Got some answers:

no discount for quantities, only save on shipping, its about 8.48 euro to ship 1 or 100 or more, using UPS

Cart bodies: Front = $17.02, Rear = $18.12, made using dark grey strong flexible material.
It does not give a spec for the material so not sure on durability etc, guess we’ll have to get some and see, but then at a cost of $35 it would still pay to just use donar carts, you also get the connector strip, but there is a finite amount out there, so who knows how long they will be around, once gone this kind of thing will be our only option.

KR155E wrote:
That’s pretty reasonable! Thanks for the info! Would there be a rebate if we ordered a whole bunch of them? It’s also great to hear that higher complexity does not mean higher costs.

Now, it would be interesting to know how much a cartridge shell would cost, wouldn’t it? 🙂 I assume it would be about the same?

No sure on reduced costs for amounts, I’ll have to get a quote for 10off.
A cart shell I think will be quite pricey as its the volume of material used, I’ll export a model and upload for pricing, will post when i find out, the final design would need tweaking to suit the connector strip thats been found to work, but cost should be similar.

The clip tab full detail STL model would cost $9.75 to have 3D printed with Shapeways, I guess there is post charge etc but gives us an idea of cost for parts.
Its calculated on the volume of material used, i have gone for black strong & flexible type material choice but they had quite a few options.

If anyone does use the STL model (in an earlier post) to get it made please take a stack of photos when you get it and give us a review, (strength, surface finish, quality etc) I would also like to know how well it fitted.
By the way the full detailed version costs a fraction less than the basic, as its down to material volume and not complexity.

Looking good fella, very eager to see how this turns out.
I have just registered with Shapeways, didn’t realize it was a European group, I am gonna get some costs for parts and see how feasible it would be to get a batch of the stand medallions made, for now i have just uploaded the basic model of the clip, I’ll get cost for that and let y’all know.

Yeah £30 seems fair, maybe stretch to £50 if needed, I’d say we would need funds to be up in the thousands before anyone fesses up to owning and willing to dump. Maybe not even then, I have no idea how much a proto cart of that would go for, a ‘fake’ space pinball came on ebay a couple of years back for $1500 (i think) so a real Dragon Hopper could be 10x that?
Around the time of Bound high rom ‘debates’ there was also a post saying how this community has no idea of what is out there in the ‘uber collector’ inner circle the poster felt they had to tell us about, could be bs, who really knows?
But I am always up for some kind hearted collector to help out the gamers and let us play.

VBrulez wrote:

gunpeiyokoifan wrote:
I have interest in Dragon Hopper, I would love to see it released in ROM form!

It’s nice to finally see someone respond to this thread. Who knows maybe one day everyone will be able to play a ROM of Dragon Hopper. Three years ago Bound High seemed impossible, but look at it now.

I too would love to see it, as would, I am guessing, everyone who frequents here.

I don’t want to ‘rain on your parade’ but there were roms of Bound high out there with quite a few folks before it was posted, long before, they may have been glitchy etc but they existed and were playable, please (please please) correct me if I’m wrong but we have never even had a sniff of a Dragon Hopper rom, thats not to say it don’t exist but if it does someone is keeping very quiet.
This old ‘release the rom cart looses some value’ argument raises its head again but its a very real concern for anyone with proto/rare/unreleased carts, not that i own any but i see the worry.

MineStorm wrote:
If you have the .stl file you could get it made on a MakerBot / UP! or such 3D printer.

Have just exported into STL, 2 versions a basic shape and a fully detailed as the original looks, I am very keen to see how it turns out if 3D printed.

Only point, please don’t make a load and sell them, I’m giving away this model I worked for hours on, so if anyone makes some please GIVE them away too (me first)

I think you will need to buy a whole stand to get that part.
The classic part that fails on a stand is the leg retaining medallion so I guess its possible you could find a busted stand but it has the clip parts intact.
Heres a render of the 3D model i made in Solidworks, if you find someone who is up for making you one I will happily send you a copy of the model they could use, but its small and a little intricate so would be costly.

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been wondering when we would hesr about your score, and good tale it is too, for me the coolest bit is finding such a low number on it, total bargain.

I’d have been up for a drive for this but my car don’t float.

