Apologies (again) for the delayed update. On arriving there was not much to update due to the factory being off for the month for CNY. Then got food poisoning from too much street food and been on medication, with all efforts being put into keeping things moving forward. With the benefit of hindsight, simple message saying the eagle has landed should have been put out to reassure backers of what is going on. 

The Eagle has landed

Recap

From the last update there were a number of things we were looking to address, namely; Inner Lid Effect, Sonic Welding, Locking Mechanism, and the Shrinkage Marks around the middle rings. In short, we have signed off 3 out of the 4, with the final one remaining being the Sonic Welding. 

Silk Screen sign off

Please find a picture below of the effect with Silk Screen Printing, followed by a short video of part of the process.

Hope you agree that it is meeting the mark.

Shrinkage sign off

Please find below a picture of the sign off for the shrinkage marks. The red arrows point to the plastic we will be using (we tested two different ones in each of the group moulds).

Sonic Welding

This has been a sticking point, and although we were making meaningful progress, frankly there were/are too many failures and inconsistencies to justify to commiting to mass production i.e. well over 50% failure rate.

To start with we are definitely close. As you can see below, this is the lid section full to the brim with water.

Nevertheless as mentioned the effect en masse is not consistent enough. To fix this we are tackling from a number of angles.

Likely going to be putting in a Provisional Patent application prior to shipment for this, so keeping the details close to the chest. For some reason, a key asset of the product is the ergonomics of the mouthpeice was not mentinoed in the KS campaign? And so the means to get this working needs protecting.

But to sum up, essentially the Sonic Welding line design has been changed, as well as other, with the completion of this and samples coming toward the end of next week.

Factories

Meet the Managers

Here is a picture of a meeting at the sample making factory, so i.e. not the one for mass production.

Meet the Moulds (again)

Here are some more pictures of some of the moulds, that have already been sent through, but maybe nice to reaffirm their existence

Meet the Machines

Here are some pictures of the factory set up, as well as Injecton Moulds etc. that are being used.

Alternative Assurances

Pictures of another factory that has been met with, that could potentially step in should be needed, and/or for future productions/projects.

Shipment

As previously mentioned, samples for the new Sonic Welding will be completed by the end of next week, whereby we will hone in the settings and test out at scale to make sure it is locked in. 

Assuming this is all good, we will head into pre production of around 300pcs to make sure that all AQL measures are properly in place for mass production, and validate the logistics network. To save on cost, we will be committing to one colour - Coffee Black, for this. If you have pre ordered just a single version of this colour, then the first 100 people to write in the reply section 'dibs', will for sure be shipped to. Otherwise we will randomise it. 

But to be clear on this, you would have had to just order Coffee Black by itself, and not in a multipack, as multipacks will be shipped out when all colours are in mass production. 

Further to the above, shipping prices have gone a bit crazy since the campaign i.e. almost double what they were. We had left some margin in there for fluctuations, but not to this extent. We need to check our prices against multiple sources over the coming weeks, to see if a more workable angle can be found to bring these costs down. Will be able to give more information on a game plan for this in the next update. 

Comments and replies have been dire, apologies for this and will pick up as soon as shipments start kicking off and we lock in the addresses. 

Hope everyone remains well, and touch wood all good news in the next update. Best, 

hug team :)