Looking for help testing new tools...

rhardman

Attachment 233It was apparent in the final email I received from him that he has a major attitude and doesn't want to play so we won't burden him with any further interaction.
__________________________________________________ _______________________________

Everything else is going great. The site is finished and waiting to be launched. We've entered into a distribution relationship in the UK and will start calling Australia next week. After our meeting in Pennsylvania late this month we'll decide how to pursue the U.S.

The UK, Australia and other countries are better for the (early) fiberglass products along with the plastering and EIFS contractors here. We're also getting several inquiries for a consumer version of the mesh taper. They want something inexpensive without the need for durability beyond a year. I had to laugh as I designed 2 different consumer versions back in the 90's.

When the Raptors are finished we'll start advertising them to the drywall community here along with the retro-fit options for guys that already own their own automatic tools. For those that don't have their own tools, we have a relationship already established with a major mfr to fit their tools to our pumping system.

Pump:
Discovered yesterday that the seals are worn more than I thought. Not sure if all the gravel, rocks and everything else we put through it contributed to premature wear or not. Running between 3 and 7 times the recommended speed probably added to the friction and wear factor too. I'm jazzed because even with the abuse, we're still stylin! The wear isn't catastrophic and we're waiting to hear back from the engineering department (at the University) for their final analysis.

It's not that important either way. At worst, we have a strong system with a "hells furry" pump using quick change replacement seals. I'll get with Cory next week to see if an idea I have will make them last longer.

I was going through some old boxes setting up the assembly area this week and found some cool (to me) old sketches I did in the 80's. There were several tools I had completely forgotten about. For instance, a power reel accessory that can be bolted up to the Raptor. Another is Way-Cool (!!!) that we will offer for sure.

Attachment 230
Early and mid 80s pump systems0002.jpg

Making progress on the Man Pan.

Life is Good!

Rick

P.S. Our drawings are much better now...
Attachment 233

mud bud

Rick how do I contact you to show you my new tool? Maybe we could share information on bringing new products to market. Contact gwmccallum@shaw.ca
thank you Gary

rhardman

quote=mud bud;12451]Rick how do I contact you to show you my new tool? Maybe we could share information on bringing new products to market. Contact gwmccallum@shaw.ca
thank you Gary[/quote]

It's a wild ride my friend! At the end of the road, you may not end up with anything so you have to decide from the start that no matter how it turns out, just completing the process will be enough. At least you know that you tried. I've got 32 years in this so far and there is no guarantee that anything will come of it. I'm sure many of the readers already think I'm crazy.

That being said, there is a great potential for fun and possibly profit. But going to another company and asking them to carry a tool is not going to get an inventor more than maybe 5 - 10 % (if you're lucky). And if you don't have a working prototype, nobody will want to hear what you have to say at all.

I'm absolutely convinced that the leaders in the drywall industry in 5 years are right now fiddling with ideas in their garage or knocking on doors trying to establish new business relationships. The tool standards that got the industry to where it is today is causing its own demise with too many manufacturers and all the contractors using the same basic technology. Look at Ames with the collapse of their dynasty. Then add in the growing illegal under cutting problem and things only get worse for you.

(Ames early box 1940)
Ames first box 1940.JPG
With work so slow, preconceived ideas are changing fast and strong, traditional thinking is being set aside as the drywall contractor has got to find a better solution for fear of going out of business. In this type of (business) environment, manufacturers usually start buying each other to gain market share. In the drywall industry however, nobody is profitable enough to do that. Especially with the online tool suppliers cutting each others throat selling primarily based on price. Forgive me brothers, but offering free internet shipping is a misguided method of doing business. With such small profit margins, it erodes the entire foundation of their long term viability. They pound on the tool makers who get *issed off, going to another online store hoping to get a better deal and he finds out the second guy is working on unsustainable margins too.

I believe that our tools (coming from left field) with either fill the gap or will help to provide some encouragment for others to create something new. Ultimately, it's not important who offers the final solution, it's just important that the drywall community realize that the only reason there aren't better options already out there is that nobody is trying to do anything different than anyone else!

It's become a black hole of nothing-ness with the life blood of the drywall worker being slowly sucked out of him.

Those that think of new ways to do the job and utilize better technology, will do better and those that don't will continue to fight with the illegals. That element will never change (and may get a lot worse if immigration laws let up). Hopefully, those that sell bleeding edge technology will demand current contractor's license and insurance numbers to purchase advanced systems. I decided a long time ago that we will.

Climbing down from my soap box; we want to be the place to go to for new ideas. I'm already talking with 3 different guys about their ideas so I'll be sending out some emails next month giving instructions on patent protection, prototyping and going to market. In a few months, we'll have a page on our site where anyone can present their idea and offer tools for testing. Based on that feedback we will be looking for new products to offer through our distribution network. Having tried to create something new for sooooo loooong, and receiving semi-hostile rejection, I understand the value of the idea and also the expense of taking it to market. While every case will be different, if you want to go with us, we will offer the inventor best percentages we possibly can. And you will get full recognition as the inventor in all publications and advertisments.

