>>> A typical hard-tool for a simple plastic part (eg the front cover of 
>>> your CD drive or half of a simple keyboard shell) will cost of the 
>>> order of 10-40k pounds.
>>
>> o_O
>>
>> Ouch...
> 
> Pff.. That's nothing :) The jigging system I worked on cost about US$1M 
> for a decently sized system. ~US$100K per 4 axis table. Our saws ran 
> about US$100K-250K

Jig system?

What are you trying to cut? Kryptonite??

> I'm guessing Injection molding machines don't have computer controls. 
> I'd imagine the engineering costs are pretty high, though ... getting 
> all of the pathways right so the part fills the mold properly, and cures 
> properly.

More to the point, apparently IM machines are rated on the amount of 
pressure they can clamp the mould down with - measured in tonnes. (!) 
Apparently the cheap ones manage 3-4 tonnes, and the best reach 6,000 
tonnes or more. O_O

> My el-cheapo Casio has a metal chassis. Ask me how I know ... I had to 
> pull it apart to fix the MIDI out port ... stupid thing came un-soldiered.

You as well?

(Actually, you should be glad it even *has* a MIDI port in the first 
place! Most cheap keyboards don't.)

We had to take my old ghettoblaster apart after the line in became 
loose. After we soldered it back down and reassembled it, we found one 
small metal part left over. We still don't know what that was!

Ah, that was a *quality* piece of equipment though. The box boasts 200W 
of power, but the actual speakers inside had figures of fractional Watts 
crudely printed on them. (2x speakers at 0.5W, 2x woofers at 0.25W.) And 
the manual described the line-in sockets as having "> 14% THD". :-D

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