|
2010-08-24 05:57:59 (6031 views) All right... the overlays... we mailed tons of vendors trying to get back on track after the problem with those expensive "stickers" they cheated us with.
And now we have a very confident and reliable guy who also speaks English well enough to talk about... problems.
We had considered these overlays to be unrelated to everything else. After all they're just thick stickers with a plastic coating, right? So we designed the plastic, went ahead with the mold, and then proceeded to send our design off for manufacturing.
But we're now told the ...
2010-08-23 07:11:34 (6702 views) Friends, though we're planning to start sending out units within a month or so, it appears there will be some latency issues with some components.
It wasn't long ago that our microcontrollers disappeared from all online shops; fortunately we were able to get a batch directly from the manufacturer. These are a bit special due to the features required by our product (self reprogramming etc)
We just spoke to the RF manufacturer, who told us that the RF modules now have a wait time of 6-8 weeks. They are saving enough parts for us to create a few tens of units, thanks to prior arrangements and the fact that we've built a semi-friendly relationship. However this will affect product availability in the short term.
They are saying their lead times depend on RF circuitry lead times. Both the main chip and some passive components (precision stuff, necessary for antenna impedance matching etc) have a wait time of 18-22 weeks for big orders.
They explained that the ipod, ipad and android phones are selling so fast that a few companies have bought out all the stock for many of the parts used. Some manufacturers even refused the million dollar orders that these businesses were giving them, because they didn't want their latency to go sky high and lose other clients.
Seems the whole world is out of parts right now; according to them this is something that happens in cycles (our luck as usual).
Unfortunately the RF stuff is really critical, the product is designed around it, and there are all manner of FCC issues, so those parts can't come from another vendor...
How this affects us... We will need to put as much cash in the bank as fast as possible when we start selling, so we can put in as big an order as possible with them and ensure that the lead time doesn't go to waste and that supply doesn't get interrupted more than once (or ever, ideally, if we can pull that off). Hopefully the delay given by component lead times will coincide with the "dead time" where we're setting up fulfillment and sending stuff through customs.
Just another hassle in dealing with hardware!
We've spent the last two years slowly crawling up to the top of this roller coaster, and now looking down it looks like the tracks have holes...
So as we try to carefully plan our orders, we're keeping our fingers crossed and preparing for a rough ride!!
2010-08-22 23:43:03 (5416 views) Tried the glow in the dark parts under a real fluorescent UV light (not an LED source, which has a lot more emissions in the visible spectrum).
With a 20W lamp the rubber fully charges when you stand less than 2 meters from the source. At greater distances the pigment still charges, but not to full intensity.
That said full intensity is really a lot brighter than you'd expect; the two small yellow grommets get bright enough to be able to read a book with no other light source. A 5x5 inch square of pigment is like a tiny lamp when fully charged.
At 1 meter distance, ...
2010-08-17 10:12:12 (8327 views) Just a quick update on the current status and ETA.
- LEGAL: The company was formed and the bank account created. This is a big deal! The first Male Management company owns the financial and juridic structure necessary to bring our dreams to reality. We are now able to accept funds by wire transfer and we are trying to apply for card processing.
- PLASTIC: The mold was created and revised, we should get new parts this week to test all dimensions are perfect, then send it off for polishing. With some luck early next week we can start producing perfect parts that will go into the final product; actual production will not take a week. This is also a big deal, we've gone from messing around with square black boxes to having a miniaturized waterproof custom enclosure that attaches to CB devices comfortably.
- RUBBER: We've tested the glow in the dark pigments, everything works as planned, whether we choose these glowing colors or not rubber part production should start concurrently with the plastic and take no longer than 1 week.
- AROUSAL INDUCERS: Overmolded motor production will happen concurrently with the plastic and rubber. Won't take more than 1 week to have enough motors to start selling. This was one of the hardest technical challenges, although it didn't really slow us down much because we were waiting for the company to be created. Still, the engineering challenges were formidable.
