Unemployed and getting desperate!

MrPreachan

I guess i'm not the only one in this position, 3 months now, spent the first few working on my house, now thats done i'm swinging my hands and walking the roads trying to think of reasons not to go to the pub!
Enough is enough, I have to do something to keep my sanity. What I'm suggesting in a nutshell to anyone in the same position is that we pool our resources and come up with something, even if it doesnt make us millions it wont lose much and it's keeping busy till things take a turn for the better. I'm a toolmaker by trade, injection moulds and have been doing tool design/eng. design for the last 4 years or so. Basically I know how to get things made and fix problems. Anyone got any thoughts??

edanto

Fair fucks, I hope you get some people here that are able to join you.

Good luck! I hope you have the tenacity to get over all the obstacles.

Ninja101

Dude, check out MAKE magazine. It has DIY small tech projects like robots and stuff. Read about a guy(Chip Gracey) who designed and built his own microchip! Also a girl who made a neat mobile phone jammer! You don't need any electronics experience it'll show you everything. It might inspire you or give you some ideas...?

MrPreachan

Ninja101 wrote: »

Dude, check out MAKE magazine. It has DIY small tech projects like robots and stuff. Read about a guy(Chip Gracey) who designed and built his own microchip! Also a girl who made a neat mobile phone jammer! You don't need any electronics experience it'll show you everything. It might inspire you or give you some ideas...?

Thanks Ninja, will come in usefull.

edanto

I'm in a similar position as you - have some skills that I'm not really using to make money, even though I'm busy day to day with a job I'm learning a lot on.

Same time - do you want to throw around some engineering ideas and see if anything comes of them?

For example I have this idea of a big compost pile that would work for maybe apartments. People bring their organics in a paper bag to a chute/bin and all the stuff gets washed down into a pipe fermenter. It goes off slowly, but at the other end comes out stuff that you could use as fertiliser. A truck comes and collects that, bags and sells it locally or to garden centres, the apartments save loads of money on bin charges and everybodys happy.

Reckon you could make the fermenter?

MrPreachan

edanto wrote: »

I'm in a similar position as you - have some skills that I'm not really using to make money, even though I'm busy day to day with a job I'm learning a lot on.

Same time - do you want to throw around some engineering ideas and see if anything comes of them?

For example I have this idea of a big compost pile that would work for maybe apartments. People bring their organics in a paper bag to a chute/bin and all the stuff gets washed down into a pipe fermenter. It goes off slowly, but at the other end comes out stuff that you could use as fertiliser. A truck comes and collects that, bags and sells it locally or to garden centres, the apartments save loads of money on bin charges and everybodys happy.

Reckon you could make the fermenter?

Just quickly read that and yes sounds like an idea. Leave it with me a few days and I'll PM you with a few drafts, again maybe nothing will come of it but it's about keeping busy and trying, thanks. Might be similar to the Biogas Process used domestically in India?

experiMental

edanto wrote: »

I'm in a similar position as you - have some skills that I'm not really using to make money, even though I'm busy day to day with a job I'm learning a lot on.

Same time - do you want to throw around some engineering ideas and see if anything comes of them?

For example I have this idea of a big compost pile that would work for maybe apartments. People bring their organics in a paper bag to a chute/bin and all the stuff gets washed down into a pipe fermenter. It goes off slowly, but at the other end comes out stuff that you could use as fertiliser. A truck comes and collects that, bags and sells it locally or to garden centres, the apartments save loads of money on bin charges and everybodys happy.

Reckon you could make the fermenter?

This is a genuinely good idea, but the first step is that you'll have to get your hands on a disused oil heating tank. There has to be some sort of a closed environment for this process to take place. I've seen tanks that keep the gas from fermented stuff made from plastic bags, but I think that this is far too dangerous.

powerfarmer

Hi Guys,
I just recently came across a brochure for a digester/fermenter unit which sounds similar to the unit edanto is thinking about, it was at a limerick county council recycling/composting seminar, I thought it may be of interest , this is it:

http://www.growgreensolutions.com/Pages/Jora5100.htm

edanto

You're dead right, that's exactly what I had in mind. Must get on to my management company and ask them if they'll install one!

