Howdy All,
Delivery Updates
We’ve at the moment shipped 60 models, have 24 extra able to be boxed, and three that want further consideration. Now that each one of our beforehand constructed machines have been up to date a number of instances and QC’d, we’re excited to start out constructing new inventory from the bottom up with all the classes discovered over the previous few months of meeting. This course of ought to proceed to get smoother and not require a number of rounds of disassembly and checks on high of the usual QC course of.
Staffing:
We’ve employed our sixth worker 2 weeks in the past who’s been following the mission for fairly some time and has a ardour for espresso and dealing along with his palms. Trevor has spooled up extraordinarily shortly serving to carry out our ultimate spherical of checks and updates on the beforehand constructed models earlier than coming into ultimate QC. Now that he and Anthony, our QC specialist, have developed a fundamental understanding fixing what has beforehand given us points, we’re at the moment coaching them up on new builds.
I anticipate a slight slowdown whereas Anthony and Trevor come up to the mark on the complete construct course of however I feel we will probably be saving time on the again finish QC course of by requiring much less rework and checks.
Time to proceed rising! We’re on the lookout for a full time rent to specialise in sub meeting builds, QC, R&D, and packaging. This can be a dynamic position that may require consideration to element, time administration, and creativity. We proceed to design, 3D print, and construct new meeting jigs whereas bettering our processes for extra environment friendly meeting. This particular person would wish to have the ability to grasp technical ideas of how every sub meeting works and why we use explicit supplies and configurations, be capable to diagnose points on assembled machines, and be capable to constantly bundle orders and equipment to satisfy manufacturing objectives.
{Hardware} Updates:
Our largest situation continues to be LED consistency. I’ve accomplished far more analysis than I ever thought I would wish to on LEDs, labored with our provider, and carried out inside testing to return to the conclusion that our present provider makes use of decrease high quality semiconductor chips than is appropriate for our manufacturing. I’ve reached out to three new suppliers all with nice reputations, ordered samples from every, carried out endurance testing on 50 – 100 LEDs from every, and positioned a brand new manufacturing order with the lights that we preferred one of the best. Whereas these LEDs are nonetheless 2 weeks out, we are going to proceed constructing full machines with all the things besides the LEDs and add these in for ultimate testing when these arrive. This manner we gained’t decelerate manufacturing testing and fixing unhealthy lights, however we additionally will proceed making progress on meeting. We will probably be reaching out to anybody with a foul LED relating to subsequent steps for fixing.
Total, buyer suggestions has been very constructive! We acknowledge there’s a little bit of a studying curve with levers as an entire, however extra particularly, bleeding air out of our piston bleed valve can take time to get proper. Improper air bleeding on the Argos ends in decrease extraction pressures. We’ve spent the previous month prototyping our restrictor orifice as talked about in earlier electronic mail updates. We’ve landed on a customized built-in stress compensated stream management valve. This valve not solely restricts stream into the grouphead to routinely bleed air out on the appropriate price but additionally maintains constant stream no matter boiler stress.
We’ve additionally been engaged on just a few different small adjustments similar to improved fill funnel to make it simpler to find out fill degree and an anti-vacuum valve overflow reservoir. It’s regular for all anti-vacuum valves to drip a tiny little bit of water out when closing. We’ve discovered that overfilling the boiler causes the valve to prematurely shut resulting in false stress and extra water to drip out of the valve. Including a reservoir will probably be a easy added degree of safety to stop injury within the occasion of unintentional overfilling. This reservoir will embody a filter to permit any amassed water to evaporate throughout regular use or within the occasion of continued accumulation will overflow out of one of many vent slots within the again cowl of the machine.
Alternative transducer batteries will very quickly be supplied on our web site. It’s disappointing that the batteries used within the transducers we use should not a standard, off the shelf half. The batteries may be discovered, however solely with a unique connector. I’ve sourced the proper connectors and ordered some batteries for testing however we purpose to supply a alternative for decrease price $25USD + transport and also will create a video to indicate any DIY prospects easy methods to get off the shelf battery elements to work for ~$10 USD + transport.
Sincerely,
Ross & William
