My carbon woes

General Composites Discussions Composites Talk
#1

Biz ain’t so grand, had to put my business on temporary hold until i find another shop. The guy I was sharing my shop with (AE Carbon) turned out to be a super dusche bag; on drugs, steriods with riod rage, and a shady business person. I did about $2,500 worth of work for him and he never paid me for. I just left when the getting was good to be rid of him. He didn’t care about customers he previously had and getting their parts finished for them because he straight up said they were not important.

Steer clear of George Husar and AE Carbon.

So now I’m looking for a full time regular paying job and hopefully a small shop/work place to do my carbon fiber work on the side. I’m positive eventually something will come up and I will turn this thing around for good :slight_smile:

If anyone has ideas on a cheap shop i’m open to suggestions.

I had one guy who wanted $1200 to move into a 1000sq. ft. shop in his backyard. That wasn’t such an awesome deal because locally if i had $1200 I could get a small commercial shop lease with a public entrance and parking.

#2

It would greatly help to know your location. USA is kinda of big.
There’s still a lot of business out there for composites.

#3

I’m in Phoenix Arizona. I feel I can keep making the bike and car parts and make decent $. I do try not to be close-minded about producing other types of parts. If I can work with my hands doing something I enjoy, that’s mainly what it’s about for me.

#4

Unless you’re doing high end stuff or supplying race teams, the street car and motorcycle markets are crap. I wouldn’t bother.
75% of the automotive side of my business is for race teams that actually pay for high quality parts and keep buying stuff. I do high end work for some of the automotive communities I’m part of, but those customers needs to be educated to convince them to pay. The aerospace stuff pays much better, and is non-stop.

Go out and work with a composites manufacturer. Do the small stuff on the side.
http://www.careerbuilder.com/JobSeeker/Jobs/JobDetails.aspx?IPath=QHKCV&ff=21&APath=2.21.0.0.0&job_did=J8D7BX6HK5LZMN1PJYL

#5

Unless you are Boeing, or Spirit Aerospace.
At least I heard the strike might be over.
DOH!

#6

The strike has been temporarily resolved. Boeing is accepting shipments again. But in the long term, they’ll always be working with composites and the orders are only getting bigger.

I’m working with some defense companies, and the composites departments are 24/7 there too.

#7

what search area of Career Builder did you find that job at TET?

thanks :slight_smile:

#8

I typed in a really random term… “composites” !

#9

My problem is I just don’t know how to get into those markets! I make car products now and have done race stuff in the past just not for company now. How do you go out and find the customers in the higher markets?

#10

In my limited customer relations with machine shops, you kinda have to know somebody to get a start with a larger company or sometimes even smaller companies.

My last boss (machine shop owner)knew someone, I think, at HoneyWell and another big company; that got his foot in the door to be able to bid on jobs. He still had to submit bid proposals to win the work they wanted done. But those are big companies… HoneyWell and some other that i now don’t recall the name of.

I would imagine, and I don’t expect him to respond, is that TET knew someone/s in aerospace companies and he probably had to bid on contracts for jobs to win them.

#11

Yea, TET knew “SOMEONE” to get into the aerospace connections…:rolleyes:

#12

finding the contracts is what I am struggling with. He did state in a post he has classes and you might be able to pick some work up

#13

A regular here on the forum offered a while back to give some helicopter work to if they had the capacity/knowledge . I think they were small parts but still maybe a foot in the door ( to loads of FAA paperwork LOL) just kidding, for some i’m sure the paper work is worth it or even hiring someone to do the paperwork.

Much aerospace work requires loads of paperwork and possible certification by the FAA or Military/Gov’t.

#14

I gotta give credit to Werksberg (JM) for hooking me up with contact info for composites classes. Although that’s only a small part of my business, as they are evening classes for career training through an adult school. It’s been tough setting up the courses and finding students, but things are picking up as people are looking for jobs in an industry with a bright future.

The rest of the stuff I do is because I’ve been working on it for quite a few years to develop various projects. I’m at race tracks around the country (and a couple in Europe) several weekends a year, talking to race teams and manufacturers. See what they need or are missing out on, and provide competitive products.
I also try not to miss the big manufacturing shows, and anything related to composites is a must.

The most important thing, as in any industry, is to be good at what one does. Along with it goes a lot of time and effort.

#15

Well, you were a great student of mine! :stuck_out_tongue:

#16

Fast… try checking out the job classifieds on here:
http://www.compositeforum.werksberg.com/showthread.php?p=21370&posted=1#post21370

#17

Dave,
here’s a link to a job in Mesa, you can use the site (CE Weekly) to find other jobs. How do I know this…because I’ll be looking for a new job after the first of the year. Anyone looking for a composite tool maker with over 25 years experience???

http://www.cjhunter.com/jobsearch/showjob.html?resultid=lVXUP6&offset=45&PageSize=25

#18

Crap, sorry to hear about that David. I knwo you had great hopes riding on it, persistance is the key. every set back is just another step in the right direction.

#19

I’m thinking of doing some small parts that don’t require vacuum. I want to make some pressure molds and open lay up molds/parts.

I think the bike and car stuff is just a matter of the economy picking up.

#20

The quality is not going to be as good with open layup stuff. Only for making molds is it acceptable.
Not to mention the much larger amount of emissions from leaving it all exposed! Bad for ones health and the environment.:wink: