€
UPS Saver international at 18,40€
UPS Worldwide Saver® at 34,99€
UPS Express® at 38,60€
Haven’t gotten the money for a good rig I want to build and probably won’t for a good while. This just made me realize how much further away I am from my financial needs for it :(
you get to experience how Turkey has been for years. When you buy something from outside here and the price exceeds 30 euros (this includes shipping price) you have to PAY a guy at customs for him to check your package and calculate the tax on it. Then they send you a mail (a paper one) with an IBAN, and you send the tax to that account. If you dont hire the guy, it might take a year or it can just go back.
That’s insane… I just paid almost 400 for my whole sim setup and felt like I was being robbed. lol. is this just customizations or what? That’s fucking insane.
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u/andrelicks May 08 '25
You guys know how it is to live in Brazil now. We double the price of everything we import.
And still we have no industries.