That's not what I mean, forget about buddies and all that. What I mean is that you will need people to manufacture your product. All that an NDA does is either annoy people or get their antennae up to seeing possibilities to copy whatever you are doing. Ok, so lets think about it, you come to me with a NDA and I sign it. Nothing stops me from telling my buddy in JHB, OZ, hell even next door about your wonderful idea. The point that I am trying to make is that people WILL copy stuff, no matter what you do. The trick is to deal with people who have absolutely nothing to gain from copying your stuff. The average CNC or laser cutting business couldn't care less about what you do, yes, you may have a great product in a particular sector but that does not mean that the product has any meaning to them. They have machines to pay off, reputations to protect etc. People contact me on a daily basis to help them develop their products, yes of course I can copy them and sell them myself, but the reality is that I simply have no interest in selling. Yes we sell trains but they really sell themselves, I don't look for the market, the market knows me and comes to me. So, although there are many people who come to me with great products that I help to develop, I know full well that there is a hell of lot of work to get the product to market and that the designers reputation is critical to his product. Look, all that I am trying to say is that I do not believe that the average CNC or laser cutting company is going to steal your idea simply because they already have their hands full dealing with their own customers and issues.

I have to have a lot of stuff made, I have PC boards made, litho printing done, pad printer plates made, brass etching done...and and and, all those companies would laugh at me if I go to them with NDAs every time I want something done. I simply ask to have the parts made and that's it - the last thing you want to do is draw attention to it. If somebody asks you what it is for you simply say that you don't know, that the boss is replacing some part on some machine that he's been trying to get to work for the past 5 years...and that the boss is actually a stupid twat that doesn't know the first thing about machines (that will put them off looking at the part let alone copy it) - the best weapon that you have is your mouth, you'll be surprised how far you can get and how much you can find out by simply speaking a lot of rubbish.