Model MF - GB CLOSED

lot_lizard · 12 Dec 2016, 16:58

Cindy's plastic contact will be tied up today, so we will regroup with him another time. The real net of our discussion is to find out how much of the process for the mold generation we can do ourselves. Almost 100% of the time, these folks like you to have either the part they are producing (or better yet the plans for it), and then they create the inverted STEP for the CNC to generate the molds based on the specs of the press they will be using. This is the real expense in the mold making process (programming the CNC).

We have the ability to create much of that for them ahead of time and then only need to validate. I doubt they will be up for it, but it certainly affects the cost dramatically. Also, we want to be certain that we would own the molds themselves afterwards (another run later is UBER cheap).

I wouldn't plan on these being part of any of the MF shipment though. Expect this case stuff first half next year unless there is some Christmas Miracle. It'll happen in some capacity though (metal, wood, plastic, or combination). No idea yet.

We should probably move this discussion back to the workshop thread though for now. Just to keep this one from being another 1500 posts in a few months of fun ideas

. I really don't care though... I am going to be monitoring both. Just thinking of the Muirium's of the world

E TwentyNine · 12 Dec 2016, 17:11

Replied over in the workshop thread...

livingspeedbump · 14 Dec 2016, 05:48

Back to the buy, was there ever an estimated time frame for this? Did I just miss it like a putz? If you don't want to say one either, I'm totally fine with that! Just purely curious.

Techno Trousers · 14 Dec 2016, 06:34

I think lot_lizard was giving a conservative estimate of end of February, but it might be sooner. The nice thing about this particular GB is that he's personally overseeing all production himself, by manufacturers that he has personal relationships with in the USA, rather than trying to do something long distance with Chinese manufacturers.

matt3o · 14 Dec 2016, 11:09

does anyone know if a 3d model of the SSK case is already available? I want to try to 3D print it in 2-4 pieces...

lot_lizard · 14 Dec 2016, 14:13

livingspeedbump wrote: Back to the buy, was there ever an estimated time frame for this? Did I just miss it like a putz? If you don't want to say one either, I'm totally fine with that! Just purely curious.

Exactly what Techno reported... I do have some updates though. I'll try to make time today to get those out

matt3o wrote: does anyone know if a 3d model of the SSK case is already available? I want to try to 3D print it in 2-4 pieces...

There is this recent workshop thread for a full size, but no case top (ie... no pressure other than assembly gravity). Otherwise I've never seen anything. I have something for you btw... Check your PMs

Muirium · 14 Dec 2016, 18:22

Sweet anticipation!

livingspeedbump · 14 Dec 2016, 20:23

Techno Trousers wrote: I think lot_lizard was giving a conservative estimate of end of February, but it might be sooner. The nice thing about this particular GB is that he's personally overseeing all production himself, by manufacturers that he has personal relationships with in the USA, rather than trying to do something long distance with Chinese manufacturers.

Frankly we got an update like a day or two after the buy ended. When does that ever happen?!?!

Needless to say I'm worried 0% about this buy. I just wanted to know when to release my full anticipation really

lot_lizard · 14 Dec 2016, 20:56

livingspeedbump wrote: Frankly we got an update like a day or two after the buy ended. When does that ever happen?!?! Needless to say I'm worried 0% about this buy. I just wanted to know when to release my full anticipation really

Appreciate that... and you really have everyone else to credit for paying everything on time. I was shocked these invoices were resolved so quickly. We are officially 100% paid by everyone (unless arrangements). That was within 4 days of close, and for something this tangible, I think that is a large feat.

Updates (less than last time):

the replacement springs are actually on the docket to be produced 12/26. I figured the plant would close that week, but they informed me it is a good time for "special projects"
the vinyl stickers have been produced with the exception of 1. Shipping takes a bit here they claim, but so far they are surprising me
I need to circle back with Phosphorglow on the controller, it is the one bottleneck before clicking the "GO" button on 4 other items. I still haven't received, but I believe he has sent
Retainer clips are still 1/2 through production. All the B's have been produced and look great. The dye is actually in hand for the holidays (when I plan to do). I just need those other controller boards from our teammate to make sure I dont need to alter the designs slightly before production. Kudos to andrewjoy and the like for the polyester filament recommendation. These are excellent. Have hit with a hammer with serious force (used to roof houses in high school), and these don't crack. Some deformation under that test, but MUCH less than I anticipated.
Barrels have been given a proper bath for several days (multi-day soak and agitation). I will rinse them this coming weekend. The original tests showed a further soak wasn't needed, but we have time.
OG springs are currently sitting in the industrial parts washer. I will leave them for another 24 hours minimum (totally unnecessary, but again, we have time)
Foam = ordered
Fasteners = ordered (actually took our Fastenal founders to lunch to thank them (my dime))

Hope this helps give a perspective of current steps taken. We are well on our way.

