Gluing advice, and new developments (or the other way around???)

Last Saturday (Oct. 4, 08) was an exciting day. Michael King, a very well known and respected home talk show host, invited me to participate in his show, Home Talk USA (http://www.hometalkusa.com/). We spent some time discussing different aspects of StaticOff, who is it good for, and the technology behind it. Michael is a great guy and I really enjoyed participating in the show. Besides, this is the first time that StaticOff has gotten national media attention. By the level of interest, I hope it will get far more in the near future.

As I said, Michael is a great guy and I wanted to repay him for having me on the show by giving him a useful tip which he could have shared with his listeners and added to his useful tips section on his web site, but due to shortness of time, I did not get a chance to do this. Therefore, I will share it with you here:
Oftentimes we need to glue stuff, and often clamps are very inconvenient – the shapes don’t always allow for easy clamping – placing edging on a concave tabletop, placing straight trim on a crooked wall... For example, if you ever tried to glue a piece of trim to a bathtub, you know what I mean. You can’t use nails, and you need to fashion clamping devices from pieces of wood, weights, or whatever your imagination can come up with. Similarly, placing an edge trim on a complex shape is very hard – there simply is no good way to place the clamps.

So, what is the solution?
Well, as we all know, Superglue is not a good construction glue. It is too stiff and as the building or the parts we glue ‘work’, the Superglue bond will break. On the other hand, we need to clamp the pieces glued by appropriate glues because those glues take so much longer to dry. So the idea is to combine the use of both glues.

You use whichever glue you think will best fit the job: regular carpenter glue, polystyrene glue, ‘nails’ style adhesive, or whatever. Before you spread the glue, dry fit the parts, and note where there is stress – locate the places where the objects try to “get away” from each other. Pencil-mark those spots. When you spread the glue, leave a small area – just a half of a square inch is often enough – without glue. Now, place some super glue on those clean areas, and place the parts together. Hold it for about 60 seconds and let go. You are using the fast gluing action to provide the required temporary holding to let the common glue cure. You can say that you just made a custom clamp, especially for your specific situation. It is simple and easy, and it works. I have stuff in my house that I used this method on since 1993 and they are still right where I put them.

It has been a while, and an exciting and busy time at that.

First, we presented at the New Jersey Home Hardware show and got great responses, and nice sales. We learned that many people needed the double bay and wide switches StaticOff zapper stoppers. While we knew that, our research showed those were in far lower demand than the base single bay units we have on the market. So we decided to up the schedule, and we are in the middle of getting the design, approvals, costing, etc. of three more product lines.

We hope to have those new units on the market for next winter.

A trade show is an exciting and exhausting time for the presenter. We needed to talk with more clients. So we opened a kiosk in the Maine Mall for two weeks, and got more feedback. It was very positive, with the exception of the need to the additional products above, and we got an improvement suggestion that I will detail in a later blog. Unfortunately I do not know how to make one, but I will be happy to hear if anybody does.

While we expected the main season to die down in April, we found we overlooked the mid south of the US. So sales in Colorado, Nevada, New Mexico, and inland California are still going strong.

In short, it looks like StaticOff is on its way to becoming a national success.
Next week, May 6-8 I will be in Las Vegas on the National Hardware show, and I am excited – it is a great chance to present to the biggest retailers in the industry. Besides, it will be ,y first time in Las Vegas, and I get to meet a school buddy that I did not see since high school – a few days after the dinosaurs stopped roaming the earth…

And perhaps most importantly: We keep getting great feedbacks, and NOT A SINGLE RETURN TO DATE! We had one case that we thought would present a problem, but it turned out to be an installation problem. Instead of an unhappy client, we eneded up getting praised for our service - always a good feeling. Presenting a brand new product TYPE and getting almost no problems, supersedes even my expectations. Great.

Shalom

Well, the last two days were exciting. StaticOff received two VERY favorable reviews, one in The Forecaster and the other in Maine Public Radio. It is great to get such reviews, and know that the message is spreading: Finally there is a solution to static zap. Static shock is a thing of the past, at least in the home or office.
Also, we always knew that pets HATE getting a static shock. Yet in times of low humidity, we always zap them. A client who also owns a great site, cat-love-story.com, suggested to link to our site. This is a great site to all of us who are owned by a cat (yes, I am one). Lots of good stuff there. Visit and enjoy!

So how long does it last?

A common question I get asked is "OK. I touched the StaticOff switchplate. I saw the light bleep. How long am I protected from static zap? How long is it safe for me to touch my DVD player before I risk giving it a static shock that will be the 'kiss of death'?"

The answer is simple: It depends.

I am sorry. Really, I am not being flippant. It is just that so many variables play into this question: for example, this 'safe period' will vary according to what you wear, how dry it is, how tight your socks fit, what kind of floor are you standing on, the type of heating system that you use, and many others.

We have seen cases where it took one almost 30 minutes to collect charge, while I personally need to discharge every 5-10 minutes, when the relative humidity is above 17-18%. When the relative humidity is below 17%, almost everyone collects high static charge real fast.

So what does one do? Simple. Discharge often. As I walk about my house, I got into the habit of simply flicking my finger every time pass a StaticOff plate. Since I have them throughout most of the house, that is simple. I have almost forgotten what it means to get zapped.

That's it for today. Next post, I will try to answer some more questions.

StaticOff is finally on the market

Hello There!

My name is Shalom Wertsberger, and I am the CEO of StaticOff - a company that markets an innovative device to eliminate a problem so many are suffering from: The static 'zap'. (http://www.staticoff.com/)

The device looks a lot like a regular light switch cover plate, but has four small contact points - one at each corner - which one can touch to get discharged from static electricity - no pain, no static zap, no shock. Simply, if you carry a static charge on you, it safely dissipates to ground, while all you see is a brief flash of light from a special window. This light is created by the electrons that drain from your body.

I invented the Staticoff Zapper Stopper (StaticOff ZS) because I was getting zapped – to my faucet, fridge, computer, filing cabinet, and other people. It really works and I enjoy learning that others find it useful. So while I will not cover that I aim to sell as many as I can, I will do so in an open and fair way, and open a communication channel with my clients. If you have comments, questions, or complaints, please feel free to write to me! I like to learn from you as well.

I will try to visit different subjects at intervals. Can’t promise I will blog every day, but I will try to communicate with those of you that would like to talk.

The first item of importance I will deal with today is a common comment I hear from many people: “I never get zapped by the switch!”

Staticoff ZS is not for preventing getting zapped ‘by the switch’. The switch is simply a convenient spot. Everyone knows where the switches are in their house, and most can find it in complete darkness. I needed a place which was easily reached, without adding a new ‘thing’ in the room, and most of all – I needed an electrical ground. The switch offered all of that.

Actually, my friend Dexter says he uses the StaticOff ZS connected by wire to ground – his apartment does not have any wall switches. But the problem is solved by running a ground wire. Please make sure you know what you are doing.

So, for this first post, I will summarize: the StaticOff ZS prevents you from getting a static zap by the switch, but it also prevents you from getting a static shock from all other metal, until you collect enough voltage to cause a new zap.

TNX for visiting my blog!

Shalom