I was hoping to launch as series of new products this fall as the economy recovers. Yet that recovery seems in limbo, at least for the mid-to-high end consumer products in my niche. No worries, as I’m still a bit ahead of the times. In the forth quarter of this year you can expect an interesting trickle of products.

My current obession is a CFRP flash bracket and, oddly, a reading light (geared for those whom actually still enjoy a real book in their hands). In the meanwhile, given this recovery is painfully slow, a regular paycheck has its merits!

Life in Philadelphia during the week is not so bad either. New York City is a hop away by train or car and it is quite fun to explore all that’s happening in that city from the perspective on a non-tourist (well a semi-non-tourist anyway).

Here’s the Permalink to my thoughts on the Hubble at 20: http://carbonboy.com/?p=2240

Well, as you can see, I am finding it too difficult to do daily or weekly updates to composite news and the Dreamliner progress. Anyone who uses Google or Bing has access to that information.

I am preparing to leave for Spain for ten days for some design inspiration, and to talk with some folks on collaboration.

After that we’ll launch two small photo gear products and then have some discussions with a talented craftsman on furniture design. It will be an interesting summer!

My planned one year sabbatical is nearing an end – so look for some major updates in May of 2010.

Hasta luego!

787 First Flight at Takeoff - Source: The Boeing Company

In spite of the cold, it would have been fun to be in Everett today to see the Boeing 787 maiden flight. I watched it on CNN and a live feed on my computer from a local TV Station. It took off at 10:28 a.m. PST. Of course within a few moments is was out of everyone’s sight – except for the pilots flying the two chase planes.

This as got to be a great moment for everyone at Boeing and its far reaching web of global partners and countless suppliers. Boeing has been through a lot of grief over this program – today they can blow off a little steam.

I spent over three years of my life working in Japan, Korea and Italy, qualifying various carbon fiber fuselage structure for the 787. It started way back here and I have to say it was a once-in-a-lifetime opportunity. When we weren’t jet-lagged from 18 hours flights to Korea or working 14/7 shifts during fuselage fabrication, we did manage some time to be tourists in places as diverse as the magical Miyajima Island to the surreal Trulli stone structures of Puglia.

787 Flying for the First Time - Photo Credit: The Boeing Company

It was hard work for me, and even harder for the many thousands of people all over the world that have contributed. For most, there will be a brief reprieve as the delays have caused an excess of inventory. Yet the real work on this amazing aircraft has not really begun: Boeing has to deliver well over 800 of them, and that just for starters.

To my many friends (and my few foes) at Boeing, and their many partners & suppliers around the planet – congratulations! All our hard work paid off!

For me, it was great to rekindle some of the memories that today’s flight brought back. Yet I’m glad this experience is past, as I can finally focus on my own dreams.

On December 2 something catastrophically when wrong at our Web Host. They won’t tell me what, only that it will be fixed in 24 hours. Until then, you will likely see an error message in place of most images.

Needless to say, 2010 we will move to a WordPress friendly Web Host.

Darn these folks that don’t understand Permalinks. The links on the Carbon Furniture Page are now repaired. I still haven’t found any great examples of carbon fiber furniture. Guess I’ll have to design/build it myself!

Oh I added a photo on the Bio Page - Ugh – I may have to redo that after the Thanksgiving Holiday!

Well the C-B-D site seems to be working OK. The final design has still not gelled and some of the technical pages need to be completed. Unfortunately my focus is on working out the glitches over at carbonboy.com.

In spite of using the same host, carbonboy just runs plain slow on WordPress, and often does not load at all during peak internet hours in the US. This has been the most frustrating event of the transition to WordPress and there is no one to turn to. I have to debug this myself, although this is a common problem is many sites and there is a lot of good information out there.

Next week I will be in Los Angeles and Las Vegas on a working vacation. Expect our final site updates to design, content and format in early October.

We are still working out the bugs!  The Home Page is now a static page, so that we can also do regular posts. The links ared located on top of the far right sidebar as “Recent Posts.”

The RSS Feed is not working all the time, especially if your browser is Chrome.  I’ve seen this problem on other WordPress Blogs. If you want to subscribe, open our Home Page in Firefox and click the subscribe link in the upper right corner.

We are working on the final location of Advanced Composite News – either as Pages or Posts.

Plans to update the AFP and ATL Pages are in works. We also want to add a page on Hot Drape Forming, which is a somewhat unique process to Boeing Commercial and maybe Bell – but spreading rapidly.

Forgive us, as we look a little tattered – we are upgrading to WordPress with Thesis Themes August 14-20.  We will be adding content and harmonizing our design throughout the month of August.

Composites-By-Design is a Customer Friendly Ideas Factory and Product Development Laboratory with a Consumer Driven Focus on Ergonomic, Aesthetic and Evolutionary Applications of Advanced Composite Materials Integration

Consulting services are offered in the following areas

• Supplier support for BCA composite part qualifications

• Materials & process selection, prototyping and production scale-up of advanced composite products

• Turnkey project management for new composite manufacturing programs and processes

• Development of specifications, standards, reports and graphical work instructions

• Commercialization of advanced composites for industrial and consumer markets

Currently under design & prototyping

A line of consumer and business furniture fabricated from carbon fiber laminate, accented with Nomex honeycomb panels veneered in exotic hardwoods. The design intent is to create museum quality state-of-the-art advanced composite furniture – without the outrageous prices demanded by others that work in this media.

Explore the basics of composite materials & processes

• Composites Primer give a summary of the how and why of advanced composites

• Composites Processes outlines the common processing methods used to fabricate

• Advanced Manufacturing Techniques describes the latest in automated composite fabrication

• Explore sections on the exotic Carbon-Carbon and Metal Matrix Composites

Keep abreast to the latest trends in advanced composites and carbon fiber

• Advanced Composites News provides links to developments and trends and will be updated daily

• Battle of the Primes: the latest news on Boeing’s 787 Dreamliner battle with the Airbus A350

Unlike the vast majority of advanced composite sites, Composites-By-Design is dynamic and will grow in size and scope on a regular basis.  Click the RSS Link in the upper right hand corner to get automated updates from the feed of your choice.

Ciao & Enjoy!

carbonboy