LOL, I like you Richard. With out a lil humor, life is so boring… And, after a few scrapes, when the zinc is gone, you can still lick it to get your iron supplement to stave off those terrible anemia attacks :-)

Looks like you’ve got it pretty well covered, Darwin. I knew about the old lye from ashes for making soap, but I learned some more about the zinc from you. And in a pinch, you could lick the scraper after using it, to get some flavorful zinc suppliment added to you diet. (:>I)

Thanks Richard, yes, you can buy a zinc cadmium mix and several other combos depending on what finish/color of finish and that sort of thing. It has become an amazing science.

I use an ingot of pure zinc for several reasons, first, and the most important, food saftey. Second, ease of application, I am using an acid based plating solution, it combines the cleaning/prep step with the plating step and it disolves the ingots much easier than the alkaline based solutions.

My choice of method leaves a dull surface finish which is fine since I still powder coat the assembly. The zinc I am using has the same chemical makeup as the zinc in a multivitamin. The scraper edge (.0478" by 6") is the only contact surface that will transfer any zinc and since it is an electroplate process (.00015" thickness) vs. the much thicker hot dip (.002") it will be back to crs (cold rolled steel) in a couple scrapes anyhow.

I need the zinc coating to protect the steel from the edge of the tip and up the side of the scraper. The way I have my scraper designed, you can not get any part of it in contact with the food surface except the tip.

A corrosive situation is created when users just hang the scraper up out doors after getting the burnt food particles (charcoal) on the tip and the humidity out side reacts with it.

It is identical to pioneers making lye (for use in their soap making) by putting their fireplace ashes in a barrel under the eve of the roof, rainwater dripped into the barrel and mixed with the ash creating lye.

Lye is a very caustic and corroding chemical and it would start a rapid rust process on the tip,,,the problem was that it did the typical “rust creep” up the scraper side, under the plastic powder coat.. It looked ugly fast.
The zinc will retard the rust creep.

Thanks Richard

I made units similar to the peg baoard idea about 25 years ago when I was doing a lot of craft shows or setting up in front of the base exchange on paydays with a display of all my crafts. I still use the same units today in organizing and storing all my stuff (I suffer from a severe form of packratitus)…they are still as nice and in as good a shape as the day I made them 18 moves later.

Cardboard tends to get beat up and shabby after a while…

also think about color, pick a paint scheme that will come to be associated with your product…something bold and eye’catching but not gaudy, have at least 2-3 colors applied in a distinctive pattern that could become your trademark…Example…both Nascar and Mary Englbrecht (?spelling) utilize the checkerboard pattern in their logos and /or displays and packaging

start combing thrift shops, garage sales, and ask friends who have maybe gotten one as a ‘gift for the guy who has eveything, they probably don’t use it (especially if they aren’t a tie wearin’ kinda guy). you could also check out business’s that deal in used store/restaurant supplies. Auctions are also a good place to look, estate sales and businesses going out of business. you could take several of them for parts and combine into a tall free-standing unit.

or make a 6 foot tall tri-fold peg board unit, each panel could be 12"-24", hinge them on the two inner joins, add fasteners on the two outer sides so when you hook them together you have a free standing unit (triangular prism shape) or you could hang it from a pole going up the center (bottom of the pole attached to a lazy susan base). The whole unit breaks down flat for storage and transport between shows and shops.

but the only problem I see with circular display of rectagular products as large as yours, especially if they are ever totally enclosed in packaging, is that you wouldn’t be able to go very deep in hanging as they would start to overlap each other the further in they were.

I love it Krissie, another idea. I was thinking more along the lines of a double shoebox sort of size like a shelf kiosk, If they let me put up what you are talking about, I will try my darnedest to come up with something,,,,,,,How bout an old circular belt hanging rack. Have it high enough to be right at eye level and mount a foam backed Grill Buster oval on top. Maybe have the GB on one side and the Air Trike on the other????

Since the tool has a rawhide hanging strap, I could just load it up with a dozen brushes (I box them 12 in a box).

You might want to check with the big stores that routinely have big cardboard displays, ask themwhat they do with them once a particular promotion is over… if they throw them away then you just may be able to take them off their hands…Re-vamp them and you are good to go!!!!

Finally, I am done rebuilding my line, thought I was going to croak…lol I did almost, I cut my finger (only 4 stitches) off with the skill saw while I was building the fence enclosing the zinc treating area.

It all turned out for the good. I have a much better product now and I rebuilt almost every machine with increased efficiency as a result and at least 3 of them doubled their output.

Tomorrow, Josh and I are delivering to our first 3 stores, finally. The Ace Hardware has had one of my samples since June 2010…

Back into sales, this is the part I like the most. I am taking the Air Trike with me, Josh and I will ride it up to the store to deliver the box, then we will explain that we are offering a weekend morning or afternoon, we will set up our booth tent, have the Trike on hand and my son will autograph pictures of himself on the Air Trike….

Am also working out the details of a simple cardboard box shelf kiosk with a picture of the Trike and Josh mounted on the back wall of the kiosk.

give me some feedback,,,thanks

The best results of my time studies have been seeing ways to make my stations faster. I already have my welding process automated with a manual feed.

I realized yesterday that I can completely automate one of my presses. I will set it up to feed from a stack of blanks, make one bend, flip the blank 180 degrees and reinsert for the second bend, then remove it and drop it into a box.

Yesterday I converted my two for one screwdriver into a 2-4-1 drilling adapter. This allows me to drill both brush mounting holes at one time. That combined with stacking 25 scraper heads per each drilling has allowed me to drill each hole in 5.18 seconds..:-) and yes, I am proud

Since my air compressor is noisy, they all are, and my neighbors and family like to go to sleep before my day ends….I built an insulated box around it with a small opening at the bottom and at the opposite end on top a small hole for the hot air to escape… It is so quiet,,, but now it is overheating… So, H/D here I come, one $13.00 bathroom fan later and hooked up to the compressor relay. Now, every time the compressor comes on so does the fan. I ducted the fan to the outside like a dryer.

total cost $25.00, invention? no, innovation? absolutely..

