I am rather new here but had no idea that there was this type of drama on this forum. I believe that you should post detailed questions so people can in respond give you detailed responses.
I have received great responses to the questions which I have had on these forums; although my questions seem to be at the basic level. Keep up the good work!
I can understand to a certain extent what Extreme is talking about but I think it is just the nature if the internet. People post things and then forget about them, I know I’ve done it before. The attitude is what I don’t understand. That being said, I wouldn’t hesitate to answer a question if I felt I could without causing myself problems, i.e., long dissertations about basics, proprietary info (including pctures), etc. I probably wouldn’t remember he was the one who posted “the rant”.
Believe it or not, some of us have professional responsiblities - to our clients, to our employers, to our suppliers, to ourselves. While you may think that you deserve any info other members may have, I can assure you that is not the case. This seems to be a decent forum from the short time I’ve been a member. The fact that some don’t share some info doesn’t change that.
The professionals (at least the ones I think are professionals) among us that have chimed in don’t appear to be “pissed off”, rather, they have been subdued in their responses to you. When someone says they share what they can, I take that at face value. I know I have proprietary client information that I can’t share. Non Disclosure Agreements are a part of life. I also have some info developed in-house that I feel gives me a competitive advantage in certain circumstances and it is not going to be shared here or on any other forum. I’m sorry if that doesn’t meet your standard for participation in this forum but as the phrase goes - it is what it is.
Perhaps, and don’t take this the wrong way, what you need is to network more instead of trying to get info from anonymous forum members. I know I’ve learned a lot more from my personal contacts than from anything on the web. Of course, when I was coming up, the web wasn’t even invented.
even though I am new here I have on several occasions expressed my frustration with my suppliers. I want to help them make money by sending them more customers, on the flip side if I have an advantage over my competition that I have a good source of info and materials I definitely dont want anyone to know about. so what to do? lol
sometimes it gets old going over the same basic stuff all the time.
I am pretty much self taught. At certain points along the way, when I feel like there has to be a better or easier way I seek out some help. suppliers, internet or local manufacturers of composites have been kind enough to share a little.
Many times its stuff I already knew but had not utilized, sometime it was good and other times it didnt work out like I was told. sometimes its over my head still or is a little more money than I want to get into.
So with all the input I go back at it and work it out. There is a funny thing I have learned in the years of doing this work. Everyone I have ever looked up to as an expert has told me that a lot of time they dont know for sure what they are doing and are just making it up as they go. Not everyone has the ability to hire an engineer to figure out schedules and techniques so you make it, break it and do it again.
Maybe some of these people who have issues with getting help are not being patient, explaining their issue enough or clearly havent mastered basic skills.
I was shocked to find out that a friend of mines father was bagging prepreg and aluminum honeycomb core in the 50’s!!! and here I thought I was working with new cutting edge technology and materials. pfft! this stuff has been around since before I was born and yet it is still not a commonplace thing. it seems that its more a high end aerospace thing still and so it makes finding suppliers and people to help with knowledge a little harder than say finding someone who can help with mat glass and poly resin.
ill chime in…
i cant help but feel like i somewhat contributed to your frustration, extreme. 2 days before you started this thread i posted pictures of the skateboards we are making on the showroom thread. i had gotten questions on the construction techniques and materials… i had to make sure it was OK with our company leaders to divulge the information.
so i am sorry for adding to the fire with that thread, if that was the case. if it didnt have anything to do with it, forgive me… but the timing was pretty indicative.
i posted it on the showroom thread because i am proud of what im doing… finally making some nice parts here and we are excited about it, figured you guys would all appreciate it… so i showed em off.
it is a little risky sharing too much detail here however because everybody on here typically has some working knowledge of how to make cool stuff. there are several threads on here specifically about making composite skateboards… which we view at this point as potential direct competition. if we gave too much detail away it wouldnt take much for somebody on this forum or somebody visiting to put enough of the pieces together to fill in the blanks. im sure many members here already have, and filed it away for later, just as i have in several instances in MONTHS worth of internet research.
ive probably learned about 20% of my techniques online, another 40% from a really really lucky relationship i had at my last job with a guy i will call my mentor here… the rest is blood, sweat, and tears… literally… im sure you all understand that lol
i think this forum is tits. loads of information and plenty of helpful people. hopefully i can help some people doing this stuff along the way too.
-david
Considering there is over 28k registered members, I would think you would be more disappointed with the 27.9k of members that do not post anything. This forum is not just for technical information, but is also just to share projects that you have completed. Personally I prefer to use my own brain to solve challenges rather than resort to others to hand over information. Its good practice to make you more innovative to handle new projects
I personally complete a few jobs a week. Some of them are simple jobs to just keep my bills paid and some of these are bigger projects for my brand. Some of my jobs are also joint projects between other companies / clients and I that we all have signed non disclosure forms on. If I posted pictures of a new product we are coming out with for the new Ferrari, thats one thing. But if I posted R&D images of the alias design sofware files, or a step by step process of how we do our infusion and or injection carbon composite processes, I’d be in huge breach of contract.
If it helps, later on this week I will post some photos of some work that I feel comfortable asking questions about. I might never post parts that I feel could be bad if a competitor saw it. I’m all for helping and I love it when people send me messages with questions, but self preservation is important as well.
P.S. There were many times I sent PMs to other members here asking some technical questions. Sometimes I get a reply with an answer, sometimes I get a reply with a polite rejection, sometimes my PM goes ignored. I equally understand.
Just to report back on yesterday: It turned out they were not ready for fiber placement, but we did figure out some possible pitfalls when placing the fiber, and we made a test infusion to figure out the desired geltime of the resin. Nothing fancy, just a 40x60cm piece with a load of glassfiber, to produce an 8mm thick laminate.
The fun thing was that they usually infused at 0,3 bar abs (-0,7bar) to prevent boiling problems with styrene. I ordered them to keep the pump running, and infused at 0,02 bar abs (-0,98) to show them styrene boil is not an issue. Infusion looked great, and they were surprised and happy.
As you can see I seldomly refer to clients, or what they do, but the knowledge gained can be spread in a more “anonymous” fashion.