# Any one interested to build and sale this device?



## b2rtch (Jan 20, 2010)

Yesterday I designed and build a device to handle any sheet of plywood, MDF, particle board, sheet rock, sheet metal or any other large and cumbersome piece one person, no lifting and with ease.
I pick the sheet of 3/4" plywood in the rack (vertical) and I swing flat on my work table or table saw easily , one person with no lifting . 
The same device can be used to put the sheet back in the rack
In addition I use the device on my table saw as an in feed table
The same device can be used to unload or load a truck or a trailer, one person no lifting. 
I cannot say much about it because I want to try to sale the idea to someone.


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## a1Jim (Aug 9, 2008)

Sounds great Bert, Good luck on your marketing of this great idea.


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## Servelan (Oct 15, 2010)

If it's something the average woodworker can build, you could sell the plans. If not, check with companies like Rockler and Lee Valley. I'd like to have something like that in our shop; would make it a lot easier to manipulate large sheets of material, for sure.


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## b2rtch (Jan 20, 2010)

rick3ddd, this is not that at all. 
I believe that my idea could be sold for around $150.00 and it is much more versatile than the cart above.


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## Chriskmb5150 (Dec 23, 2009)

I would patent the design before divulging any more info on a public forum.
just my 2c


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## PurpLev (May 30, 2008)

bert, if you're interested in finding someone to manufacture and sell you idea - LJ may not be your audience of choice. you'd have to contact the mfg. Grizzly, rockler, woodcraft, lee valley, Jet (WMH) etc. as suggested - If this is a fully developed idea and you can prove that it works - it would be best to patent it before going public with it.


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## Dark_Lightning (Nov 20, 2009)

Bert, your best bet is to do a patent search first, to look for what is called "prior art". If yours looks too much like what is out there already, it'll not be granted a patent.

beewood, I wonder why the tune "Trust in Me" as sung by Kaa from the Jungle Book is in my head, now?


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## boboswin (May 23, 2007)

Patent it Bert. Then if it is patentable come forward and ask for quotes for a build.


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## b2rtch (Jan 20, 2010)

I just check the patent office web site, it costs about $800.00 to patent anything , with out talking about the hassle.
Do I want to do that?


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## Gregn (Mar 26, 2010)

I agree, if its that good of an idea you should patent it first. Millions have been made off of stupid stuff that a patent was put on. I would like to know more myself but understand your concerns in not giving to much away. If nothing else at least you found a good solution to your problem. Hope things work out for you as the for its cost $150.00 would certainly be in my price range to purchase.


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## crank49 (Apr 7, 2010)

I know at least a couple people who have designed things like a home shop wood drying kiln and a wood framed bandsaw that just sell their plans on a wood working forum.

In the manufacturing world it's dog eat dog. You can rarely be competetive with domestic manufacturing and if you go to China you can have things made for 1/10 the cost of domestic, even including freight, but they totally ignore patents and copyrights. A succesfull product will be knocked off with absolutely no risk.

India is not much better. The company I work for has a product that was copied by a manufacturer in India. They were selling it here in the USA as being exactly the same as our product but at half the cost. We have spent millions of $ on lawyers any finally got a temporary rulling from the international trade commission that keeps the other company from importing their product into the USA. The legal battle is ongoing, however. We won't even consider letting a Chinese company manufacture our products for the same reasons.


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## boboswin (May 23, 2007)

Laws and laywers have worked heir magic to make intellictual rights too costly for the average person and as a result have blunted creativiity.

If it cost millions to protect what is rightlfully yours and you have no recourse to recover your damages then you are bust. The lawyers are not.
To me, there is something wrong with that picture.


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## davidroberts (Nov 8, 2008)

If it is that good an idea, and you plan to develop the idea, then you do need to file for a patent. Usually funds are available for a really good idea that has commerical value. Finding the money to develop the idea is not the problem. Having a really good idea, I mean a really really good idea is the problem. You can always have a prospective investor sign a non disclosure letter. It's pretty much standard practice.


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## b2rtch (Jan 20, 2010)

I have contacted all the main wood working sellers ( Grizzly, Rockler, Woodcraft, HF and others ) to ask them if they would be interested by my idea.
Now I jut wait to see what happen.
How good is my idea? 
I think it is a very good idea as it solved my issue handling all these panels for a very little price and that it is very easy to build. 
In my shop it took me one day to build it, from scratch and my cost in addition to my initial investment is about $30.00.
I hesitate going through the hassle to patent my idea, I would rather sale idea.


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## HokieMojo (Mar 11, 2008)

Not to be a downer here, but if you can' build your project in a single day but it would cost $150 to sell it, why wouldn't individuals just look at the plans and come up with their own homemade versions? There are a TON of examples like the homemade cyclones and the kerfmaker to name a couple, but people won't usually shell out much money for an items that they think they can build (and tweak) themselves.


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## b2rtch (Jan 20, 2010)

I do not expect to make a huge amount of money, in fact my deal with who might be interested would be 'a little money now, and free tools for life".
If no one is interested then I shall give my, very simple, plan.
I am not greedy and I already have a very good income, praise God.


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## sras (Oct 31, 2009)

If you have what you think is an original idea, you should consider a patent. I would think you could check around and find a patent attorney would at least let you know what be involved. If you do not think it is worth protecting, then you should get comfortable with the understanding that a good idea will get copied and sold for less.

I have a friend that gets original designs manufactured in China. He learned the hard way, but now he only has components made at any one factory. The final assembly is done at his site. That way none of the suppliers has enough information to copy the final product.


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## rivergirl (Aug 18, 2010)

Talk to Fishmontana on L/j he's the go to on this one. Attorney- patent connection. Tell him rivergirl sent you.


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## boboswin (May 23, 2007)

Time to fish or cut bait.


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## rance (Sep 30, 2009)

I too have a few ideas I'd like to sell to major tool manufacturers. I'll be interested to see which route you take. I wish you well. Other folks have similar interests ( http://lumberjocks.com/projects/5620 ).


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## HokieMojo (Mar 11, 2008)

Bert,
I hope my last post wasn't too negative. I like encouraging other to build stuff. I jsut wanted to remind you that a large percentage of woodworkers like to take ideas and make them their own. Good luck with whatever you decide to do though. If I keep trying to move full sheets of 3/4" ply by myself, I'll probably need your item in 10-15 years too (-:


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## b2rtch (Jan 20, 2010)

Thank you rivergirl.
I did contacted Fishmontana


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## b2rtch (Jan 20, 2010)

HokieMojo, no problem


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## rivergirl (Aug 18, 2010)

Glad you sent fish a note.


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## stevenhsieh (Jan 8, 2010)

PANTENT IT FIRST
If there's already a original ideal then you cannot use it.


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## LeeBarker (Aug 6, 2010)

The $80o mentioned above is a provisional patent. In other words, you pay that, with one or two visits to a patent attorney, and you are protected for one year. That gives you time to investigate the feasibility, do a search, all that stuff, and if someone copies your idea your filing proves you had it first.

A regular patent then must be filed before the year is up if you want to continue. That gets into 5 figures of $.

If it truly is a blockbuster of an idea, the $800 is cheap.

Oh, and beware of the companies that want to help you patent your original idea. They're generally not well regarded.

If you're only interested in a onetime payment, consider writing an article for a ww magazine. You can have a freelancer do the writing work for a fee then peddle the concept to the mags (one at a time).

Just some random, late night thoughts…


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## childress (Sep 14, 2008)

Anything like this ???


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## b2rtch (Jan 20, 2010)

Thank you all for your interest and replies.
I really am not interested to go through he trouble of patenting my invention. 
I published the pictures here:

http://lumberjocks.com/topics/21533

I have been using i many times and it works perfectly.


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## helluvawreck (Jul 21, 2010)

Hey, good luck on the marketing of the lifting contraption - I already have a bad back so keep us posted.


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## b2rtch (Jan 20, 2010)

I am not marketing it.


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