Pledges are being locked down
over 7 years ago – Fri, Jun 16, 2017 at 10:18:44 PM

Hi all,

Things are moving along and a huge back of aluminum Kappas went out for nickel plate yesterday. They should be ready for pickup on Monday! All other finishes are being assembled, packed, and some are still finishing up on the lathe. 

If you want to make any last minute changes to your pledge, you have until 5:30PM Pacific Time today (6/16) to do that.  

If I'm lucky I'll start sending out the first shipments on Monday and should have regular shipments going out all week. Baring any major issues I anticipate (but don't promise :) being 100% shipped by end of next week. 

Given that, I'll be locking shipping addresses at 9:00AM Monday (6/19), so please make any necessary changes to your shipping address over the weekend. 

Please note that your pledge and shipping address should be managed via your BackerKit account. No need to message me directly :) 

Cheers! 
Jason

Second Operations & Mfg. Update
over 7 years ago – Tue, Jun 13, 2017 at 11:41:22 PM

Hey Backers! First of all, many thanks to those of you who have completed your surveys! There are still a few stragglers so please get your surveys completed if you'd like to get your rewards in a timely manner :) 

Manufacturing Update: 

Production is nearing 75% completion but there are actually quite a lot of parts to be made. Right now (if all goes well) we should be finished with all "first operations" (First Ops) on all materials by the end of the week. 

Right now 100% of female parts are complete; first ops, second ops, laser engraving, and spring installation. Today we are trying to finish up all of the second ops on the male aluminum parts so we can get those out to nickel plate. 

We are currently a little behind on second ops for the male parts, so I'm trying to decide if I should finish everything and blast out all of the shipping in 3-4 days, or if I want to finish those out in batches so we can get shipments started...but this means fulfillment might take a week or two. Right now I'm leaning towards the latter and starting fulfillment early next week. I still think we'll be 100% shipped before the end of the month. 

What are second ops? 

Excellent question! But first...first operations (or first ops) are the machining operations that...wait for it...happen first. Any time you make a part on a single spindle lathe you end up with a bit of residual material where the part is cut off from the stock material as shown below. Cleaning this up requires second ops. 

Typically the tool cuts the material, but when you are parting off from the bar, the material gets so thin that it eventually breaks and leaves a fragment behind. Using a special angled tool can minimize this (above), but the part never comes off clean. 

Generally speaking, all lathe parts require second ops to clean up the end and add any additional features. In this case "facing" off the residual material and adding the cross hole for the split ring. Below is a shot of the "live tool" drilling the hole. 

Note the small amount of clearance (below) between the body of the drill holder and the steel collet holding the part. CNC machines are dumb, so one of the most important jobs a machinist has is making sure the machine doesn't crash into itself. However, they are also very repeatable so if you see daylight that's good enough. 

Laser Marking: 

All Kappas get laser marked one at a time. The cycle time is pretty fast, but it's still a lot of manual labor loading and unloading the machine...and hours of standing. 

 I have several lasers in the shop that are good at different things. My first laser is an Epilog CO2 with a 12" x 24" bed and it's good at cutting wood and plastics. I used that laser to make this Acrylic fixture to hold the Kappas for engraving. This keeps every part in the same physical location and also orients it so the logo is aligned with the cross hole. 

 And the final result! Every material takes a lot of trial and error to get the mark looking like you want it. The laser has about 5 different settings you can adjust to get different effects. This machine is a solid state Fiber laser that is good for marking metals, but doesn't really cut wood or plastic. 

It has a scanning head which means the position of the laser beam is controlled by moving a mirror instead of physically moving the laser head. This is incredibly fast and precise, but it limits the working area to a 4" x 4" square vs. 12" x 24" inches for the other CO2 machine. As with everything in life, you can't have it all :) 

Last call for BackerKit pledge updates!
over 7 years ago – Tue, Jun 06, 2017 at 04:24:50 PM

The “last” day to make final updates to your pledge is this Friday (June 9th, 2017). 

After this date, we will lock your reward selections so we have an accurate count for shipping. Your cards will not be charged until we start shipping rewards. This should be in about two weeks. You will still be able to update your shipping address up until we lock addresses for shipping fulfillment.  You'll get another update (here) just before shipping begins. 

 

For backers who have not answered their surveys yet: If you fill out your BackerKit survey or pay for extra shipping after the deadline date, we will still receive your information, but your shipment may be delayed.   

If you need to review your information or pledge status, you can request your survey at https://prometheus-kappa-qr-preorder.backerkit.com

THANK YOU!  