About the only other bit to report... now that the 3d printer is sitting idle waiting on the controllers from our team, I will likely start printing the spacers/debris shields. There are several things we haven't seen yet for designs (this is one), that I would like to surprise everyone with (it's totally different, but lovely)

EDIT: corrected grammar and spelling

E TwentyNine · 14 Dec 2016, 21:09

Muirium · 14 Dec 2016, 21:26

Current status:

Well stoked.

lot_lizard · 15 Dec 2016, 17:11

Mu... I really did miss you. We have been robbed of your Mu-ness for far too long. Happy to see you back amongst the threads. $hi+ has been way too stuffy without a bitter crotchety old (err... midlife) Scotsman causing a ruckus

Muirium · 15 Dec 2016, 17:20

Crotchets, minims, semibreves and quavers… I got the lot. When I'm on my instrument.

Speaking of which: keep those machines purring! We've fresh muthafunkahs to strike to life!

lot_lizard · 15 Dec 2016, 18:01

Muirium wrote: Speaking of which: keep those machines purring! We've fresh muthafunkahs to strike to life!

I did finally get the laser cutter vented into my exiting shop filtration system last night, bifurcating it with an exterior exit vs. just filtered recirculation. It's something I have been meaning to do for a while. Involved a few 6 inch PVC ball valves. It's a proper setup finally (no issues of hydrogen chloride death). I have let me my wife know how to issue refunds btw if I manage to get struck by lightning

chzel · 15 Dec 2016, 18:04

lot_lizard wrote: I have let me my wife know how to issue refunds btw if I manage to get struck by lightning

That's the wrong way to go about such a calamity. Instruct her how to finish the GB instead!

derzemel · 15 Dec 2016, 18:18

lot_lizard wrote:
Muirium wrote: Speaking of which: keep those machines purring! We've fresh muthafunkahs to strike to life!
I did finally get the laser cutter vented into my exiting shop filtration system last night, bifurcating it with an exterior exit vs. just filtered recirculation. It's something I have been meaning to do for a while. Involved a few 6 inch PVC ball valves. It's a proper setup finally (no issues of hydrogen chloride death). I have let me my wife know how to issue refunds btw if I manage to get struck by lightning

you have a lase cutter... in your shop? what is the strangest thing you cut with it?
Hopefully the how to instructions and warning are clear and printed with large letters on it so you won't find that dumb friend (that we all have) trying to cook his sausage

lot_lizard · 15 Dec 2016, 18:28

chzel wrote:
lot_lizard wrote: I have let me my wife know how to issue refunds btw if I manage to get struck by lightning
That's the wrong way to go about such a calamity. Instruct her how to finish the GB instead!

hahaha... trust me, you'll want the refund. Otherwise the final product will look like some scrapbooking debacle straight out of Pinterest

derzemel wrote: you have a lase cutter... in your shop? what is the strangest thing you cut with it?
Hopefully the how to instructions and warning are clear and printed with large letters on it so you won't find that dumb friend (that we all have) trying to cook his sausage

I picked up one (always wanted anyway) once I saw how much our silly basic legacy foam was going to run. Now we are using a completely different foam altogether (two part with different consistencies) because of the experiments having the cutter in-house provided. There are lots of surprises in this one (I purposely haven't posted tons of photos thus far). You will be pleasantly surprised I think

Techno Trousers · 15 Dec 2016, 18:55

derzemel wrote: you have a lase cutter... in your shop? what is the strangest thing you cut with it?

I was hoping the answer to this would be "smoked brisket!"

E TwentyNine · 15 Dec 2016, 20:18

Techno Trousers wrote:
derzemel wrote: you have a lase cutter... in your shop? what is the strangest thing you cut with it?
I was hoping the answer to this would be "smoked brisket!"

I heard he was making balogna commercials.

