So there is a few mistakes that will need to be corrected, but nothing to much a problem.
So for the problems :
The plastic pins that will hold the raspberry pi zero are a little to small, so the RPI is not tight enough. On my Raspiboy it is not a problem but I don't like that too much. It might create wrong connection with pogo pins
Also for unknown reasons the casing is too long at one place
Ant the extra-USB removable part of the casing is not well injected. It will probably require to make it thicker a little bit
And last is the white marks. But that should be corrected as well!
After those little things are corrected they will make surface finish!
PCB assembly is about to start (probably early next week).
So now everything seems to be getting ready pretty well :)
Just to let you know that the mold has been completed last friday and Sunday they did the first injected parts!
Parts color is because they have not the black and grey material. It's quite nice color though, maybe for later :)
Mold will be corrected to remove the white marks.
The mold :
Wiedergabe Ton AN
Mit Ton wiedergeben
I should receive them in a few days in order to test if everything is alright.
The new pogos pins should arrive in 2-3 days, then PCB assembly should take about one week.
I have planed a visit to the manufacturer in order to check the process and give you feedback about it! I will go to Shenzhen from the 05/06 to the 10/06. That will be the final test and shipping step of the project.
So it should ship about the 10/06! slightly off the may target. Let's hope that everything runs smoothly now!
Sorry I forget to reply messages for quite few days!
About timeline: We lost quite a lot of time with the pogo pin problem as I told you before. In fact it required 12 days to make new pogo pins. I received them few days ago. Then it require 15-20 days for full production. (I could not order straight away the whole quantity of pogo pin because it's a very expensive component. I had to test them).
They are OK and order has been released.
But in the meantime the mold is late too. About every 10 days the mold is getting about 10 days late! First it was planned to the 15th of April, then 20th, then end of April and now 10th of May. At least I had few pictures of the mold so I am sure that it is almost done :)
Wiedergabe Ton AN
Mit Ton wiedergeben
So if the mold is indeed ready the 10th of May, then it will probably take one week to get the samples and validate them. Then if the mold is OK it will take only about 1 week to get all the casing. If there is problems it may take few weeks back and forth to solve the issues.
On the PCB side we are waiting for the pogo pins that should take about 15-20 days (2-3 weeks). Then PCB assembly will be about one week. Then programming the IC and testing about one week + 2 week preparing all the packages + shipping.
Rest of the components should be ready before or are already ready.
So that makes us about 6-7 weeks. Sorry about the delay, it's quite difficult to forsee the timeline perfectly.
About hobbies (asked in the comments) :
I love making new things and discussing startup business models with friends (I have one other startup that is making a thermoplastic material, see www.loma-innovation.com). I like to learn new stuff from scratch as electronics and 3D design. I also like learning new foreign languages/culture, learning chinese for 6-7 years now, russian few years too.
Also I'm doing quite a lot of sport, quite a lot of rock climbing (quite a lot on plastic because there is not much cliff around my place in Paris!)
I like reading, by the way I would recommand anyone reading "Sapiens a brief history of humankind" and "Brief history of time".
Spending time with my newly wed wife!
Buying stuff on aliexpress.
Repairing electronics or other nice stuff that I find in the street.
I can't drink beer and wine because of a damn allergy to any non-boiled alcohol..! And I'm not much a music guy, I enjoy listening to whatever is playing.
I just got the picture of the black color gamepads!
Reminder for those who pledge for USB gamepads if you want to change from grey color to this black one please send me a message so I can take it into account.
If some of you want to pledge extra to get some of these you can send me an email at hello@8bcraft.com
Also I got some pictures of the mold. The manufacturer told me it will be late, mold will be finished at the end of the month (instead of 15th of April).
The new pogo pins should be ready at the end of the week (see last update).
And the manufacturer has done the 'test jigg' which is a tool to program each PCB and test them
This small tool will enable us to test every PCB before sending them to you.
