In case you missed Kickstarter update #17 here it is!
It was a busy time for us with lots of gifts being sent out from the rest of our MetMo shop, but we managed to stay on top of all things Pocket Driver and kept everything on track as we now narrow down to the final tasks remaining for the campaign.
Fully Machined
One big milestone achieved is that all parts are now machined! That’s 42,000 pocket parts in total just for the Pocket Drivers that have each been machined and finished. It has taken a bit longer than we expected but we did allow for additional time for this so it hasn’t caused any delays.
This is a huge moment for the campaign as with these parts now complete, every part of Pocket Driver, every add on, and every screw exists and is on the move to us in some way or another if we don't already have it.
A half machined magnetic bit case in its final stages.
Assembly Due to Begin
We are due to start final assembly and packing within the next month once all the parts arrive in our warehouse, so all preparations are being made to get things ready. We have had some smaller parts arrive already as discussed last time, and from this point most of the parts should all be here in about 2 weeks - fingers crossed!
From Silver to Gold
We had the polished stainless steel sets successfully gold plated and they look great! The platers did unfortunately also plate the bearing surfaces between the chuck and the main body. We think this happened this time because they were dip plated rather than brush plated so the gold got everywhere.
With a 2 micron layer applied that added to total of 8 microns of error on the fit, so we set them up in the lathe carefully with a collet and, wrapping them to protect the gold, used a file and sandpaper to remove the gold on those surfaces. At least there were only 20 of these, and the soft gold gave the machine a fun golden shimmer. It could be the most expensive dust around!
Things Are Still Moving Around but Taking a Detour
From our last update, the boat “One Truth” with the pulp inserts for the packaging of Pocket Driver is at the time of writing in the UK channel. I assume wondering why it's suddenly so cold…
It’s due in at Southampton in the next few days, then from our experience it will take a few more days of unloading and then clearing customs. We should have it all on a lorry to us by mid to late next week depending on availability.
Look at it go!
It's taken a bit longer than planned adding on about 2 weeks as right now ships are taking somewhat of a detour around Africa to keep shipping crews safe. It's not a significant issue since we can't ship anything until everything arrives anyway. It just adds a bit more excitement for the warehouse team when everything arrives all at once – kind of like buses!