Isn't it the X5 or one of the other "All-In-One" wonders that has the 12"
joiner/planer combo? But to answer your question, Yes, I do believe a lot
of people would be interested. You should contact someone like Jessem in
Canada that has come out with some recent entries in the woodworking market
in the past couple of years and talk to them about what it takes to get an
idea through to fruition.

You may be better off selling the idea to some company that has the means to
develop it and market the product. There are a lot of good inventions
sitting in peoples shops simply because they don't know what to do next.
Build a prototype to insure the idea works, document it and get a patent for
it. It took my brother 3 years to get his patent finally approved but that
involved chemicals. His lawyer and the patent searches were not cheap but in
the end, he paid the bills and made a few bucks but nothing to brag about.
He said he could have made more money selling it to the company that first
offered to buy it from him....

Point being... If you can't patent your idea, you have little protection
from it being copied and brought to market even before you have a single
model to sell. How will you manufacturer it and market it?

When it's all said and done, you might be able to manufacturer these
yourself and capture a niche market of "Built to Order" but I wouldn't quit
my day job just yet. Sorry to be so doom and gloom but I've been a part of
that process in the past. Not easy, not fun and it takes money and hard
work. Should you make it though, I'd sure like to see one...

Bob S.



"Nobody" wrote in message
news
A few questions, as I'm trying to develop a new machine, and maybe a
little informal market research. (NOTE - I am NOT trying to sell anything.
I'm trying to develop this little machine in my own basement, and am a
LONG way off. I'm just trying to get a sense of what "serious amateurs" to
"smaller professionals" think of the idea.)

A) How much are y'all frustrated by the current situation -- that is, that
you need a jointer to flatten one face, and a planer to make the other
face flat-and-parallel to the first?

(And - you need two machines that do *just* about the same thing, but take
up 2x as much space, and one's heavy as heck, and both need their knives
sharpened and then adjusted.... Oh, and a jointer's usually 6" whereas a
planer's 12.5" or 13" -- unless you take the safety guard off the jointer
and do 2 passes....

(And, the planer snipes, and both of 'em scallop your wood...?)

B) What do you think about a single machine that'd look a lot like a
Performax-type drum sander, only about 1/2 to 3/4 size, that'd perfectly
flatten even a cupped/warped board on one side, then flip it and it'd
plane the other side perfectly parallel? No snipe, no scalloping. (And,
unlike a drum sander, a smoothly PLANED, not sanded (fuzzed,
micro-scratched) surface.)?

C) And, suppose it cost somewhere in the $250-450 range, and would do
boards up to about 13"?

Is that something people'd be interested in? Please help this amateur
inventor!

Thanks,
Andrew