Originally Posted by MetricFlyer

they have already budgeted a one-time $50-million-dollar budget for such devices.

Originally Posted by InkUnderNails

Back of the envelope numbers but I could make and sell them for about $50 each and make about $40 each in profit. Add a little red and green LED and we are up to about $25 each, my cost. I could outsource them to China and get them for about $2.95.

Originally Posted by chollie

Of course, you would want to manufacture them EXACTLY to spec, so that a few months from now, you can lobby your Congressman to lobby TSA to modify the rules - slightly wider/narrower blade, mm longer or shorter. That way, TSA would have to completely replace the useless tools and you would be able to cash in a second time around. Of course, your profit would be marginally lower, because you would be expected to 'donate' generously to your Congressman...

Or, better yet, manufacture them not-quite-to-spec and accidentally discover the problem after all checkpoints have been equipped. Ask for a big $$ infusion to study the problem for a solution, announce that there isn't one, and manufacture a new (flawed in a different way) set.

Originally Posted by InkUnderNails

I forgot that expense in my calculation. That probably gets me up over $100 each.

Seriously, an adjustable gauge with certified calibration would be about $50 to manufacture given the number of airports X the number of lanes, wild guess of 50,000 needed. So, $2.5 million, and that is at a normal tolerance of .001". At 1/10" most good machinists could make them with an ax.