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[lulzfish]

I was thinking mass production of cases.
You're right, the mass production testrun is probably a test of the assembly that will put everything together, not of the mass production of the cases or boards.

 

[Bramrash]

So is there very little chance of getting it before may? I'm meant to be going travelling in May (for quite a while) so might have to cancel my order.

 

[Phawx]

I would like a dev to answer this question but, I would also welcome speculation from the community and maybe we could get a good guesstimate going. There are a lot of questions and I know the devs may not want to answer them for fear of people being to literal when all that can be given is a vague answer.



* Get the final CNCed case (still waiting...) [possibly by Feb 20th? Latest Feb 27th?]

Who is the CNC case getting shipped too? Last time the FDM was shipped to Fatih before it went MWeston. On the homepage it says its going to Mike, I guess I am just giving a heads up here to make sure there isn't a shipping mistake like last time.

* Wait until the mould of the keymat is finished [time frame?]

Whoever gets the CNC case, are they just going to be using that Rubber prototype keymat? The mold for keymat is for the final keymat, correct? So its not needed to send to FCC/CE.

* Design the final keyboard layout [this should be finalized before the mold is finished, yea?]

Is there a deadline for this? And when this is finished, can the keymats start manufacturing? After they are created, where are they getting shipped too?

* Create mould of final case (can be done once the case fits) [time frame to ship the CNC case to mold makers? Are you sending the CNC case to the same people that are doing the keymat mold? ]

This is for the injection mold, which is a final piece. Is there a timeframe this should arrive? Is this going directly to Texas? Reason I ask, is if the final cases that WE are going to be getting is going to Texas, theres a chance we wouldn't even have a picture of a completed Pandora until the completed units ship to you guys.

* CE / FCC testing (can be done once the case is here) [How many CNC cases did you order?]

Some people seem to think OP is only getting one CNC case. Is testing only to be done one at a time at each facility? Each one can take up to 6 weeks to complete. This step adds a month and a half on us. And in my other thread someone mentioned that CE testing is mandatory. Would 6 weeks be an accurate timescale to predict?

* Mass Production testrun for the final boards [Does this include testing the LCDs or have they already been tested? this is the part that should take 48 hours right?]

Others have said that 400 will be run and these 400 will be tested. Depending on the results of these 400 will dictate "Test the boards"

* Stability testing (this will be fun) [or is this the part that takes 48 hours?]

I assume this is done on the first 400 units from the MP Testrun?

* Wait for the last remaining pieces for mass production (LATEST deadline is second week of March) [What *are* the last remaining pieces? And why are they taking so long to get delivered?]


* Mass Production [Have you guys hired people to assemble them? Are they getting assembled in Texas? and than shipping to Germany/London, before getting shipped to everyone else?]

This is just the MK3 boards correct? Once again, where are these getting shipped?

* Test the boards [Do you mean the complete units?]

Are you boards coming to you guys first, to get tested and than shipped to Texas to be assembled and than shipped BACk to you guys to ship out?

* SHIP THEM! [Will this be as awesome as I am making it out to be?]

I am really sketchy as to how Texas fits into the equation. But right now, I assume they will be shipped OUT of Texas to the customer. If it is shipped from Texas to Germany/London you will have to add an extra 10 Business days

Honestly if everything is okay this would be the worst case scenario:

Case gets delivered to Mike on Feb 27th
Mike assembles and approves the case and ships out to CE/FCC on March 2nd (let's assume they only have one CNC case and they will only ship to CE)
March 13th - Must receive last remaining pieces of mass production
April 13th - CE Approves of Pandora
April 14th - Begins test run of MK3 Boards
April 30th - MK3 Boards arrive for testing
May 11th - MK3 Boards have finished testing
May 11th - the go ahead to produce the remaining MK3 boards is issued
May 12th - 400 tested boards have been assembled and shipped out to the first 400 Pre-orderers (Depending if they need to be assembled at Texas or not will add two - three weeks to this delivery)
May 21st - 400 MK3 boards arrive in Texas
May 29th - the remaining MK3 boards arrive and ALL need to be tested which will take a month.
June 1st - the initial tested 400 start to arrive to the early pre-orderers.
(During this time I believe they will send 400 units as they finish them to Texas to be assembled and shipped to customers)
June 29th - All MK3 boards have been tested and shipped to Texas to be assembled
July 8th - the Last of the MK3 boards arrive in Texas
August 3rd - the last Pandora is delivered. (Depending on distance it has to travel)

 

[Mjlink]

I don't see where FCC/CE is going the process up by a month.
It is going to happen while mass production and test production are in motion?

That's what I've gathered through this so far.

Peace

Link

 

[NickLoTurco]

My interest is seriously waning!

 

[Phawx]

I don't see where FCC/CE is going the process up by a month.
It is going to happen while mass production and test production are in motion?

That's what I've gathered through this so far.

Peace

Link

This is indeed a possibility. But what happens if the CE/FCC don't approve the Pandora and they've manufactured 2,000+ boards that can not be used.

OP doesn't have the money to make any mistakes.