- OVERLAYS: Well, you've read the story, they basically cheated us and made a cheap sticker instead of a real 0.5mm plastic overlay. We're talking with 3 new suppliers, one turned us down, one is playing games, one seems to be all right. These things can be created in a week or so, so they will be ready by the time everything else is ready
- EMC TESTING: Was scheduled for Tuesday but the lab ran out of a specific part we need, we're rescheduling and should be done with it by early next week. If we pass all tests we're officially authorized to sell in the US, and in the EU shortly thereafter once we do a bit more paperwork. This is the biggest waste of time/money and the largest pain in the rear, but it's necessary.
- PCBs and assembly: As soon as we pass EMC testing we'll do a component count, place an order for the needed lots and sync with the PCB assembly guys. If they don't flake (long time since we contacted them) and if they aren't super busy they may be able to put together boards for us within 2 weeks of EMC testing. If this turns out to be one of those 1 or 2 month delay things we'll just hand assemble boards until automated assembly is in place so fear not.
There are still a few issues with everything (programming, LEDs, issues with the keypad, custom screws quality), but they can be solved as we go along.
At this point it looks like none of the milestones are beyond the 30 day mark, except, possibly, fulfillment (we need to transport the stuff to our US fulfillment house, all materials must go through customs).
We are slowly but surely coming to the end of a long and fantastically complex development phase...
2010-08-17 09:15:41 (7491 views) Plastic hues, spray paint colors, rubber parts and glow in the dark pigments. You've seen pictures of almost all combinations. Now it's time to make a decision.
We think:
- remote: clear looks best with the overlay. May partially spray paint the bottom to hide the ugly PCB's behind but not over the edges which would stay transparent.
- receiver: clear, or spray paint black or white or silver leaving the LED hole clear. Black looks mean, white looks clean, silver looks futuristic, clear is nice because of many reasons though in our opinion it makes the product look less "finished".
- rubber: depends on the receiver. The glow in the dark colors don't make that much difference in a regular setting. Therefore it seems we should go with black and offer the glowing colors as a separate product if people really want them.
This is "interactive product development"... we're curious to hear what you think about the new colors and the different combinations.
2010-08-17 09:01:13 (5667 views) The pigments are generally very hard to charge without sunlight except for yellow-green and to a lesser extent aqua.
Expect the glow in the dark effect to only be useful for playing, or in a club situation where fluorescent UV blacklights will charge the pigments and give the effect you've seen in the pictures.
Some have inquired about using the DL2000 for video projects; placing a blacklight somewhere will allow nice footage if these glow in the dark colors are used.
SUNLIGHT TEST:
5 seconds are enough to charge pigments to their full brightness; however to get maximum shine time 20 seconds are required. Move to a pretty dark room and be amazed. All pictures posted previously were NOT photoshopped and are as close as possible to what the eye sees.
ARTIFICIAL LIGHT TEST:
Only yellow-green and aqua can be recharged well with artificial lights. The bulb must be kept not more than 20-30 cm from the rubber in order to charge well. This depends obviously on the strength of the light source. 20 seconds are needed for full glow. Shine time tests were not carried out. When the rubber parts are allowed to charge from ambient light or ceiling lights they never achieve their full brightness and you need pretty much total darkness to see them glow more than a bit - except for the yellow-green color which is pretty standard but has the best recharging and glow time figures. Add to that the fact that the receiver is mounted vertically, so even if you go around the house naked, chances are your glow in the dark parts will NOT charge very well by just being exposed to ceiling lights over 1.5 meters away.
UV LED TEST:
Finally got a real UV LED (not purple). UV light charges the rubber optimally; strength is hard to define because who knows how strong those fluorescent club UV lights really are, and how strong an LED is in proportion. Expect very nice results when UV lights are present. And for events with no UV lights, you can just bring a UV LED and two CR2032 batteries (round type) giving 6V, and charge up your device's glow whenever needed.
One note: UV LEDs emit lots of purple, and even blue. So fluorescent UV blacklights are a lot better suited for playing with colors. They have little light in the visible spectrum, so the glow from the pigments stands out even more.
CONCLUSIONS:
Better than we expected, spectacular under the right conditions, not really a big deal for normal wear, and not very expensive to create compared with other color rubber. Slightly less good looking in regular light (rubber is whitish rather than black) but that's a matter of taste.
The choice is between "whitish" daytime rubber parts with wonderful neon colors with UV light or after charging, OR, regular black rubber.
|