MrPreachan

Damn another idea gone! Keep them coming though! That was a great idea imo.

edanto

Well, if you really want to make it tricky to solve, you could imagine that you're in a village in Africa where your raw materials are:

bamboo
plastic 2L bottles (but they're hard to come by)
fertiliser bags
manual labour (i.e you could dig a big hold no problem)
water can be brought by hand
Plastic sheeting could be bought at the market in the city

not much else!

PGL

great idea lads!

as they say on Dragon's Den - get a patent on this idea fairly lively!

is Boards the best forum for this type of thing? or are there other websites out there where people can make a list of everyday problems, which smart guys like yourselves could subsequently come up with solutions?

i would be very interested in getting involved in something like this.

cheers

edanto

OK - I'll start a working group on this and we'll see what comes out of it. PM me to get involved.

x in the city

also, if anyone needs someone to do electronic design, cad / layout work.

im also finding it impossible to get a job.

motherfunker

I have an idea about a mini hydroelectric generator, is there anywhere I can go to check out if it is already out there?

edanto

There's probably a patent database out there somewhere. Love to know if you find it!

Kareir

like this?

http://www.wipo.int/portal/index.html.en


_Kar

MrPreachan

www.delphion.com
Good for basic search, anymore and you have to suscribe, and it's pretty expensive

edanto

US Free Patent Search USPTO Depository Library Program
List of locations national. Also patent databases available on cd-rom or electronic databases -(link below). The Full-Text Database now offers all US patents issued since 1790, in the form of searchable numbers and current US classifications hyperlinked to full-page images of each page of each patent.

http://patents.uspto.gov/patft/index.html

I've had a little look at this, and it seems to give contents of patents, but the search function is basic.

MayoForSam

Euro patent office search, pretty extensive and you can get the original patent in PDF form: http://ep.espacenet.com/. Happy hunting!

enda1

My advise would be to further your skills. Try getting knowledge of Moldflow (if you don't already). I'm afraid the industry of injection molding is mostly moving East so maybe your chance of survival is in consultancy work and cost reduction activities for small scale manufacturers who are getting fecked by big suppliers.

So a knowledge of Moldflow should be useful as well as fluency in Turkish/Polish etc.!

universe777

MrPreachan wrote: »

I guess i'm not the only one in this position, 3 months now, spent the first few working on my house, now thats done i'm swinging my hands and walking the roads trying to think of reasons not to go to the pub!
Enough is enough, I have to do something to keep my sanity. What I'm suggesting in a nutshell to anyone in the same position is that we pool our resources and come up with something, even if it doesnt make us millions it wont lose much and it's keeping busy till things take a turn for the better. I'm a toolmaker by trade, injection moulds and have been doing tool design/eng. design for the last 4 years or so. Basically I know how to get things made and fix problems. Anyone got any thoughts??

Maybe it's your attitude that stinks, dismissing small jobs. I hear McDonald's are hiring..
Lots of injection molding in McD's, they might have you on the injecting "meat" paste into a "burger" mold line...

breadmonkey

universe777 wrote: »

Maybe it's your attitude that stinks, dismissing small jobs. I hear McDonald's are hiring..
Lots of injection molding in McD's, they might have you on the injecting "meat" paste into a "burger" mold line...

Wow that was such an insightful and clever post. Any more gems for us?

MrPreachan

But of history here lol, thought I recognised the handle.. have a look,
http://www.boards.ie/vbulletin/showthread.php?t=2055485413

IDCI

motherfunker, I've heard of something similar recently. Is this the kind of thing you mean?
http://irland.ahk.de/index.php?id=840&L=15


MrPreachan, woudn't worry too much about Universe. From his post history it looks like he's got job/money problems of his own - if only he had access to a simple milling machine he could make millions, churning out widgets, gas turbine blades etc. for a fiver a pop!

universe777

IDCI wrote: »

motherfunker, I've heard of something similar recently. Is this the kind of thing you mean?
http://irland.ahk.de/index.php?id=840&L=15


MrPreachan, woudn't worry too much about Universe. From his post history it looks like he's got job/money problems of his own - if only he had access to a simple milling machine he could make millions, churning out widgets, gas turbine blades etc. for a fiver a pop!

No job or money problems thanks, I just dont have a milling machine in my front room.
Sh!te always sinks to the bottom...:eek:

Woden

Lets keep it civil please guys. This is not AH.

enda1

Woden wrote: »

Lets keep it civil please guys. This is not AH.

I think mechanical is the word you're looking for...