Surprise

We will be revealing little by little...

China

Given financial and logistical constraints it was decided that moving to Guangdong, China would be the smartest, craziest and perhaps only way to see this product through to its final stages.



Some of the issues that brought us to this decision:

• parts and samples being shipped around the world through fedex mean high shipping fees and import duties of 20% or more on components. And delays of weeks each time (even paying expedite rates doesn't prevent packages being blocked at customs for days, in fact this has been quite common).
  
  
• need to verify quality and repeatability of manufacturing and assembly processes (we'll be doing quality testing in person in the beginning)
  
  
• need to find cheap labor for assembly (of the final product, not just the pcbs)
  
  
• need to be in Hong Kong to open the company's bank account. Annoying bank rules just changed and this can no longer be done remotely...
  
  
• last but not least, having tapped hugely into personal savings and basically neglected paid work - and with the delays incurred to date and revenues not yet being produced - first world living expenses are no longer entirely in the comfort zone
  
  

Just met the manufacturer

How is that possible? Well, we've fled the 1st world and are now living in mainland China! More on that later.

Regarding the rubber parts, here's the deal. First of all when you make grommets you have to make sure the tip can fit in the hole. Otherwise it's just very very hard to put the grommet in. We've got a 5.3mm radius on the grommet's edge and a 4.75mm hole, this won't work, it took half an hour to get this thing through the hole!



...

Received rubber parts!

Just received the rubber parts, there are a few problems (sizes, mainly) which we'll talk about with the manufacturer shortly.



...

Overlay samples!!!

This vendor gave the most expensive quotation, however the quality is totally professional!