And that is some ‘chip’ there on the side panel, using the word chip really implies its small, not the whole corner missing, still not bad and it has the infinity sign up top, that what i really want.

Top picture, Chalvo is surly infiltrating your mind.

Can you play too much Bound High?

It would appear so 🙂

But don’t stop its such an ace game.

RunnerPack wrote:
If you want an acrylic/polycarbonate box just for display purposes, you could skip the framework and just cut, (optionally) bend, and glue it together. It might not look as cool, and it wouldn’t be quite as stiff, but it would protect the box from dust and dings and would definitely be a lot cheaper.

Yeah the frame practically rules out making another for anyone else, I will be able to hoard some material over the next few weeks and get one together for myself, it will actually be easier for me to make it with the frame, don’t really have good facilities to bend, hold and glue the poly. I did draw up a game case from poly with tapped holes to screw together and a slide on lid, will take a little machining but its possible. (render below is of a case design that will take either 14 or a bit longer, 19 games). I could always dimension up each piece if anyone wanted to make one too.
In theory it could be stretched and a similar design used to cover a VB box.

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   game_case.jpg
   

Slightly more realistic design, but the cost for a kit to make this would still be in the region of £180, and you would have to assemble it yourself.
I am gonna try and piece one together using end of bar material and offcuts, it will take a while to accumulate the material but could be worth it.
Renders below.

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L___E___T wrote:
Hedgetrimmer, as we’re both in the UK – what’s the chance of making an extra one to order? If you did that, do you have an idea of what the costs might be? I’d be very interested in that, it looks like a great case from the render.

I’m reluctant to buy one of the US Blockbuster cases as the current going price (plus shipping to England) isn’t really an attractive deal.

I have been waiting to be asked that by someone, it shocked me when i produced the BOM with the material cost, list price for just materials, cut and processed is £440, even with my staff discount its way beyond what i can pay, I’m gonna do a re-design, make it simpler, but i still think the price will be v.high, I’ll have to work out a deal with my boss if i want to go for it, or sweet talk the factory foreman to save me some off cuts and then I’ll have to process it my self in lunch breaks.
I’d love to be able to offer them for sale a reasonable price but it just don’t seem to be possible. Of course if you have the bucks and want one then i can get it done, lets see how the re-design comes out, I’ll use acrylic panels instead of poly & make a simpler case frame, I’ll post when done.

Ok my design is done.
The case would take a VB box and protect it, or I am planning on working out a foam inner so i can store the VB & parts and a few games.
The case hinges open and is held closed with toggle latches.
Frame is aluminium and panels are polycarbonate, so its a pretty tough unit.
I was thinking it needs an outer handle, but i think it needs one that folds back, not something my work stocks, I need to find where i can buy one and fit it, but for now I’m happy with a closing solid case.

Renders show the case open and closed and the easm file is a 3D viewable model, the viewer is a free download from the Solidworks site, you need to find the eDrawings viewer and download it.
Those who viewed my previous models might need to update to newer viewer version as I have upgraded solidworks since those were done.

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VirtualJockey wrote:
I’m a strict pesce-pollotarian.

Other than that…
Happy Halloween PVB! 😀

I was gonna do that but the spelling & pronunciation put me off, so i just stopped eating animals.

Happy Halloween folks, looking forward to seeing VJ’s dog costume photos 🙂

edit: seem to have drifted way off topic here, sorry folks.

thanks fellas, a good set of dims to work with there, 5mm of clearance (2.5 a side) should work well, i’ll post when done.

Whenever you manage is cool.
I kind of have the design sorted and just need to tweak the dimensions to suit once i know them.

Now don’t get to excited with that kind of Friday night activity planned, you’ll be ironing your socks next.

This episode just aired in the UK last night, I came in late last night put TV on to wind down a bit and the ending was just there with the old man playing, so i sky+’ed it on the +1 channel and will view it all tonight.

L___E___T wrote:
I’ll measure my JPN box when I get home.
I insist on giving measurement in mm though 😉

That would be cool thanks, mm is ideal.

FYI 25.4 mm = 1 inch, exactly, use this multiple and you can convert perfectly from one to the other, I use it constantly as i get tool drawings in both formats to work with, and here in UK lots of older companies use imperial.