There are potential conflicts since we have so many new tools coming out of our own stable. We have to be careful and will discuss those issues one by one.

Send me an email at rhardman@hardmansystems.com with the subject, "I have an idea" and I'll get you on that inventor list for instruction, procedures, and so forth.

One thing for sure, please don't send me any drawings. I can't look at them until you are fully protected. I'll talk about that in the email(s) too.

Every great idea was created by a person in the privacy of their own mind. It wasn't brought forth by a multimillion dollar corporate entity or by some "professional" education. It's almost always a guy eating cold pizza thinking, "I can do this...I don't care how long it takes..."

Come on in...the water's fine!

Rick
On a more important topic...
Doesn't your profile say Kelowna??? Isn't there paragliding in Kelowna???

rhardman

That isn't to say their aren't great new products coming out.

Look at Fibafuse, Never-Miss*, the Full Circle sanding tools, rebel (with his Vario mud) and the Marshalltown stilts...

These guys (most of them did drywall for years) are busting their backsides offering samples and knocking on doors just to get people to consider a new way of doing things.

I don't mean to say that what is out there is bad, there is some innovation there. I'm only saying that for people to fundamentally improve their situation, contractors, distributors...everyone...we need to consider something new sometimes. Tell your local distributors to get new products in. Until they hear that you are interested, they have no incentive to look.

HSI quick change option.JPG


The only online distributor I've encountered that has an open door and wants to promote new tool concepts has been Brandon with his new site, www.walltools.com.

I don't have business relationships with these guys other than a couple of them are on the "Friends" page of our pending site. I get nothing from their sales and I'm not on Brandon's site (because of our pending Pennsylvania relationship I spoke about earlier).

After my rant above, I just want to acknowledge that there are good people out there trying to make things better .

* I know Never-Miss got off to a bad start on DWT. His self promotion was poorly done but his product is a good one. It's a line I have to be very careful of here. That's why after our site is launched, this thread will end. Until then I hope that we are offering encouragement to guys that also have new ideas.

Nobody and I mean nobody knows what it will take to improve things better than the guys on the wall.

Respectfully,

Rick

A+ Texture LLC

Well I sent Rick a final evaluation of the taper. I think it's a great product. My biggest fear with it was that when using mesh tape you have to run your hand over it to make sure that it adheres to the wall good and doesn't bubble. The squishy roller does a great job of setting the tape and even pushes it in the crack a little. I checked to see if there were any bubbles in it and there wasn't. After getting used to it a little I'm on the fence about using the floor scraper blades vs the custom blade he sent me.
Overall I give it a thumbs up. I did however recomend that he makes a couple of videos of its "proper" use (which was actually his idea) so that users begin using it the correct way and don't start off right away with bad habits. Darren have your guys gotten better at using it?

rhardman

Thank you A+.
I just discovered a flaw in my design while I was doing some research for the "Mesh vs Paper Tape" thread. USG says that pushing the glass down into the crack between the sheets actually weakens the joint. I have a solution and will implement the change this week (and call my patent attorney). I'll make a different roller design and send a new prototype. In the meantime, don't push hard while rolling. I never had a problem with it.

I can't change the website pictures for a while yet but will be sure to point out the advantage in the videos.

Rick

http://www.usg.com/rc/data-submittal...ata-MH1178.pdf
Mesh Taper Flaw_Improvement implemented..JPG


Oh...looks like NZ is on board. More talking to do but certainly great people and they want to see new ideas.

Mudstar

I guess it goes to show that from previous posts and boosts from yourself Rich that you really have not done your research or have the experience but are simply supporting a product that you wish to capitalize on.

I don't have a problem with the free enterprise envelopment we all live in but would like to say that the experienced have no problem understanding what you are doing wrong and don't change what has worked for many years.

Good luck!

Tim0282

And how long have you been in the Biz, Oh Mr. Great Mud Wrestler?
Still use a hawk and trowel, and is your hawk an old piece of plywood, still use a pan and knife, still use a compressor and hopper?? Do you use an old 2x4 for stilts, or solid steel, one peg bolt your own shoes on...? Isn't there room for improvement? And a guy that has been in the BIZ for multiple years is the guy that can make a "better" tool. Not usually the guy that sits behind a desk and draws stuff on paper and says "this will work".

Mudstar

Well there are people that like to lie about there experience to gain popularity amongst the experienced to learn whats right and whats wrong and I have no discrepancy in regard to that. They will learn like I had too.