Thank you all again for being so responsive to answering our BackerKit survey—even though it may not seem like much as an individual backer, you have no idea how tremendously helpful this has been for me when trying to keep track of all 652 of you!

Thanks everyone for your support!  

Jason

BackerKit Surveys Just Went Out!
over 7 years ago – Fri, Jun 02, 2017 at 01:05:51 AM

Hey folks. Hope everyone is well! Let's get down to business. I'm typing this update instead of getting work done in the shop!  

BackerKit Invites  

Many of you have already received the email and verified your pledge. Thanks! If you haven't already, please do that as soon as you can. This helps with a few things.  

• 1) This is how I collect your shipping address so I can ship your reward!  
• 2) Filling out your Backerkit survey is the only way I can get an accurate count on how many parts I need to make and ship. I will literally be pulling my hair out until everyone gets their information updated, and I can't afford to lose much more hair. 
• 3) Completing your survey ASAP also means you and your fellow backers will receive your rewards in the most timely manner. Please don't wait :)  
• 4) If you didn't get the survey, please check your spam filter and also note that the email will go to whatever address you have on file with Kickstarter. If you changed your registered email address *after* you backed this campaign, the email will go to the original address, not the new address. 
• 5) If you have any questions or concerns about anything on the BackerKit platform, please email them directly via [email protected] 

Shipping Schedule  

It's still not clear exactly when shipping will commence, but we are slightly more than 50% complete with machining already so things are looking good. We still need to bag a lot of parts, and with 5 different material types it's going to take some work. Right now it's up in the air whether I'll start shipping orders as parts are finished, or if I'll wait until all of the parts are complete. Again, the complexity of producing 5 different materials plays a role in this. Expect an update when I have a better idea :)      

In Process  

We are currently running male Kappa parts. All of the female Kappa parts are complete and being processed through the laser. Aluminum Kappas will still need to go out for Electroless Nickel plate after the laser engraving is complete. We ran all of the female parts first because they all need to be laser engraved and have springs installed. This is a manual process and takes a long time, so we front-loaded those parts to avoid any delays related to having more steps to complete. 

Please Note: Each Kappa will ship with two 25mm and two 20mm split rings. The split rings will not be installed on the Kappa, but come in separate bags. This was mentioned in the campaign but I just wanted to clarify. This will allow us to ship your order more quickly and also allow you to decide what ring configuration is best suited to your specific application. 

Follow me?  

 

If you really want to be "up to the minute" informed, you should follow me on instagram @prometheuslights !

Part Inspection & Backerkit Survey Schedule
over 7 years ago – Thu, Jun 01, 2017 at 12:31:18 AM

Hi Backers! 

Hope all is well. Things are full steam ahead at the shop! First things first though. 

Backerkit Survey Schedule:

Surveys will be going out ASAP. Backerkit has been reviewing my campaign setup to make sure everything is squared away. This should be in the next couple of days. 

When you get the survey you'll have about a week to make any changes to your pledge. After that, people who have "completed" surveys will have their orders locked (no more changes) so we can proceed with shipping!

Once again, thanks so much for your support and patience. In the mean time, a quick update below. 

Inspection and dimensional control: 

 A lot of people think you put a bit of material and code into a CNC machine and it just spits out parts. That's true, but it doesn't always make the part you want. Producing precision parts requires constant attention, inspection, and adjustments to the machine. A CNC is just as happy to make bad parts as good ones. Good parts are up to the machinist. 

The photo above shows a specialized internal groove caliper to measure the diameter of the spring seat. The tolerance on this dimension is +/- 0.001 inches. That's about 1/2 the thickness of a sheet of paper. 

 The other critical dimension is the spring groove on the male portion of the QR. However, you can't measure that feature directly because most standard "outside diameter" measuring tools have a flats that clamp against the part. That doesn't work when the groove you are measuring has round surfaces. I measure this particular dimension with an indirect method, a tool maker's microscope in the photo above.  

 The microscope provides a high precision method to take indirect measurements. You just use the cross-hairs to line up the feature, set the digital counter to zero, and traverse across the part until you get to the other side. I have to inspect about every 10 parts and make small adjustments in order to keep the parts on size, as the dimensions will drift over the course of the day. 

The primary factor that contributes to these dimensional instability is temperature. This includes the temperature of the ambient air, the machine itself, and even the cutting fluid inside the machine. The entire CNC is made of different kinds of metal that expand and contract (at different rates) as various temperatures change. This alters where the actual cutting tip of the tool is in relation to the work. 

Well, time to get back to work. Please let me know if you have any questions or comments about this update! 

Cheers,
Jason