THE NEXT BIG THING INVENTOR HEADS FOR CES TO SELL INVENTION.

Byline: BRENT HOPKINS Staff Writer

VAN NUYS - The hammer-swinging inventor has reached for a new set of tools once again.

Andy Gutierrez has no college degree and no formal business training. As a contractor, he makes a living with his hands, building homes and fixing pipes. His inventor's laboratory is his living room.

This weekend, he'll pack some bags with samples of his latest project, a slim, scratchless compact disc and DVD organizer he calls Tab-N-Turn, and head to the International CES, the annual consumer electronics trade show blowout in Las Vegas. The 43-year-old tinkerer thinks this year could finally offer him some long-sought validation.

``I'm a successful entrepreneur who just hasn't made money yet,'' Gutierrez said. ``I see myself in transition right now, where in a few months, I'll finally be able to make a living as an inventor.''

Four years ago, he put down his contracting gear and tried his hand at making toys. He taught himself patent law in the public library and found a Mexican factory to mass produce the Bubble Mill, a light-hearted motorized bubble blower. He spent $100,000 to bring the company to life.

The machine sold, but he has yet to recoup his initial investment. Undaunted, he has put the company up for sale and moved on to the Tab-N-Turn.

``The bubble machine was my college education -- that taught me so much,'' he said, smiling.

So after that ambitious beginning, in which he handled much of the sales and distribution himself, Gutierrez has more strategic aims this time around. He came up with the idea of a concise way to organize discs on a spindle after watching his webmaster brother-in-law, Ricardo Barba, fumble through a thick stack of CDs while working.

A quick sketch, then a garage-built mock-up of particle board, a brass ring and a few toothpicks and he had a model that could be replicated in plastic. He whipped up a label on his laptop, then started setting up appointments with retailers and distributors at CES, a massive, four-day show that's a gathering place for all things electronic.

``For anybody involved in the industry around the world, it's the one place you can meet with the right people, have the right meetings, conduct some business,'' said Tara Dunion, the show's director of communications. ``It's a one-stop shop where in four days, you can get a lay of the land for the whole year. It's competitive, since we've got 2,700 exhibitors, but we also get 4,000 media, investors and analysts from all over.''

Many of those exhibitors will be much larger, more powerful and more professional, but Gutierrez remains optimistic at his chances to land a deal with a big-box retailer. Rather than handling the manufacturing and sales himself, he hopes to license the design to larger companies and live off a percentage of sales.

He doesn't have much of a staff by which to run his decisions, just friends and relatives who serve as his consultants and entourage. Sophie, his wife of 16 years, was surprised when he first told her of his desire to invent, but now she accompanies him on business trips.

And when he's hard at work, she reminds him to take a break to eat.

``When I met him, he was doing home remodeling, so I didn't see him doing this at all,'' she said. ``But I knew he had a good work ethic and that he was creative.''

And that he is. When he's hanging drywall, he's thinking. When he's in the shower, he's imagining ideas. When he's spending time with his family, he's looking for new things he can cook up.

``I'm a problem-solver,'' he said. ``I was under a house the other day, doing some plumbing, and my neck started hurting. I had an idea for a little tray you clip on your welding tank to rest your head on. Will I ever make it? Probably not, but I knew that I could if I wanted to.''

brent.hopkins(at)dailynews.com

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3 photos

Photo:

(1 -- 2 -- color) Andy Gutierrez displays stacks of CDs organized with his spindle tab invention, also at top. This is the second product Gutierrez has invented.

(3) Andy Gutierrez's spindle tab invention organizes a stack of CDs.

Andy Holzman/Staff Photographer