Since I've been in it since 1984 not using the years to gauge what I know but its what I have done and seen done by others I work with give me the experience I have and have not change the methods of application but only up graded the tools to do the same job at a faster rate.

I have run and owned a couple businesses in the construction industry and have had several employees over this time. I know what works and what does not work. I'm not blowing hot air out of my a$$ ether.

The people that use this forum know by the post of others who really knows what there talking about because there experience in this trade so with that said we all know where we stand.

Tim0282

rhardman

Have I been insulted?*

Skepticism is good.

If I've been misunderstood, let me say that I posted the improvement in my design to readily admit that I've found room to be better. And rather than begin shipping all of the stock I have to the UK and NZ "less than perfect", I'll make the improvements at my own expense to ensure that we only provide the best possible tools.

"...don't change what's worked for many years..." is a concept I totally don't understand. Isn't the point in life to always try to come up with a better way of doing something?

I'm also confused as to why people have such a hard time with even the possibility of something better coming along...

Rick
P.S. An objection usually indicates that the offender has had their hopes up and been burned before. That's why we will offer a satisfaction guarantee on everything we sell.

================================================== ==
Resume: (since it appears my credentials may be in doubt)

1965-1978 Weekends, holidays and every summer; washed buckets, scrapped houses and drove to dump, learned to wipe down behind bazooka for my dad and do knife/metal work before graduating high school.
1978-1991 Nailed, finished, textured drywall (with my dad) in Salem and Portland, Oregon. Also considerable experience with thin wall plaster on commercial projects (i.e. extensive mesh experience) and 2 years residential interior painting. AIA Architectural Craftsmanship Award in Portland working with Allen Pierce Construction in the late 80's. Owned my own company at 21 with a variety of employees throughout the years. Responsible for all aspects of estimating and running the jobs and doing final touch up and QC. In late 80's specialized in remodel jobs matching textures in homes built between the early 1900's and the 1950's.
Fell down stairs on stilts and got an electronics degree going to night school. Had the highest abscentee rate in the history of the school as I was also running my drywall business. "Hey Rick, I had to suspend you again...stop by my office to fill out another form" was heard many times in the hallway.
Between 1991 and 2004 worked in Silicon Valley. Opened new regional office for Future Electronics in Beaverton, Oregon. Working with Silicon Forest Electronics in Vancouver, Wa as a start up. I sold $8,000,000.00 in product (average piece price of < $5.00) in 12 months. SFE used robotic chip placement equipment to assemble printed circuit boards.
2004-2008 Helped design Geotechnical Instrumentation systems focusing on Vibrating Wire and Smartec Fiber Optic technologies for many earth monitoring systems including the False Creek Tunnel in Vancouver, BC, the WRB Bridge in Kelowna, BC and the Block 37 Tunnel Instrumentation project in Chicago.

When pricing out a multimillion dollar wireless instrumentation package for Syncrude Oil in Fort MacMurray 2 years ago, my Rhode Island employer (I was responsible for all sales west of the Mississippi, Western Canada and Mexico) told me that he decided he wouldn't pay commissions on the sale.
With my very unpolitical drywall background, I told him to go $crew himself and quit. Since we had just made our major leap forward in the pump design, I've returned to my roots in drywall, beginning to introduce the first of the 18 tools I have designed over the years. Only the mesh taper and corner slider utilize fiberglass mesh (as you understand it)

Everything "political" I learned from drywall...
In 1992 I was canned in front of the entire company (Marshall Industries Milpitas, California) because of my finely groomed (drywall) political skills. After being told how to get promoted in the company, I went to the GM and asked, "Larry, what's this crap I hear that if I want to grow at Marshall, I have to take you and your wife out for dinner, skiing for the weekend and out for drinks??!!??" "Why can't I be promoted because of the job I do???"
I was fired the next day.

*Mudstar,
It's good to be back home where if someone has a problem with you, they tell you to your face!

Tim0282

Love the post, RH!!

cazna

Me Too

Mudstar

I'm glad that constructive criticism has not got your back up against me or any other on this forum. That makes you one of the strong ones here.

I do believe that you have great knowledge in what you have experienced and commend you on it in all regards. You have done a lot of changing from what you say.

I do hope you succeed in what you set out to do because of your ambition. I'm sure you will.

Good luck once again!

