joeldirt 10+ year member
Integrity
Well for those of you that know I have been developing an idea to provide MDF cut to specs for people with their own designs shipped to their front door... I have had two people use my services... And I would like to discuss how it all went.... I want to discuss my mistakes to show that I am an honest person and how I will learn from my errors.... The errors are not huge, and are really no big deal... Its all a learning process though....
1st I would like to explain that this is an experimentation process to see how well it will work... Mistakes at this stage are bound to happen... And in fact they did... But being as though I am honest and a business oriented person, I will not let that go to waste and burn any bridges.... Especially since the mistakes were minor...
First of all customer #1.
Eric Nguen....
Had some MDF with some Maple veneer on it... Asked him if he would mind if I gave him some of his cuts from it being as though it wouldn't affect it at all... It is only a very thin veneer glued onto the surface of it... I had a bunch of it and no raw MDF so I figured it would be a good substitute... We gave it a try... It doesn’t hinder the quality of the box what so ever accept the way it looks... Which I came to find out later that he doesn’t carpet his boxes! //content.invisioncic.com/y282845/emoticons/eek.gif.771b7a90cf45cabdc554ff1121c21c4a.gif so it is not a clean bare MDF box... it is actually funny looking... I WILL NEVER DO THAT AGAIN.
Also, I somehow managed to get a small spot of glue on one of the pieces... Have no idea how it got on there, but it did... so I will never ever send out a box without carefully inspecting the pieces individually as a quality assurance check..
The holes I cut out using my jasper circle jig were not perfectly smooth... They were, but they weren't... Any one who uses a circle jig with their router can attest to the fact that if you cut half way through all the way around, and flip it over to finish the hole cut out, there can be a tiny overlap of material that effects nothing, but is not "Perfect" as if it were done with a CNC machine (Which I am buying) This was not a problem, just he pointed it out to me....
And I also had some sketches on the pieces which he wasn’t impressed with... I didn’t bother to sand them off as I figured they would be covered with carpet... but again he doesn’t carpet his boxes.... so he didn’t like that... the sketches were from stuff at work that had nothing to do with nothing.... So I will never ever write anything on my pieces again... It will be bare clean raw MDF only! However I will stamp my name on each edge and face to verify that I have inspected it... The stamp is like any other normal stamp I have posted pics of it on the pieces I cut already....
Also I taped the pieces together so they wouldn’t slide around during shipping... apparently the tape sticks to the MDF... so I will never do that again either....
My 2nd trial was a mess of miscommunication...
With Pat Fitzpatrick.....
He wanted two boxes. one at 4.2 cubes, and the other at 7.... Two large boxes.... I had undersold my self on the price when i very first began this idea, and I thought that I had communicated to him the actual pricing that I had... I thought that I had made it clear that it would be $80.00 shipped for the 4.2 cube box which is accurate now. But he was under the impression that I was going to ship both for that price.... I messed up big with the original quote and now I have to eat it... I owe him a monster 7 cube box... He'll get it, I don't screw ppl.... But from now on I will not do a darn thing with out making darn sure that everything is perfectly crystal clear on it all....
Also apparently one of the pieces did get a little split on the corner during shipping.... I packaged it good, but I will be able to package it better.... like I said this is just the experimentation process... I have learned allot from this so far, and I think I have it down now pretty good....
As I said I wanted to post the progress of this idea in its testing stages, and I wanted to let you know that there were some mistakes but they are never going to happen again... I think I got it all under control. Once I get my shop situated, i will be able to do this much easier.... Also with my CNC router I will be able to deliver true perfection all around in about 10 minutes from start to finish....
1st I would like to explain that this is an experimentation process to see how well it will work... Mistakes at this stage are bound to happen... And in fact they did... But being as though I am honest and a business oriented person, I will not let that go to waste and burn any bridges.... Especially since the mistakes were minor...
First of all customer #1.
Eric Nguen....
Had some MDF with some Maple veneer on it... Asked him if he would mind if I gave him some of his cuts from it being as though it wouldn't affect it at all... It is only a very thin veneer glued onto the surface of it... I had a bunch of it and no raw MDF so I figured it would be a good substitute... We gave it a try... It doesn’t hinder the quality of the box what so ever accept the way it looks... Which I came to find out later that he doesn’t carpet his boxes! //content.invisioncic.com/y282845/emoticons/eek.gif.771b7a90cf45cabdc554ff1121c21c4a.gif so it is not a clean bare MDF box... it is actually funny looking... I WILL NEVER DO THAT AGAIN.
Also, I somehow managed to get a small spot of glue on one of the pieces... Have no idea how it got on there, but it did... so I will never ever send out a box without carefully inspecting the pieces individually as a quality assurance check..
The holes I cut out using my jasper circle jig were not perfectly smooth... They were, but they weren't... Any one who uses a circle jig with their router can attest to the fact that if you cut half way through all the way around, and flip it over to finish the hole cut out, there can be a tiny overlap of material that effects nothing, but is not "Perfect" as if it were done with a CNC machine (Which I am buying) This was not a problem, just he pointed it out to me....
And I also had some sketches on the pieces which he wasn’t impressed with... I didn’t bother to sand them off as I figured they would be covered with carpet... but again he doesn’t carpet his boxes.... so he didn’t like that... the sketches were from stuff at work that had nothing to do with nothing.... So I will never ever write anything on my pieces again... It will be bare clean raw MDF only! However I will stamp my name on each edge and face to verify that I have inspected it... The stamp is like any other normal stamp I have posted pics of it on the pieces I cut already....
Also I taped the pieces together so they wouldn’t slide around during shipping... apparently the tape sticks to the MDF... so I will never do that again either....
My 2nd trial was a mess of miscommunication...
With Pat Fitzpatrick.....
He wanted two boxes. one at 4.2 cubes, and the other at 7.... Two large boxes.... I had undersold my self on the price when i very first began this idea, and I thought that I had communicated to him the actual pricing that I had... I thought that I had made it clear that it would be $80.00 shipped for the 4.2 cube box which is accurate now. But he was under the impression that I was going to ship both for that price.... I messed up big with the original quote and now I have to eat it... I owe him a monster 7 cube box... He'll get it, I don't screw ppl.... But from now on I will not do a darn thing with out making darn sure that everything is perfectly crystal clear on it all....
Also apparently one of the pieces did get a little split on the corner during shipping.... I packaged it good, but I will be able to package it better.... like I said this is just the experimentation process... I have learned allot from this so far, and I think I have it down now pretty good....
As I said I wanted to post the progress of this idea in its testing stages, and I wanted to let you know that there were some mistakes but they are never going to happen again... I think I got it all under control. Once I get my shop situated, i will be able to do this much easier.... Also with my CNC router I will be able to deliver true perfection all around in about 10 minutes from start to finish....
