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Getting Stuff from China

Cognisant

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Has anyone done this before, does anyone know how to do it?

I have this idea to make a combined bed & desk using cardboard sandwiched together like the chair in the picture below.
Ngv_design%2C_frank_o._gehry%2C_wiggle_side_chair%2C_1972.JPG

This is for people living in share houses where noise is a constant issue, be it either the noise of one's flatmates (who are often shift workers doing irregular hours) or from a nearby road, construction site, train line, whatever, after all the whole point of being in a share house is to save money and the cheapest places tend to be in shitty locations. As you may have already guessed the bed encloses the occupant and their mattress and the 20cm or so thick walls of corrugated cardboard serve to muffle noise, not entirely of but enough to make sleeping and not murdering one's flatmates easier.

Another issue faced by people in share houses is a lack of space, almost everyone has their own computer and they want to use it in the privacy of their own room, but cheap places tend to have small rooms and trying to fit a full sized bed and desk into a room is going to be a tight fit even if the room is quite large. With the bed being enclosed the top of it (about 110cm high) can be used as a standing desk space, it's not better than having a proper computer desk but it's quite a large surface and by combing the bed and desk you get a lot more space in the room as well.

Which brings me back to my opening question, if I'm going to sell these things I'm going to need to have it manufactured and I've tried contacting Chinese companies through Alibaba but the replies have been less than encouraging. For example I ask for the maximum length and width of cardboard sheet that the company can currently make, they reply that they do custom sizes, that doesn't help. They gave me the dimensions of a pallet of cardboard but either it's extremely small or they don't know the difference between meters and millimeters. I still haven't got any kind of indicative quote out of any of them.
 

Happy

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Have you tried getting max sizes from local manufacturers? At least it’s something to work with at the schematic level.

A couple of years ago, I was part of a group that put together an exhibition where everything was made of that heavy duty cardboard. Unfortunately I wasn’t involved in the procurement, but from what I remember, our sheets of cardboard were fairly big, with sizes up to 3m long. I think the limiting factor was width though - the pieces were only about 1.5m wide, but that may have been a design element.
 

Kuu

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If I get you right you want to have the bed under the desk? That's just huge for a desk, but the real issue is that 110cm height (minus beam depth for the cardboard surface) will be totally insufficient for the person getting in/out of the bed, and would be constantly hitting their head.

Cardboard sizes tend to come in similar standard dimensions than other sheet materials; 1200 x 2400 mm sheets are common, as well as 1200 x 3000. You can get very long rolls as well, but those won't be rigid panels.

In any case, cardboard is not likely to be a good material for acoustic insulation, or furniture for that matter. Cardboard, being paper, disintegrates into dust, easily gets dented and cannot withstand any water no matter how much you treat it. Besides a cardboard surface would be an extremely shitty desk surface. I have seen many, MANY cardboard-furniture projects and trust me, it's not a good idea.

You'd probably have more luck with some open-celled foam, maybe polyurethane? It would be much lighter and much more durable.

But some good over-ear headphones go a very long way to get rid of noisy neighbors.
 

Cognisant

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In any case, cardboard is not likely to be a good material for acoustic insulation, or furniture for that matter. Cardboard, being paper, disintegrates into dust, easily gets dented and cannot withstand any water no matter how much you treat it. Besides a cardboard surface would be an extremely shitty desk surface. I have seen many, MANY cardboard-furniture projects and trust me, it's not a good idea.
A sheet of something could be hammered into the top but yeah I'm losing interest in this.

Polystyrene or polyurethane foam in a glued on injection-moulded plastic shell would probably be cheaper to manufacture, more durable and more water resistant but the initial cost is a lot higher. Maybe rotocasting would be cheaper initially but that's a big thing to rotocast, also I don't think either foam would be strong enough to hold someone's weight.
 

asdasggadaczc

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In any case, cardboard is not likely to be a good material for acoustic insulation, or furniture for that matter. Cardboard, being paper, disintegrates into dust, easily gets dented and cannot withstand any water no matter how much you treat it. Besides a cardboard surface would be an extremely shitty desk surface. I have seen many, MANY cardboard-furniture projects and trust me, it's not a good idea.
A sheet of something could be hammered into the top but yeah I'm losing interest in this.

Polystyrene or polyurethane foam in a glued on injection-moulded plastic shell would probably be cheaper to manufacture, more durable and more water resistant but the initial cost is a lot higher. Maybe rotocasting would be cheaper initially but that's a big thing to rotocast, also I don't think either foam would be strong enough to hold someone's weight.
Hey, this is Lain.
I'm live in San Francisco. I have experience in international trade and transnational e-commerce, and I am proficient in Chinese. Could you talk me in a private chat? (First use this fourm, I dont know this fourm have private chat or not) if you want start a business, then we will start a long-term cooperation and discuss good ideas for multinational product business.
Looking forward to your reply.
 
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