Starting up

VictorEM83 · Post by **VictorEM83** » Mon Aug 09, 2004 6:58 pm

I have done some research, and to start off, I am thinking about the business is going to start off as a "hobby help shop" so I dont have to get all the permits / insurence / licences to offically open, a hobby shop that you do for "fun" you can run out of your home with no problem unless the people around you complain or your bringing in to much money that you become very profitable and can spend it on pc stuff to expand.

Alas we(me and my partner) are debating if we need anything really to start up we have a nice shop that is in his back yard that was a 1 bedroom "pool house" with tables and desks, we each have our own pc's in our homes and one there for anything else we need to download to lookup, tools isnt an issue we voth have tons from doing all of our own pc work. I have an extrenal USB2.0/firewire DVD/CD burner for portable storage if we need it. He has 2 USB zip drives. what else do you need other than peoples pc's to work on?

As for getting the name out we are going to post flyers up at local stores with boards up of local products and services, and tell all of our friends to pas the work on. Then if we get some money from that we will do newspaper ads to try and expand from there.

Any tips advice? What about you red what type of setup do you have for Icetecks?

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Red Squirrel · Post by **Red Squirrel** » Tue Aug 10, 2004 11:09 pm

For my setup I have an electronic KVM switch (hot key type) so whenever I get a machine in I just connect it to the kvm switch and also to my ethernet switch. All the cables are all there so I don't have to go plug anything in the wall, I just take all the dangling wires and plug them into the PC. So it goes well.

Then I have my linux server which has stuff like adaware etc.. which are used often. I'll get some pics tomorow or something.

Later on I'd like to get an air compressor to do dust cleanings as well but they're expensive.

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VictorEM83 · Post by **VictorEM83** » Tue Aug 10, 2004 11:39 pm

umm Red an air compressor isnt a great thing to clean PC's qith cuz when you compress air you get water

but compressed nitrogen works great and protects eletronics inside the pc.

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Andy · Post by **Andy** » Wed Aug 11, 2004 7:05 am

VictorEM83 wrote: umm Red an air compressor isnt a great thing to clean PC's qith cuz when you compress air you get water but compressed nitrogen works great and protects eletronics inside the pc.

Not really. Air compressors have the hoes at the top and the water stays at the bottom.. If you drain the tank every time you use it you won't have a problem.

nitrogen freezes and Causes Plastic to crack and shatter so you take your bet every day weather its one or the other.. I chose Air.. Case water dries, nitro kills plastic

Idea Turn the Nitro bottle upside down and spray it on bear skin. tell my what reaction you get out of it

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Red Squirrel · Post by **Red Squirrel** » Wed Aug 11, 2004 6:07 pm

Ain't you like loose your fingers if you touch liquified nitrogen? I would rather not try. I tried liquified petroleum from swish (to remove gum) and it's pretty cold.

As for compressors I think you can get filters to not get water, and from what I heard (I never used one) the water is just a very fine mist, which would probably not be enough to damage electronics. It would be like micro bubles that are not touching. But I never used one so I don't know. If you can feel it, then I would not take a chance with a PC.

Hopefully the compressor combined with the vacuum would not use more then 15 amps, otherwise I'd have a problem. (I'd vacuum the dust as it blows out, otherwise it just settles somewhere else.)

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VictorEM83 · Post by **VictorEM83** » Wed Aug 11, 2004 7:07 pm

all major tech places use compressed nitrogen< and yes hell master turning it upside down and sparying it would be fun!

But in all seriousness I have 3 dies hooked up to an 160 gallon air comperssor with 3 water traps and you still get some vapor hence why if you call up a place they will tell you they use a gas like nitrogen.

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Andy · Post by **Andy** » Wed Aug 11, 2004 8:04 pm

Oh well yes nitro is good in all cases but... Their is a slight possibility that the nitro can has a defect that will cost you in the long run.

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Red Squirrel · Post by **Red Squirrel** » Wed Aug 11, 2004 9:27 pm

VictorEM83 wrote: all major tech places use compressed nitrogen< and yes hell master turning it upside down and sparying it would be fun!

But in all seriousness I have 3 dies hooked up to an 160 gallon air comperssor with 3 water traps and you still get some vapor hence why if you call up a place they will tell you they use a gas like nitrogen.

Can you actually compress that stuff yourself or do you need to buy canisters? Since my main concern is pollution. Using compressed air cans and stuff results in allot of trash to throw out, especialy when the business get's very big.

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VictorEM83 · Post by **VictorEM83** » Wed Aug 11, 2004 10:26 pm

you get the tank filled and then refill it after that, also its pretty safe considering nitrogen makes up most our air!

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Red Squirrel · Post by **Red Squirrel** » Wed Aug 11, 2004 10:43 pm

Refilled by what though, like does it just extract it from the air? Considering physics laws I'm not even sure if it's possible to extract only specific parts of the air since there's lot of different gases, but the biggest one is nitrogen. (75% or something like that?)

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VictorEM83 · Post by **VictorEM83** » Wed Aug 11, 2004 11:03 pm

that I am not sure about but you could call around to laern about it

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Red Squirrel · Post by **Red Squirrel** » Wed Aug 11, 2004 11:11 pm

Yeah, may be worth it. But I think I'd stick with an air compressor and filters, and if worse comes to worse, a rag too.

Since I could use the compressor for other things too (impact drills etc...)

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jryan · Post by **jryan** » Fri Aug 13, 2004 11:15 am

Somethings to consider, I've got to post these.

Look in to static straps when working on PCs, they might not seem important now, but they could make the difference between having a PC to repair or not.

Think closely about A+ Certification, if you're not, your customers should know that thier warranties can be vioded if you're not and you inadvertantly cause damage to thier PCs when working on them. Also, some hardware vendors won't honour their warranteis unless the hardware device was installed by a certified technician.

You might also want to establish some records of what you've done with certain machines to fix problems. That way, if you or your partner(s) have a problem, they can just look for the solution in your solution database to see what else has worked before.

Aside from that, (time for shameless plugs) a catchy website might also be an idea when you get a little further along. I'm sure Red can help with that. (There's the plug).

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Red Squirrel · Post by **Red Squirrel** » Fri Aug 13, 2004 12:39 pm

Yes true, always keep static electricity in mind. I just regularly touch the case while working on it, but a static strap is not a bad idea either.

A+ is something to consider too, but ask yourself if it's worth the investment first. So far most of the PCs I've fixed are like 10 years past the warrenty (ok, maybe 5 years) so it has not been a big issue for me.

Records are a must since you need to keep track of how much tax you owe. I'm soon going to be working on a better system that will not only keep records like my current ticket system but also make invoices that I'll just print out.

So another good thing to have is a server, so you can run tools like this on it. I use php for most of it. But one could just download a script and use it instead of custom coding it.

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