Kickstarter Collaboration With Scout Leather Co. !
about 10 years ago
– Wed, Sep 17, 2014 at 05:13:41 AM
Hi Folks,
I'm super excited to announce my first Kickstarter collaboration!
Joe over at Scout Leather Co. is launching a Kickstarter for his Scout Hook: a Keychain pocket hook and bottle opener.
In conjunction with his project, I'll be offering an exclusive (co-branded) Brass Beta-QR Keychain Flashlight: Nichia 219 High CRI LED, 3 mode driver (1/15/85 lumens) & new improved Quick Release v2. This will be available as its own Kickstarter reward tier or combined as a set with the Scout Hook.
The Scout Hook is live right now (link) !
I've been using one of Joe's hooks for almost six months. In fact, the very first prototypes came out of my shop! He has continued to iterate and refine the design. It's good. It's the kind of good that you get from putting six months into something that is relatively simple. Most of the effort will be 99% invisible to you, and that means the job is well done.
I can say, with a full measure of confidence, that this little piece of brass is indispensable. I never realized how incredibly annoying my keychain was, until I put this on and "annoying" vanished. I literally have less stress in my life.
My normal carry is hooked through a rear belt loop and stuffed in my back pocket to keep them quiet. My keys are now silent, out of the way, and readily accessible. Isn't that the way keys should be? It's totally different than just putting your key in your back pocket. If you do that, you end up with a big lump that jabs you in the butt every time you sit down. The pocket hook keeps the keys from "clumping" and they ride high in the pocket so you don't sit on everything. If I just need a quick hook they can dangle from the side, or even inside your waistband if you find yourself without pockets or belt loops. Day at the beach anyone?
Ladies, this one is for you. Hook your keys on the inside pocket of your purse instead of throwing them in the bottom with everything else. Your wish has been granted. I'm sure I don't need to explain this in detail, right? :)
Here is the tricky part though...it's also a bottle opener...whaaaaaa? I'll guarantee you didn't notice that up front, and that's the pure genius of the concept. You have no idea how hard it was to actually get this working perfectly. We spent hours trying to getting this dialed in, and it's dialed. Okay, it might take a couple of trials to get your feel dialed in because the shape is a little different, but unless you are clumsy like the people on infomercials, you'll be fine.
I don't need a bottle opener very often, but it's a nice thing to have on hand. However, since I don't need it everyday, I want it to disappear when not in use. You know, stealth mode. I think that's clever, elegant, and says "tasteful and prepared professional" rather than "have opener, will party if you got beer." I must be getting old. Speaking of which, why are you still reading this? Click the link above!
Prometheus Alpha Pens are 100% shipped!
almost 11 years ago
– Tue, Dec 10, 2013 at 08:12:54 PM
Hey folks,
Well I was hoping for a little bit more fanfare for the "100% shipped" post...which is part of the reason it's been delayed. Apparently I'm a little burned out and couldn't come up with anything exciting...so TA DA, 100% SHIPPED!
If you have not received a shipping notice (or pen), but think you should have, please email me (details below)
You may not have received a shipment for the following reasons:
(1) You paid your Kickstarter pledge via Amazon but never filled out your KS survey, so I don't have your address. If I get your address, I'll send you a pen.
(2) You didn't pay for your Kickstarter pledge via Amazon because your credit card could not be charged at the close of the campaign, and are not eligible to receive a reward.
(3) I made some sort of general administrative screw up (sorry!)
(4) Etc.
PLEASE NOTE: At this point, "missing" pens may not ship until December...any they may (or may not) reach you by Christmas. As always, I'll do my best.
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Use this subject line so I can filter messages as they arrive: "missing KS Alpha pen"
Please do not message me through Kickstarter if you are looking for your pen. It will most likely require us to exchange several messages and it's much easier for me to track our communication if you email :) Thanks!
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Machining: what it took to get 'er done
This was a BIG project for any one-person shop. I've made hundreds of parts before, but not thousands. I had a Haas Tech come and update my software about 6 weeks ago. He said, "86,000 tool changes in six months and you are the only one running this machine?" And then he let out a long whistle. No joke.
I'd say on average, things went better than expected on the machining front. I knew the caps would be a problem, and they continue to be. I really thought drilling the very deep hole in the body would be a problem, and it was not. I managed to machine the grips in a single setup. I didn't have to load every part by hand to machine the second side, and that was a big victory. I had an "Application Engineer" spend the day with me before I started running parts, and he was "doubtful" about whether I could do the grips in one setup or not. AE's are career machinists that now consult for machine tool companies and help customers set up jobs.