(yes, it's actually cut with a laser cutter)

lot_lizard · 16 Dec 2016, 17:14

Dawned on me that I never gave a break down of the stickers... We had a fun turnout there:

(47) Tribute Edition: On the Shoulders of Giants
(56) Tribute Edition: Deskthority Club Members
(41) Tribute Edition: XTant2

EDIT: the percentages surprised me a bit. Made me happy XTant2 did so well.

lot_lizard · 16 Dec 2016, 20:16

My statistics suck (gapped) the more I look at them

. Adding a few more

Everything below doesn't include orders I will be placing for myself. I will have "I think" 9 made for myself total (no duplicates):

Replacement Springs - ~5500
Switches - ~7775
Custom M Boxes - 94
Novelty Caps - 207

If there are other numbers that someone wants to see... Let me know

derzemel · 16 Dec 2016, 20:26

lot_lizard wrote:If there are other numbers that someone wants to see... Let me know

I would be curious to know the full number of $$$ that we buyers paid for this

lot_lizard · 16 Dec 2016, 21:25

derzemel wrote: I would be curious to know the full number of $$$ that we buyers paid for this

I wouldn't gauge too much by this value because we don't have typical margins here for a GB if you are comparing us to other buys, but for full disclosure. 126 kits in various combinations, Unicomp purchases for parts on your behalf, Cindy haul parts, and shipping costs at 24.2k. This does not include the 9 kits I have for myself, so the number will be ~25.5k in the end.

That's on a baked in operational margin of ~5% (roughly 1.25k) that we will use for production fluctuations and potential oversights (such as the shipping allowance, unforeseen tariffs, and just general screw ups I might have made). If we do have a surplus, we will vote on how to handle. Everyone gets say 10 dollars back, we donate the sum to the club, capitalise it in research equipment/tools for future development, etc. A normal manufacturing operating target margin is 15%, but that assumes ongoing production, reduced costs because of larger volume, paying the employees

, etc.

We are an odd bird. We are sizable in scope/parts, small in volume (by comparison), and have an artistic component with small tolerances (our primary parts are more complex than really anything else out there that isn't MASSED produced). A margin of 25-50% is much more normal if this was run as a business with associated risks, recovering research costs, and given the short life cycle

Phenix · 16 Dec 2016, 22:06

could you explain the 'Novelty keys'?
Which keycaps belong to that?
I guess the Code keys, what else?

lot_lizard · 16 Dec 2016, 22:15

Phenix wrote: could you explain the 'Novelty keys'?
Which keycaps belong to that?
I guess the Code keys, what else?

Novelty is a bad term, but they are the MF keys (dyed caps with MF etched back into the white cap underneath). The Code Keys I have clumped in with a HOST of other parts like the Unicomp and Cindy Haul orders, as "Misc. Parts"

lot_lizard · 19 Dec 2016, 02:13

The springs are out of the parts washer, and were immediately moved to the Teflon bath. I will let them sit for a couple of days (unnecessary, but again, we have a little time so why not). I do have pictures, but let me get them sorted out before posting. The barrels are also washed and dried... Look good. They will get a Teflon soak once I finish with the springs.

We should expect several deliveries next week for the parts.

Also... I don't think I ever posted the final versions of the stickers. These were produced in 300dpi on 4"x2 vinyl". They sent me some samples earlier, and I decided to make ours a little more detailed. Also, they will be the rounded corners, even those these images are shown as square:

Spoiler:

ohaimark · 19 Dec 2016, 02:29

Livinig Fossil? TYPO.

Muirium · 19 Dec 2016, 02:29

Well spotted. (I always find oblique text harder to read so I missed it.) Subtle, though, so I wouldn't get worked up over it.

lot_lizard · 19 Dec 2016, 02:44

Nice catch... thanks for spotting. I will make sure they reprint properly. I should probably be more sober for some of this stuff

EDIT: I updated the previous image with the corrected version if someone should ever want to mess with it later.

lot_lizard · 19 Dec 2016, 22:02

Well... we actually got lucky. Even though I had received an email before that the 2 of the 3 stickers were already being produced, turns out they weren't (or they have, but the company is being nice to deal with). I requested to correct the XTant2 sticker, and they sent me proofs. I ended up shuffling a couple of the DT members around a bit on the Community sticker as well after seeing the where the rounded corners would really hit.

They claim shipment will occur in 3-5 business days (who knows what that means this time of year). I won't have extras of anything but the Community one. There is an extra sticker that no one has seen yet, but everyone will get (just a way of saying thanks). The following are the ACTUAL finals

: CT28283_A_proof.jpg (302.33 KiB) Viewed 5336 times

: CT28283_B_proof.jpg (171.22 KiB) Viewed 5336 times

: CT28283_C_proof2.jpg (202.81 KiB) Viewed 5336 times

deskthority

Model MF - GB CLOSED

Pick our controller... Voting ends on Friday