So, rough cut 600 scraper heads in an hour this afternoon. That comes out to 6 seconds of labor per finished brush assembly. Now if I can be as efficient at the rest of the steps :-). I do know it takes 37 seconds per weld and 15 seconds to punch the 2 grill lift tabs. I know it takes 30 seconds per handle to rough cut, drill and prep for welding.

By this weekend I should know how much labor it takes for each step of production… I have my material cost per unit and my resent additional plating cost, so when I have my labor costs laid out I should be more sure if I can make a profit at my sales price.

I really like this sort of detail (my wife calls it “anal”)work. It is like an invention within an invention.

never… let’s just say that a few or simmerring, go back occasionally and stir the pot. I do have a design for a press brake that really needs a little water added to the pot. I need this thing soon too. But to incorporate the mechanics into a small package, etc my mind just isn’t there. There’s so much to consider and to stay low budget, high quality, versatility… and never having built one. Not an easy undertaking, but no one every said this was the smartest thing to do to begin with either.

Scott, have you ever just hit a dead end on a new tool/procedure? The plating facility is working wonderfully, the fluidized bed,,,toast. Got the voltages right,,, the right angles of the pieces to be coated cause the high voltage to create like an eddie current in the corners and not coat in those areas. Back to doing it manually for now.

C’mon Darwin, cut the end off and plug it into 110. Dat’s what I’d do.

I been drawing for three days on a single die set. Thankful that I don’t have to reinvent the hydraulic supply or the press this time. Three more dies to go and then start thinkin on the wire former again. Had to let that rest and simmer.

The ins and outs of inventing out of a shopping cart…That power supply for a steal of 104 dollars,,, it needs a thingee called a "cascade….

It only costs $1,997.55,,,,ouch. Back to the drawing board. I wouldn’t trade this “production on a shoestring” for anything in the world.

The plating is going very nicely, and I even have a green recycling system for everything including the rinse water…

Darwin and Scott, My Dad has been doing powder coating for a while. He uses it for his Hot Rods. He has much knowledge in all of that, I on the other hand do not understand it at all. I’m sure if you have questions or need help, he’s your man. He was a Ship Builder for years, he is an amazing man. He is 80 years old and still dabbles in figuring that kind of stuff out. This apple fell from the tree.

I’d agree with Darwin, we both simply have a need to fulfill that others haven’t offered on the market. I have to check myself, most times it doesn’t pay off. When it does, that’s great, but I’m always learning. My next need is a wire former, a store bought 250K machine can’t do the job in one operation. So I ask myself several things, do I have 250K, how much more do I need to spend, how many parts do I need, life span of the machine I can build based on anticipated needs. When I finally release the product I can price it according to my abilities without outside resources dictating. When I source it (if I need to) for higher volumes, new manufacturers have to be able to beat my in-house cost.

I’m a engineer, fabricator, inventor along with a bunch of other titles. It’s not hard work, but can be very frustrating and stressful beyond ones imagination when it’s you livelyhood. Sometimes… well, I’ll leave it at that

Krissie, thank you for your compliment, Scott and I are just gear heads, we are doing simply what you described,,, making the tools we need. Don’t ever underestimate yourself. It is your same “can do attitude” and, imo at least, your “just will not stop till you succeed” enthusiasm that took our name sake, lil Tom E. to where he ended up.

I mostly do metal, so I can wow you with terms, if your products are not metal. I don’t post here to do that,,,,,well maybe once in a while…:-), I try to post just to show that it can be done and in a micro scale and in a suburban garage bay…

Darwin and Scott, I really like the way you two think! Although not nearly to the scale and complexity of what you two are striving to do, I have found myself often forced to create the tools I need to accomplish my goals. It is a serious rush when it works! Compared to you guys I feel like I’m a ‘mini-me’ micro style inventor looking up to you two.

Awesome, my kind of inventor…. there is the invention that can be mass marketed and then there are the tools needed to build it. I just use the same inovative spirit in building my assembly lines as I did to design the marketable product… for now, the tools I make, I just consider to be the specialty stuff that any and all large/real assembly lines have a full time staff of engineers/machinists/and the like to continuously maintain and grow the original line. Basically, I see a production facility as a uniquely designed (per product/model).

At my size, your points about 110 volt power vs 3 phase are so valid. No one understands how important this minor detail is.

I have an idea, we should get EN to make a “How it is made.” Micro style series. Based on the current TV show, we could show the micro inventors that it is possible to “Make it in your Garage.”.

Darwin, there are those that invent and those come up with an idea are two totally different ummm responsibilitys. Idea people are a dime a dozen. Inventors whooa, these guys make things happen. I designed a parts counter for my assembly line, I spent more time building radically different prototypes to find a solution. Hundreds of hours (if not thousands) finally paid off, a nifty little machine that has a price tag of about $300 can count parts faster than the eye can see. Many times I almost gave up, but my option was to hire a custom machine builder costing 30-40K. A small press I designed (1K) can produce parts much faster than any punch press or turret press costing 250K. the list goes on, my designs enable me to plug into 110 volt and can be run in an apartment if need be. This is opposed to industrial property rental, 440 triple phase… Some day, if I ever can monopolize on the IP I have, I would love to begin building equipment that the mad inventor can use at home and get professional quality at production rates. It’s possible, and theres a need. Good luck, perhaps we can brainstorm. Would be interested in the powder coating and the plating. I have dozens of machines I’d love to build.