Samples received, visit to Greece to restart the production planned

[EvilDragon]

I have received the samples around 2 weeks ago (including the new battery cover sample).

The good news: Everything is working now out of the box. So once we produce these cases, the issues with manually having to fix the case should be resolved - meaning: A lot faster assembly process!
The new battery cover is also working a lot better than the previous one, so yeah, the change really was worth it. It's especially more robust if the Pyra falls on the ground.

I still want to visit the factory in Greece before we start the production of the new cases.
I will take 10 full Pyra sets with me. After having assembled 200 units, I know the issues very well and want to check that these are all fixed before we produce the next sets of cases!

I originally planned to visit Greece February 22nd to 23rd - but as my wife caught Covid-19 the week before, I didn't want to book a flight.
Nothing bad happened (we're all fully vaccinated) and she only had mild symptoms, but I didn't want to book a flight when I have an increased risk of being infected as well.

She's negative again (and I never caught it myself), so I'm planning to visit Greece March 8th to 9th.

Some bad news (well, not that bad, but annoying:
I am still totally flooded with work, so I didn't find the time to fully clean up the mess in the new rooms and restart assembly. I also didn't find the time to make a video of the new Pyra battery cover - but I promise I'll make that video on Tuesday!

When returning from Greece, I plan to have at least one day a week fully dedicated to Pyra assembly to get things moving again. Once the new cases are finished, the motivation to build units will also be a lot higher, as it's still pretty demotivating that it takes so long for one unit.

Sorry about that, I wish the day had more than 24 hours a day, but I'm working on improving the assembly!

 

[Djoga'Ro]

I wish the day had more than 24 hours a day

I say that a lot, too, but mostly for another reason - so I could get tired enough to succesfully go to sleep the same time every day. As it is, it doesn't properly work.

 

[ObiKKa]

This is definitely the best kind of news to read about regarding the near finalization of the Pyra parts and production before assembly duties. Pretty soon, hopefully, you'll migrate into providing software/driver updates for the Pyra OS.

That's good to hear that you're both fine. That is more important than you making a quick visit to Greece.

I think it's worth it spending the time cleaning up the mess in your store rooms as you stated you wanted to, before continuing assembly of these handheld beauts. Then, finally, you can make that next video of the new battery cover, hehe.

This is probably the third post in this thread, if so, then hooray!

 

[Asaggynoodle]

Thanks for the updated ED!

Question; would you be willing to create a complete case replacement set on the DragonBox Shop when they are in for us existing Pyra owners to buy?
I'm sure plenty of first batch Gen 1 case owners would be more than happy to be able to buy a Gen 2 case replacement set and do it ourselves instead of having to ship our Pyra's back.

Thanks!

 

[EvilDragon]

Thanks for the updated ED!

Question; would you be willing to create a complete case replacement set on the DragonBox Shop when they are in for us existing Pyra owners to buy?
I'm sure plenty of first batch Gen 1 case owners would be more than happy to be able to buy a Gen 2 case replacement set and do it ourselves instead of having to ship our Pyra's back.

Thanks!

Yes, of course,

Oh, i almost forgot: I had someone code me a module for my shop where I can now easily send out the "Your Pyra is ready"-email directly from the shop. This should make things easier as well,

 

[Git1]

Fantastic news ED. Thanks for finding the time to keep us up to date.

 

[matzesu]

Cool, so when its that easy to change as the Pandora Batterie Compartment, i think i will film how i change my Bottom Part...
I had a bit trouble whit a Batterie that wasnt that secure on the Contacts.. (i had one time that the Pyra shut down when i put my Stylus back in ) ^^

 

[lordbobjones]

Outstanding progress but I am more grateful your wife is feeling better and that you did not get sick. On to the future! Stay safe!

 

[EvilDragon]

And here is the video showing the new sample:

 

[Git1]

Great news ED, and thanks for mentioning the terrible events in Ukraine at the moment.

 

[Asaggynoodle]

Awesome update ED! Case update is looking great! Thanks for the video!

 

[matzesu]

Nice, will be watched this evening ^^,

On the new Cases: are the Bottompart of the new Case compatible whit the OLD upperpart? And how easy would it be to change them myself? Just the same as whit the Pandora?

 

[Arkay Firestar]

And here is the video showing the new sample:

Thank you, ED. Hope your wife is feeling better.

Is it too late to beg you to consider a batch of unpainted cases as well, as an option? I would vastly prefer the unpainted case; both to avoid any tolerances tightening and introducing unintended occasional friction on buttons, and also because I think it looks better as raw plastic.

I know it’s a group consensus thing and there are realities to what can be done but I don’t even mind that I voted for dark chrome with the price premium, I’ll still pay that premium, I just don’t want something that will slowly scuff and wear over time when the raw plastic looks so good! (Imo)

 

[Silent-Hunter]

Yeah I would be willing to buy an unpainted case, even though my Pyra already has one.

 

[szr]

I am glad to hear you and your loved one are now negative. I hope you both remain that way.

I have been wondering, for those of us with the pre-order Pyras, can the internals be directly swapped into one of the new cases, or would there be issues with fitting due to all of the changes? I've also kind of been wondering about the updated CPU and main board revisions and such. Would it make more sense to just wait and order a new Pyra once all those waiting get one, or to order separately any revised parts? Or simply, what was the intended plan with that? I really wouldn't want to add to your work load, though I am curious.

 

[levi]

Speaking as someone who's changed plenty of Pandora cases over the years, it shouldn't be too involved. No light pipes and no feeding the wifi cable through the coiled video cable. The only change in the case that I'm aware of is the battery door change, so all you need for that actually is just the case bottom, but if you were to swap to a completely new case it shouldn't be too hard.

For a new CPU board, you need to turn the pyra over, remove the battery, undo the screws on the bottom, lift the case bottom off, lift the old CPU board off, replace with the new CPU board and then invert of the previous steps in the reverse order.

 

[szr]

Speaking as someone who's changed plenty of Pandora cases over the years, it shouldn't be too involved. No light pipes and no feeding the wifi cable through the coiled video cable. The only change in the case that I'm aware of is the battery door change, so all you need for that actually is just the case bottom, but if you were to swap to a completely new case it shouldn't be too hard.

For a new CPU board, you need to turn the pyra over, remove the battery, undo the screws on the bottom, lift the case bottom off, lift the old CPU board off, replace with the new CPU board and then invert of the previous steps in the reverse order.

Thanks. I have no problem taking things apart, so that sounds like it might be a fun project

The other part I was wondering was how to go about getting the revises cases, boards, anything else that has been updated. I don't mind waiting in a queue, as I would not want to put myself before people still waiting to receive a Pyra.

 

[EvilDragon]

I will post the results of my visit later today. Thankfully, not much needs to be changed.

 

[Todespreis]

Updaaaaaates! \O/

 

[ABCrumm]

That is my favorite part of the pyra, it looks very easy to disassemble and change parts. The Win 3 and aya neo are complex inside and not 100 percent user friendly. When it comes time for repair, the strong snaps can be annoying.