03/29 Blog Entry

[kattle87]

from ED:
"Now, onto some other issue you already heard on the boards: The case.
You've seen it and you read it, it fits quite good (better than we expected) - but not PERFECT. There is SOME stuff to be fixed, but nothing that major."

Does this means that the mould will take 30 days to be produced after those little fixes are done?

 

[Spirit]

Nope.

 

[arrrgh]

Why not?

 

[lulzfish]

The fixes are small enough that they don't need another test?

 

[arrrgh]

The fixes are small enough that they don't need another test?

He was talking about the final molds, I think.

 

[lulzfish]

Oh, well yeah. I don't think they've started on the molds yet, so the only slowdown is if they're ordering another CNC or two to verify the minor fixes they're making.
Then after that, 30 days for the molds.
Then they can produce over 9,000 Pandora cases 5 times a day.
After that, it's mostly assembly and shipping, unless I'm forgetting some critical part.
Like the keypads. I have no idea what those are up to.

 

[conso]

still, unless they already ordered the molds, it's another delay.

 

[sam fisher]

still, unless they already ordered the molds, it's another delay.

But it's a good thing they didn't though...

 

[emil10001]

So, it seems like this will probably cost an extra 2~3 weeks?

They need to fix the design, have them CNC'd again, shipped out again, and tested again. Last time there was a case design issue, prior to the CNC it took about a week. The CNC and shipping will likely take a week as well, since that seems to be what it took last time. And, the last time around, it took them about a week to decide that there was a defect that they needed to fix. Then after they get the case finalized, they can get the mold made, which takes 35 days.

 

[arrrgh]

So, it seems like this will probably cost an extra 2~3 weeks?

They need to fix the design, have them CNC'd again, shipped out again, and tested again. Last time there was a case design issue, prior to the CNC it took about a week. The CNC and shipping will likely take a week as well, since that seems to be what it took last time. And, the last time around, it took them about a week to decide that there was a defect that they needed to fix. Then after they get the case finalized, they can get the mold made, which takes 35 days.

They probably won't need to make a CNC.

 

[javaJake]

So the big question is: how does this affect the time-line on the front page?

 

[kin]

As far I can read it's not a big deal with the fixes.


Lol educating your replacement is such a tremendous job...
Good luck with your new job!

 

[emil10001]

They probably won't need to make a CNC.

Why do you say that? I saw no indication that they were planning on skipping that step. Every change so far, prior to production, has been tested in the physical world. So why would they skip this? I have a feeling that they will want to test the changes with prototypes; which I happen to think is the right thing to do in this situation.

 

[giovanni]

I think there won't be another CNC because ED said that that shouldn't be a big deal... And a CNC thakes a lot of time.....
At least I hope they're not planning to order another prototype...

 

[Monk]

As sick as I am of delays, I've been encouraged each time that they actually seem to care about getting it RIGHT rather than getting it OUT. Which is a refershing change in the computer world IMHO.

 

[BackAssward]

I think there won't be another CNC because ED said that that shouldn't be a big deal... And a CNC thakes a lot of time.....
At least I hope they're not planning to order another prototype...

Of course they will continue ordering CNC cases until they have a final design. They are not going to start injection molding before they have finalized the design and *confirmed* it physically. Small change is a change that needs to be confirmed before mass production.

 

[r00tw00t]

QUOTE


Of course they will continue ordering CNC cases until they have a final design. They are not going to start injection molding before they have finalized the design and *confirmed* it physically. Small change is a change that needs to be confirmed before mass production.



Yes, and hopefully this will be the last one... Would be nice with the Pandora in my hands before the summer

 

[verm71]

What's the tolerance level of the CNC dimensions vs. final mould? Is there a risk that a correction based on observations on the CNC will be somewhat over-corrected, and might in fact had been correct for the final moulding process?

 

[Svartalf]

What's the tolerance level of the CNC dimensions vs. final mould? Is there a risk that a correction based on observations on the CNC will be somewhat over-corrected, and might in fact had been correct for the final moulding process?

Tolerance levels will depend on the materials used and the injection moldings. Typically, there's no risk, though, on this step. You factor in the looser tolerances provided by the IM stuff as opposed to the CNC (which can have very tight tolerances and just simply work...) and go. You rarely have an "oops" once you have the tolerances adjusted from this stage.

 

[Chip]

You must have missed where I answered this question last week:

This will however add at least another month to wait for a new CNC build. That's being optimistic, we don't have Chinese New Year this time around, but the shipping from China to Fatih to Mweston takes awhile. But at the very least it is realistic.
That is a pretty big assumption. It is also incorrect.

The changes we'd like to test will only require one piece to be re-made, not the entire case. This won't cause any delay at all, as the changes are very minor and none of the other steps (aside from final case production) need to wait for the new piece. The Pandora is being sent out for CE / FCC testing as-is.