20:47
over 5 years ago – Mon, Aug 20, 2018 at 08:52:18 PM

Hope all of your summers have been going well. It's the twentieth, so time for an update!

Things are coming along nicely...

The prototype TSL we launched 28 days ago to confirm the accuracy of the new Epson crystal. It's only been 28 days, but so far so good.

The hardware

We're steadily gathering all the individual parts to start assembly. The production versions of the turned metal endcaps have shipped and arrive in a few days.

The glass is in the works. We are going back and forth a bit with the manufacturer to ensure they put the correct chamfer on these parts. In the most recent sample they left out the chamfer (which makes the glass prone to nicks), but luckily we caught it before they started production.

The electronics

Josh is making one final prototype board to double check everything before we place our first production PCB order. 

One challenge we've been grappling with is mounting the through-hole LCD displays onto the PCB. Most board houses will surface mount parts, but it's an extra task to mount through-hole components. The spacing around the LCD pins is so tight, it seems like our only reasonable solution is to solder them by hand. We want to make sure this is done perfectly, so our plan right now is to build a jig to hold everything in place and solder all 34 LCD pins on each board ourselves. The production LCDs are on their way to us, so more to come on this soon.

We are still getting quotes and deciding on the right PCB assembly house to work with.  We're aiming to have that resolved within the next couple weeks.

The packaging

A thousand units of our final packaging are on their way to us! Once they get here, we'll get cozy with them as we try to find space to store them while we assemble your TSLs.  EEEK. It should at least make for some funny photos.

That's it for now.

Hugs + we'll update again on the 20th unless anything comes up in the meantime.

best

Che-Wei + Taylor

On 3 ...
almost 6 years ago – Fri, Jul 20, 2018 at 08:37:12 PM

We hope all your summer's have been going well!

Here's our first production update. These will come on the 20th of every month until your Time Since Launch is in your hands. We're trying to keep these as informative and as unspammy as possible ;)

Testing the electronics

A couple nights ago we met with Josh who has been diligently refining the hardware and software. He's going deep into the electronics and software to make Time Since Launch awesome under the hood.  We love the look and feel of Time Since Launch, but the engineered on the inside is even more beautiful. We'll go more into more detail in a future update as we approach the production version, but for now we'll outline some significant changes.

Above is a video of our penultimate board with all the critical features.

The flash

Right as we launched this campaign, we decided to add some "juice" to the moment you pull the pin by adding a couple super bright LEDs that will flash on launch. We tried a few placements and we settled on having them centered on the back.  We also played around with the flashing sequence (one big flash, blinking, alternating, etc).

Chip switch

After doing some research and testing, we decided to switch from using the (super popular) realtime chip, DS3231 to the Epson RX8900. The Epson part is more accurate  and works better with our backup power scheme for battery changes. The chip also has way better documentation.

~4.4uA draw

Right now in normal counting mode, we are pulling ~4.4uA of power. Our earlier prototypes we were drawing 6uA.  This is a pretty big improvement on an already incredibly low power device, and puts our projected battery capacity at ~75 years. WHAAAAAAAAA!!!!!!!!!!!!! (caveat: the batteries we spec'd are rated to only leak 5% of their capacity over 20 years, so they should last much longer than 20 years, but nobody will know how long they will last until we put it to the test!)

Packaging

We've ordered the packaging! Above is the sample foam insert. TSL sits display facing up with the launch pin resting in the deep well. Our boxes will be white, not orange. More on that to come.

That's it for today!

Enjoy your next few weeks and we'll fill you in on more stuff in a month.

Love + sweaty hugs,

Che-Wei + Taylor

2 Days left!
almost 6 years ago – Wed, Jun 20, 2018 at 09:25:21 PM

We have just 2 days left on this campaign. Wow, that flew by!

We're very excited to get production started. Moving forward, the plan is to send out production updates on a monthly basis, or if something is ultra-important. We will try our best to respect your inboxes.

All Time Since Launch parts are sourced and ready for manufacturing. 

The final piece we've been working on is the packaging. If things go according to plan, we hope to ship Time Since Launch in ultra durable cases with custom foam inserts to keep your TSL well protected during shipping (and while it awaits for your special moment). The final colors are TBD, but these images should give you an idea...

Thank you for making this project possible.

love and hugs,

Taylor + Che-Wei

ps. If you can think of any friends to share this with, please pass on this link: bit.ly/timesincelaunch

YES!
almost 6 years ago – Wed, Jun 20, 2018 at 09:23:51 PM

We did it! Thank you all for your support to make this project possible.

As we've said before, this is a dream project.  Time Since Launch lives somewhere in between art and product.  We love designing stuff in that weird in-between space and we're so happy to see that you all get it :)

Hugs! 

If you ever find yourself in our neighborhood, please come say hi, check in on progress, and let us show you around our workshop.

Once we receive the Kickstarter funds (approximately 2 weeks), we'll start placing our purchase orders for our parts. 

We'll have more updates soon! Thank you all for the amazing support!

cheewee & teetee

PS Here's a photo of the latest board. We've updated the battery holders to these beefier versions and added two ultra bright LEDS (empty pads between the battery holders), so you'll get a bright flash when you pull the trigger.

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almost 6 years ago – Wed, Jun 20, 2018 at 07:39:22 PM

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