 

[gmhuntr7]

Honestly if everything is okay this would be the worst case scenario:

Case gets delivered to Mike on Feb 27th
Mike assembles and approves the case and ships out to CE/FCC on March 2nd (let's assume they only have one CNC case and they will only ship to CE)
March 13th - Must receive last remaining pieces of mass production
April 13th - CE Approves of Pandora
April 14th - Begins test run of MK3 Boards
April 30th - MK3 Boards arrive for testing
May 11th - MK3 Boards have finished testing
May 11th - the go ahead to produce the remaining MK3 boards is issued
May 12th - 400 tested boards have been assembled and shipped out to the first 400 Pre-orderers (Depending if they need to be assembled at Texas or not will add two - three weeks to this delivery)
May 21st - 400 MK3 boards arrive in Texas
May 29th - the remaining MK3 boards arrive and ALL need to be tested which will take a month.
June 1st - the initial tested 400 start to arrive to the early pre-orderers.
(During this time I believe they will send 400 units as they finish them to Texas to be assembled and shipped to customers)
June 29th - All MK3 boards have been tested and shipped to Texas to be assembled
July 8th - the Last of the MK3 boards arrive in Texas
August 3rd - the last Pandora is delivered. (Depending on distance it has to travel)

As depressing as that sounds, that's one great analysis you've got there. Would it be too greedy to ask for a best case analysis? There's so much negativity hovering around the blog and the forums that I'm starting to feel let down. Here's hoping for some good solid news.

 

[Phawx]

I honestly don't have enough information to construct a best case scenario.

Unless I start dropping hypothetical situations. Best case scenario would be if while CE testing was happening they started manufacturing at the same time. And if testing for "test run" is successful they wouldn't have to test every board.

We would save two and a half months.

So Best case scenario if OP could do multiple things and be able to predict everything to go perfectly:

March 30th - The first 400 people to pre-order receive there Pandora's

May 18th - May 25th the FINAL Pandora's arrive at everyone's doorstep.

 

[pubzombie]

jeeze we will get them when we get them or not at all. all right already.!!!!
what do you want? a rush job? untested boards? sloppy mouldings?
i want something with a better finish quality than my gp2x - seriously!! I opened up to have a look inside and it was full of brown dry stuff, a friend said it was Korean cheap dark tobacco :lol:

 

[Phawx]

jeeze we will get them when we get them or not at all. all right already.!!!!
what do you want? a rush job? untested boards? sloppy mouldings?
i want something with a better finish quality than my gp2x - seriously!! I opened up to have a look inside and it was full of brown dry stuff, a friend said it was Korean cheap dark tobacco :lol:

I agree with you. Sometimes its good to have an idea of what to expect. There may be a chance we will have to wait until August to receive our shipment. And if it needs to take that long, so be it. I've dropped $1,000+ of my own money into this project, so I probably have more at stake than quite a few others.

Here's a question? I ordered two Pandora's originally and I had ordered them fairly early into the game, much before the newsletter went out.

Since that time, I've managed to convince a friend to tag along and I purchased another Pandora.

Where does that put me in the queue? Are my two originals bumped ALL the way to the back? Or would the extra I ordered be able to cut in the line?

 

[EvilDragon]

CE shouldn't take one month - I know the test itself can be done in a couple of days and we're looking for a company that won't give us a long wait before they start testing.

 

[Chip]

They wouldn't be sending the CNC case to the mold makers, they'd be sending the actual CAD file. Much more accurate, and there's not much that the mold makers could do with the CNC case anyway.
The case manufacturer already has the CAD files, as they are the ones making the CNC prototype as well. That is why we went with CNC (as opposed to other, much faster rapid prototype technologies). Since it is the same factory, we know they have the exact dimensions down. Since it is the same machines in the same facility, there is little chance of (and no excuse for) variations between the prototype and final cases.

These cases are being made in China. As I understand things, the cases will be shipped to TX where everything will be assembled and tested. The completed, tested Pandoras will be shipped to the UK and from there to everybody who ordered one.

 

[EvilDragon]

The completed, tested Pandoras will be shipped to the UK and from there to everybody who ordered one.

... and to Germany

 

[Vorporeal]

Wouldn't it be cheaper to ship the ones destined for the US to MWeston? Or would it be too difficult to organize? (Probably.)

 

[Chip]

Wouldn't it be cheaper to ship the ones destined for the US to MWeston? Or would it be too difficult to organize? (Probably.)
It would be cheaper in some ways, much more expensive in others. MWeston has a day job which would preclude him from boxing and labeling hundreds of Pandoras in a reasonable timeframe. I have offered to do it, but Craig declined for what are actually quite good reasons that I'm not sure I can discuss. Rest assured that it is being planned in the most reasonable way possible.

 

[hedwards]

Nevrmind

 

[fettouhi]

So, is the unofficial release date April 7th still a go?

Regards

André

 

[_VWV_]

I think June the 7-th is still a go. :-(

 

[tsh]

Honestly if everything is okay this would be the worst case scenario:
<...>

Best Case scenario:
Case gets delivered to Mike on Feb 27th
Mike assembles and approves the case and ships out to CE/FCC on March 2nd
March 6th - CE testing completed, Test run scheduled
March 13th - Must receive last remaining pieces of mass production
March 16th - Test run of 400 boards
March 20th - Boards arrive for testing
March 24th - Test run burn in completed, remaining run scheduled.
March 25th - Final assembly first 400.
March 30th - first 400 shipped to UK.
March 30th - 2nd 400 start production.
April 6th - Dispatch to customers
April 7th - First pre-order arrives.
April 20th - Final 400 start production.
April 28th - Final 400 clear test, ship to UK.
May 8th - Final 1st batch dispatch to customer.
May 15th - Final pre-order arrives.

This is assuming everything goes to plan, and is based entirely on guesswork and a couple of very long weekends in a factory several years ago
I git to 7th April by coincidence!

 

[r00tw00t]

Best or worst scenario - still a long wait. Best thing I can do is to forget about the Pandora and maybe time will go a bit faster. And when it arrives I will be very pleasant surprised! ...

Nah, who am I kidding. I will still refresh the forum at least ten times a day and maybe just maybe there will be some good news soon!

One more thing. I want more videos of the Pandora! It's the closest we can get until we have the final product in our hands