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This post is for backers only. Please visit Kickstarter.com and log in to read.
This post is for backers only. Please visit Kickstarter.com and log in to read.
Alright! We’re getting so close to shipping and we’re ready to start taking your addresses and finalize your acrylics.
We went through 1000 packaged bases: dozens of boxes of dozens of injected parts. And we found something very exciting. About half of the black signs were actually matte.
We’re still working with China to get the other half of our black signs fixed. But luckily we ordered enough bases that we can ship your black signs along with the silver signs. If you want a matte black sign, you don’t have to wait until Spring!
Four main points on the survey:
If you have a USB sign please fill out your survey by February 16th, 2018. Once the deadline has passed we will lock down the surveys and ship the signs.
Once the surveys are completed we will need time to etch the acrylics; we are hoping to begin shipping the first set of signs the last week of February or first week of March.
We have a fun idea for a local assembly party for customers in Utah (or anywhere else if you want to come visit). We’d like to get a good idea of how many people might want to show up for an assembly open house in downtown Salt Lake City.
We’ll have your signs, shirts, stickers and posters ready to roll and you’ll be able to come pick them up and even build your sign yourself.
If you’d be interested in joining us for the party send us a Kickstarter message or email.
Here is the good news: The bases, acrylics and diffusers that we manufactured will work with the Bluetooth signs. The electronics design and firmware for the Bluetooth signs are in good shape. The Wired In SDK is already built to work with the Bluetooth firmware as well. So many of the pieces are in place for Bluetooth.
Here is the bad news: we need the proceeds of USB signs to fund the remaining development and manufacturing of the Bluetooth signs. We are hoping to sell 500-1000 USB signs before we finish development of the Bluetooth signs.
It may be later in 2018 before we move on to the next phase of development on Bluetooth. It’s entirely dependent on how well the USB signs sell. We’d like to still ship them this year, but we don’t want to make any promises at this point.
Our team is in love with the wireless signs. We are so excited to ship them, and as long as Wired In is alive we aren’t giving up on them. And if you haven't noticed: we're tenacious. Don’t give up hope on us.
- Andrew, Caleb and Joshua
Exciting news! Production bases, diffusers, bottoms, and about 15,000 tiny screws have arrived. We finalized the biggest purchase from your Kickstarter funds to get the molds done, and it’s all here! Here it is:
After our initial celebrations, we opened up the first box for the silver bases. They look great! We opened up a box of black bases, and found an issue. The “matte black” bases we ordered weren’t matte.
Of the 1000 bases, half were supposed to be the beautiful high quality matte black we shared in our last update:
Apart from being shiny, the black models also have tiny defects in the paint, as you can see here:
So, we’re working on replacements for the black base. Wes is flying to China today to negotiate with the factory. We should have an idea in the next week or so what type of agreement can be reached. However, even if we reach an agreement, Chinese New Year starts next week, and they wouldn’t start manufacturing until March, and we likely wouldn’t see the new matte black bases until April.
But that’s not going to stop us from getting the rest out the door!
The original company we planned to work with on the acrylics gave us a quote far higher than we were expecting. So we met with four other local acrylics companies over the last 3 weeks, and found a new supplier that will add notches and etch the signs for a reasonable price.
We dropped off the acrylics on Wednesday, and they’ll be ready to rock and roll in about a week.
Can I change my text?
Once you update your BackerKit survey with your custom text, we’ll compile the designs and send them to our new laser company, and they’ll be ready just a few days later.
We’ve been working through how to handle these bases. As we’ve shown them to friends and family, some have chosen the shiny black as their favorite. Since some of you may agree, we’re going to keep them as an option. Here’s how it’ll show up on the survey:
You should see an email from BackerKit with the link to your survey. Make sure you update your address and sign text. We know it has been a long time since you originally filled out the survey.
We’ll share some more details about shipping, and a fun idea we’ve got for anyone near our home base in Utah coming soon.
There are effectively 6 pieces to be finalized for us to *FINALLY* ship the USB signs to backers. 1: Bases, 2: Electronics, 3: Assembly, 4: Acrylics, 5: Cables and 6: Apps.
We've been working with final production signs the last couple weeks and they feel amazing.
The bases are on the way in from China as we type. We gave final approval for production of 1000 bases last week. We’re very excited with the final product. The matte black version is an awesome addition to our product line, and the base feels like a quality product.
We found some amazing local partners in electronics. Our PCBs were finalized and printed in early November and have been delivered to our board assembly partner. We finalized approval of the parts and assembly last week. The assembly should take about 3-4 weeks. This is likely the part of the process that will take the longest.
We’re excited to get all these parts together. We are planning an assembly party as a team to put together all of your signs by hand ourselves. We have found an assembly partner that will put the LED, electronics and base together for us; but we want to do it for ourselves for these first 500 signs.
Earlier this week Joshua met with a local plastics company. They’ll be helping us with a new cut for our acrylics. We have a fun solution to help the signs stay in place and comfortably slide into the bases. This local company will help us convert the acrylics panes we already bought to the new design, and laser engrave your etching.
We have placed an order for 500 USB cables. It’s just another one of the pieces (and it’s a small piece), but it’s something that is so late in the process, that it’s a big milestone for us. It means we’re finally at a place where we know we’ll be shipping signs and making this thing a reality.
We appreciate your support so much. We know it has taken a very long time to release, but we believe you’ll be happy with the final result.
Beyond the hardware itself is the application software that drives the signs. We’re so excited to be working on the software with production hardware. I have a production sign on my desk at work while I program and it’s amazing to see it all come together. We’ll be showing you the progression of the desktop apps first as we work on getting the USB signs released. Excited to get your feedback.
We’ll give you a chance to update your address, and change your custom text if you ordered that in the first place. Watch for that before Christmas.
Thanks everyone! Looking forward to shipping soon,
Andrew, Caleb and Joshua