A Santa Clarita Valley electrical contractor is branching out into manufacturing with a new gadget for carrying screws and bits used by cordless drills. Grady Dagnan Jr., owner of equipment and tool distributor Jondy, plans to make the Bit Pouch available this fall. He has an ongoing Kickstarter campaign to raise the $10,000 needed for materials and equipment to make the carrying case, which attaches either directly to a drill or on the arm of a handyman. Dagnan has taken a prototype to trade shows and he said that he has received good feedback from tradesmen. “This allows you to work safer and save time by holding all the hardware,” he said. Dagnan’s son, Grady Dagnan III, who also works as an electrical contractor, conceived the Bit Pouch at a job site where he had to keep going up and down a ladder to change drill bits while holding screws in one hand. The carrying case contains the bits while a strong magnet sewn inside the fabric can hold screws on the outside. To become a manufacturer, he has cleared out a garage in Agua Dulce for two large sewing machines. He will hire a local seamstress to handle the sewing but otherwise will use his current employees for assembly and packaging. “We are going to start like most homegrown American businesses,” he said. As of Sept. 1, the Kickstarter campaign had raised a little more than $6,000 from 82 backers. Contributions will be accepted until Sept. 13. If it doesn’t reach the required $10,000 threshold, Dagnan said he will fund the project himself. He foresees an initial run of 1,000 of the Bit Pouch and will start selling them at independent hardware stores. If the product catches on, he hopes to get it on the shelves of large home improvement chains like Home Depot Inc., Lowe’s Cos. Inc. and Ace Hardware Corp. The price will be less than $20. – Mark R. Madler