A+ Texture LLC

Ok Rick, after using the mesh taper some more today I think that a guide might actually be a good idea. Also I wonder how hard it would be to make a "brake" for it when your about to make a cut. I find myself holding the mesh against the wall so it doesn't pull away when i go to cut. I think all in all, those would be the only changes or adjustments i'd make. However if there was a "see thru" hole under the head where you could kinda see through exactly where the tape was it might make it a little easier to control. I still give it an overall thumbs up though. And I guess thats good to know about the tape going into recesses. I honestly never knew it made a difference as long as it was flat on the wall. The learning never stops here at drywalltalk.

mud bud

Some people embrace change others resist it.
The only tool of Ricks I'm familiar with is his mixing paddel and simple as it is in concept (remember the wheel) it abides by the rules of invention "What problem does it solve" Soon the sides of my plastic pail will no longer be all scratched up making them easier to clean, the square tapered edges can reach into the right angled base of the bucket and that pesky lump at the bottom centre will no longer be the small anoyance that it is.
I'm bringing a tool to market that both measures and cuts wallboard and though it is generally well recieved by most boarders there are times the resistance I recieve is to say the least offencive. At one time a survey form was crumpled up and tossed back at me. It was actually hilarious as the persons finger was bandaged up with a blood stain. Maybe I should not of pointed it out to him. This was the result of him running his finger down Dens-glass that day. There are times when fiberglass can rub the epidermis the wrong way and this is one of the problems the tool resolves. I call it the "Wallboarder's Buddy" but obviously it will not be one of his friends.
Remember there was at first resistance to the horseless carrage and that flying machine. It is the willing, brave and imaginative that are some of the greatest assets to our world.
Keep it up Rick

rhardman

Mudstar,
Your "constructive criticism" was more like a left jab, but getting beat up a couple of times (literally as a kid) and figuratively, has never hurt me. I appreciate it if it's deserved.

A+,
Yea, I always thought that pressing the tape into the seam was better.
After my schedule clears a bit, I'll get that video finished up. After that, if you still think it needs a tab I'll make it happen. I like your "see through" idea. Right now we have a warning label about the blade where the window would be so I'll see what I can do. Since my passion has always been with the larger tools that are coming out, I already have the first 3 generations already designed and prototyped. Your window may be a "new idea" that we introduce later. I'll make sure you get credit for the idea in the advertising. Thank you.

Mud Bud,
I'm reading a book by a guy named Rick Mauer called, "Beyond the Wall of Resistance" that is really helping me to understand things better through the eyes of others. In all reality, I don't know if the industry as a whole will grab hold of our new tools coming out (later). But even if only 5-10% do, I'll be able to pay my bills and do what I really enjoy. Ultimately that's all that matters.


Rick
I caught my finger in a grinder a couple of days ago. That was "fun."

rhardman

Status Update:

When we launch the site I'll be introducing the "Man Pan" with pictures and video's for all the tools that have been presented so far.

We've decided to include 2 blades with each mixing paddle so guys can interchange them based on the type of mixing they are doing on a particular job. There will also be a new interchangeable coupler so you can either use the standard Stainless Steel bolt or a quick change link for fast blade replacement.

The prices on our website are going to be offered with the MSRP prices so we support our distributors and don't undercut their efforts. We also won't have a shopping page for a while yet as we want to run as much through the distributors as we can. The MSRP levels are extremely high because they have to support 2 and sometimes 3 levels of distributor commissions. DWT members can send me a direct message through the contact page (with their DWT name) for a huge discount. Everyone else will need to contact a distributor. Through our site we will be offering the absolute best quality tools we can produce with the lifetime warrantees and satisfaction guarantees. However, at some point in the future we will also be introducing a second line of tools that are more like the way other tool mfrs go to market. In essense, we will be our own cut throat competitor. Instead of letting someone else come up with the lowest priced alternatives to our designs, we will. Our patents will still cover them but rather than the annodizing, high tech materials and individual machining to make them the best they can be, this second line will be down and dirty tools. They will be like the tools everyone else produces for guys that aren't interested in investing in their future, they just want something to do the task. For this second line, they will be more cost effective than anyone else can provide with some parts coming from China. The thinking is that if we don't do this, we will be fighting competitors that will try to infringe on our patents and in the long run could cost us a fortune in legal fees.

All the tools have been shipped out for the May 27th meeting. This is the company that is more plaster/EIFS based which is a better fit for the first fiberglass mesh products.

The new Raptor is coming along well. A bit larger than the standard drywall version as we will be using it to demonstrate the spraying capabilities of EIFS at 3 gallons a minute. No word back from the University on the wear conditions of the pump seals. We have learned that the high pressures we are using are adding to the wear so we're looking at different seal/valve alternatives to increase their life.

A+,
I fixed the issue of fiberglass tape being pressed too far into the seam. It allows a free floating area of the tape to be completely surrounded by the quick set material while still being strongly adhered to the face of the board.

Rick
Also...one of the DWT contributors have come up with an incredibly good tool for the painting industry. He is building a prototype and I'll be calling him Monday to continue forward on his idea.

rhardman

oops...

rhardman

Attachment 250The website is working with the final glitches being taken care of. I think some of the contact forms are still being addressed.

Technically still nothing for sale so once the videos are complete we'll finish all of that up.
If you're interested, my contact page provides additional info.

Rick
Attachment 250