Drilling a thin-walled hole in titanium turns out to be very dicey. One reason most people make their pens from tube stock and not solid bar stock (like I use) is that you save a lot of time and money by not drilling big holes in the material. If I wanted to do it the easy way, I'd go the tube route, but I want to deliver the best pen that I can possibly make. In my opinion (in this case) it involves a solid bar.
I don't take shortcuts with my products, because when I'm a customer, I sure don't want to be paying hard earned dollars for shortcuts. There is a lot of machining, but as you can see in the stats below, there is a lot of hand work. The only finishing step done en masse is tumbling. I can only run 100-200 parts at a time depending on the size of the parts. Each Ti pen requires 4.5 hours of tumbling and each EN pen requires 9 hours of tumbling. That comes to about 67 hours of tumbling to process 1500 pens.
- TOTAL PENS SHIPPED - 1473
- TOTAL MACHINED PARTS - 4419 pcs
- FEET OF MATERIAL USED - 1,500' (1/3 of a mile)
- NUMBER OF TOOL CHANGES ~ 86,167
- CYCLE START TIME - 460.37 hours (hours machine spent running parts)
-
FEED CUTTING TIME - 177 hours (time tools spent actually removing metal)
-
MACHINING OPERATIONS: 48 (for each pen)
- FINISHING & ASSEMBLY OPERATIONS: 27/36 (EN/Ti) (for each pen)
- OVERNIGHT PACKAGES ORDERED: 24
- ACTUAL TEARS SHED - 0 (it was close though)
- HAIR LOST - 15% (don't appear on video if you don't want to know)
- NEW THINGS LEARNED - 271 (give or take)
Fulfillment: How long did it "really" take?
Well, it was a heck of a lot of work. I'd choose a couple different words if this wasn't a family show :) About 3 months elapsed from the time I shipped the first pen, to the time I shipped the last pen. This pretty much in line with my original estimates, and I am satisfied with this outcome. However, the overall project was about 75 days behind schedule. I was hoping for better, but realistically, that's not a bad number.
One funny thing about Kickstarter, is that once you set the "estimated delivery date" you cannot change it. As you can see, the project as 735% funded. If my delivery estimates were based on the funding goal, then one way to look at it is...the project "could" have really been 551 days late if the delay scaled with the increase in funding.
I know this is not "good" data analysis, but I'm raising the point that project creators should be aware of the impact of backer growth on shipping estimates. At some point I realized that was was going to be totally screwed, and I closed down reward tiers and opened up the "second batch" rewards. It was too late. I was going to have to deliver something like 800 pens, a little over half of the rewards, in the second month of delivery. Anyway, I tried to communicate early and often and things got done, but this is one of the big lessons learned.
- FUNDING GOAL ~ $16,500
- FUNDING RAISED ~ $121, 286
- FUNDING PERCENT ~ 735%
- TOTAL BACKERS ~ 1063
- AVERAGE DELIVERY DELAY ~ 75 days
- DELIVERY DELAY X FUNDING % ~ 551 days
- CAMPAIGN END ~ April 13, 2013
- SHIPPING BEGIN ~ August 3, 2013
- SHIPPING END ~ November 12, 2013
- SHIPPING DURATION ~ 99 days
Time to wrap this one up:
First, a final thanks for everyone's amazing support! The overwhelming majority of you have been positive, supportive, and enjoying the ride. That support is exactly what keeps a project moving. I'd like to give a special thanks to those people who have, of their own volition, stepped in at different times during the campaign and helped out by offering reason, knowledge, information, advice, and moral support. Kickstarter is a community and lending a hand to project creators and fellow backers truly exemplifies the spirit and power of this process. You know who you are, and this campaign was more successful because of your generous contributions.
I've been working 12-14 hour days since the campaign ended on April 12, 2013. We have a 1.5 year old, and if we get him to bed by 8, I spend most nights working on the computer till midnight. 90% of my working hours have been dedicated to pens, at the expense of my normal business. I've worked many weekends. I've missed friends weddings. I've missed my eye doctor appointment to get more contact lenses...which I'm out of. I've missed my 6 month dental checkup. I've missed my 6 month cholesterol screening (and it's high). My car registration has expired. I've stopped going to the chiropractor for my chronic neck and back pain. My car's AC was broken all summer. I have over 300 flashlight customers waiting for me to finish the pens so I can get back to making flashlights.
Before you think I'm complaining, I'm not :) Remember the "zero tears" statistic above? The choices I make are about my commitment to the project and the final product, because that's what it takes to get things done...the right way.
With gratitude,
Jason
