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My new business venture

Posted: Wed Jan 20, 2021 6:17 pm
by BuckeyeDennis
Hey gang, I have some exciting news that I can finally share with you. A couple of years ago, I decided to start a new business to commercialize some woodworking tool ideas. The product development has been a lot of fun. In the process, I got pretty good with Fusion 360, learned more than I ever wanted to know about injection molding, spent a lot of time and money on patent and trademark protection, honed my product-photography skills, and learned how to build an ecommerce website. Now we’re finally ready to find out just how much market demand there is for our initial product line, the WoodAnchor fixturing system. Yesterday, at long last, we took the new company website live.

The new business is ToolQuest LLC. That name seemed appropriate, as I’m only developing products that I couldn’t find on the market when I needed them myself. I’m not going to post product details here on the Shopsmith forum, but if you’re interested, you can find plenty of info at toolquest.net. I’ve used the WoodAnchor system in the making of several cool jigs for Shopsmith equipment, though, and I definitely plan to post the Shopsmith-related projects here on the Shopsmith forum.

Forum members sehast and rjent have been kind enough to serve as volunteer Beta testers for the new product line, for which I owe them a huge debt of gratitude. Both have tested the product line extensively, and have come up with some cool applications themselves. As I’m personally a bit biased, I’ll leave it to those guys to post any product reviews here. And hopefully they’ll share some of their applications as well.

The next step for ToolQuest is the actual product-line launch, which we’ll do on Kickstarter.com. There’s still a fair amount of work to do on that, and we want to be able to hit the ground running when the Kickstarter campaign launches. So if you like what you see, please let your friends know, send them to our website, and just generally spread the word. Meanwhile, I’d greatly appreciate any feedback that you might have on either the product line or the website, be it good or bad. If you’d prefer to share it privately, you can PM me here, or you can reach me via ToolQuest’s Contact us page.

I’ll leave you for now with a couple of teaser pics of Shopsmith applications:

This bandsaw template-following jig provides X, Y, and Z-axis follower-position adjustments, with the X axis courtesy of the Shopsmith miter gauge in my cast-iron bandsaw table.
This bandsaw template-following jig provides X, Y, and Z-axis follower-position adjustments, with the X axis courtesy of the Shopsmith miter gauge in my cast-iron bandsaw table.
Bandsaw pattern jig lowres.JPG (72.46 KiB) Viewed 4656 times


This pattern sanding jig has an adjustable-height riser, for attaching the workpiece and pattern.
This pattern sanding jig has an adjustable-height riser, for attaching the workpiece and pattern.
PSJ quarter view lowres.JPG (81.56 KiB) Viewed 4656 times

Re: My new business venture

Posted: Wed Jan 20, 2021 8:01 pm
by RFGuy
Dennis,

Congrats! Definitely looks interesting. Wishing you much success on this latest venture. Are you considering getting the product into the hands of the dreaded social media influencers in woodworking so that you can get the word out? When will we see a demo of your product on The Wood Whisperer's (Marc Spagnuolo) next show?
:)

Re: My new business venture

Posted: Wed Jan 20, 2021 8:21 pm
by BuckeyeDennis
RFGuy wrote: Wed Jan 20, 2021 8:01 pm When will we see a demo of your product on The Wood Whisperer's (Marc Spagnuolo) next show?
:)
At some point after you guys tell me that I’m not full of beans! ;)

But a friend from another forum, who has about 1% as many subscribers as Marc, may be posting a video in in a week or so. :cool:

Re: My new business venture

Posted: Wed Jan 20, 2021 8:25 pm
by JPG
I am curious what rides in the unusually shaped grooves at the end of the clamping screws.

Re: My new business venture

Posted: Wed Jan 20, 2021 8:32 pm
by algale
Looking forward to learning more!

Re: My new business venture

Posted: Wed Jan 20, 2021 8:37 pm
by BuckeyeDennis
JPG wrote: Wed Jan 20, 2021 8:25 pm I am curious what rides in the unusually shaped grooves at the end of the clamping screws.
Follow this link, and all will be answered!

Re: My new business venture

Posted: Wed Jan 20, 2021 8:55 pm
by JPG
BuckeyeDennis wrote: Wed Jan 20, 2021 8:37 pm
JPG wrote: Wed Jan 20, 2021 8:25 pm I am curious what rides in the unusually shaped grooves at the end of the clamping screws.
Follow this link, and all will be answered!
Thank You! Neato!!!

Would be a good idea to debug the update/captcha/submit sequence. NEVER got through it!!!

Re: My new business venture

Posted: Wed Jan 20, 2021 9:24 pm
by BuckeyeDennis
JPG wrote: Wed Jan 20, 2021 8:55 pm
BuckeyeDennis wrote: Wed Jan 20, 2021 8:37 pm
JPG wrote: Wed Jan 20, 2021 8:25 pm I am curious what rides in the unusually shaped grooves at the end of the clamping screws.
Follow this link, and all will be answered!
Thank You! Neato!!!

Would be a good idea to debug the update/captcha/submit sequence. NEVER got through it!!!
Please PM me with details on that! This is what my small local marketing agency calls a “soft roll-out”, and a primary objective is to squash technical glitches before they become major problems.

In case you couldn’t get even that far, here’s a short answer to your earlier question:

Top quarter view cropped.JPG
Top quarter view cropped.JPG (294.28 KiB) Viewed 4584 times

Re: My new business venture

Posted: Wed Jan 20, 2021 9:43 pm
by JPG
Yes I did get far enough to "see' that part.

The problem I encountered was when I attempted to register for updates. All appeared ok until I clicked on the what I believe would be the last step. Went into a never ending loop of captcha failing.

Re: My new business venture

Posted: Wed Jan 20, 2021 9:50 pm
by JPG
Well I attempted to repeat(and document via scnhunt) the sequence, but it worked(twice). So maybe a glitch!

FWIW when I was in never ending loop, it did NOT show the pix to select panels from after the initial loop.(sometimes!)