On Jan 4, 3:55*pm, Jim Wilkins wrote:
On Jan 4, 6:29*pm, Carl M wrote:





* * *I can't believe it's come to this. *At work I'm getting really
busy, really quickly, and one R&D project alone I could devote the
next six months to full time, unfortunately at the loss of my other
projects. *It was suggested by the project manager of that particular
project that I see if I could find someone outside my company that
would be willing to help me out with a bunch of the work. *The bulk of
the work that I need help with is wiring control panels, done off
premise, which is not as value-added as my uppers would like it to be.
* * *I'm in the Seattle area and while I understand that all the
skilled folks are working full time, so I'm kinda thinking someone
retired, other folks looking for side work, or small shops. *Most of
the equipment relates to heater controls, thermocouple wiring, RS-232,
smart motors, relays, 4-20mA, and other signal wiring. *Most stuff is
in 19" boxes. *This person would be working directly for me, not the
company, although someone else in the company on the project would be
providing payment on a direct basis (no fancy contracts, mostly word
of mouth.) *I'd provide all the major parts, a lot of the smaller
stuff, diagrams (some pencil on paper, some wire lists, some worse,)
and high quality expectations. *I'm easy to work for, providing that I
don't need to hold anyone's hand, and am casual about everything but
good quality work.
* * *If anyone is interested or knows of someone or a small shop that
is capable of the work, I'm highly interested. *I've never been in
this sort of position before, so I'm at a loss about how to go about
dealing with this, so any guidance someone would like to offer would
be greatly appreciated. *You can reply to me directly if you'd like.

Can't do it, I'm in NH, but a prototype to copy in addition to the
documentation helps a LOT.
Also they may need the correct, expensive tools for crimp connectors,
you can get into unforseen trouble making odd-sized panel cutouts with
locating notches, and be sure you have the wire type and gauge
specified and a source for EVERY part including PEM studs etc.

Jim Wilkins- Hide quoted text -

- Show quoted text -

Unfortunately (or not,) everything is a one-off, quite often a heavily
upgraded/modified version of previous designs, or sometimes something
entirely different. If I needed special tools for a project, I'd get
them, and would be available if needed to anyone who needs them. If
machine work is needed of a hand drill, such as front panels, I can
either have them done by an outside vendor (Front Panel Express is in
our neighborhood and used by my group a lot, although I haven't used
them myself) or will do it myself. I'm not above stitch drilling a
square hole and filing it until it fits if I have to. There's nothing
fancy, or even high tech, here and I make up a lot of this as I go
along, and would expect someone working for me to be able to do the
same, so decent electrical and electronic experience is a must. Since
folks on the project with less electrical experience sometimes go in
and make changes, I keep things simple and create room for easy
modifications and such. There's no inspectors other than myself, and
however anyone wants to make it work that fits the general
requirements of moi, I'm easy. The beauty of R&D is that there's not
too many people looking over your shoulder, assuming those folks know
what they're looking at anyway. I got brought onto this project
because I can take a vague set of expectation, translate that into a
functional design, then go build it. As long as it works and folks
are happy, nobody questions my methods, which has served us all very
well. They give me lots of rope/room to do things my way, and I like
it like that. It's hard not to discuss how cool this program is, but
suffice to say it will change all our lives for the better in a few
years.