Quick Shipping Update!
about 9 years ago
– Mon, Mar 20, 2017 at 11:38:30 PM
We wanted to send a very quick update and then get back to shipping!
Most US orders were shipped today, and the rest will be delivered to the post office first thing tomorrow morning (they are already ready to go).
We have just begun international orders, and should have half ready to go to the post office tomorrow and the rest will follow on Wednesday.
All pre-orders (post-Kickstarter) on Backerkit will ship by Wednesday as well.
Final Photos and Timeline Update!
about 9 years ago
– Tue, Feb 28, 2017 at 12:29:16 AM
Hello Backers!
This past week we received the final samples from our manufactuer! We attached a few photos below and wanted to share some more information on changes made during production that will affect the product (for the better) and timeline (only slightly).
Very late in the production process, our anodizing factory recommended we use a hard anodizing process as opposed to a standard anodizing process. The hard anodizing process creates a much stronger layer on the pieces which makes them much more durable, especially when using the bottle opener.
We agreed that this would be much better for the parts. However, two separate changes came from this process. First, the hard anodizing process ultimately changed the initial colors of the pieces. You will notice in the photo below that the green units have a slightly more cyan color to them, and the "natural" aluminum pieces have more of a gun metal color to them. The combination of the bead blasting on the aluminum and the hard anodizing gave all the pieces more of a pastel final color. You can see the colors more closely in the photo below.
Because of these slight changes, we wanted to give everybody an opportunity to change their color choice now that they have seen the final products. If you would like to change your color, please send us a message on Kickstarter before Friday (March 3rd) and we will accommodate as many requests as possible.
The second change the hard anodizing made to the product was altering the thickness of the parts themselves. The manufacturer found it hard to predict the final thickness of the units with the anodizing surface and ultimately struggled to maintain a consistent "press fit" for the bearings.
Because of this, they will actually send the parts to be anodized and then take the parts back and machine the center holes last. While this does add a secondary process to production, it creates a perfect press fit for the bearings every time. We will no longer have to use an epoxy to seal the bearings and the press fit helps ensure a much more consistent and balanced unit for spinning. The "press fit" is very close and will require significant force to remove the bearings from the decks. We have been testing the product and putting it through extreme tests (throwing it, dropping it, stepping on it, etc.) and do not see any problems with bearings coming loose or falling out after normal use. Similar to if we were using an epoxy, the bearings are much more likely to become damaged than come loose from the decks. We see this as a win-win for both production and for you, the consumer.
The change in anodizing and the secondary CNC process did slightly push back the timeline for production. As it stands, our products are currently being produced and we will continue to give updates as we receive them. If our manufacturer maintains the updated timeline, the units should be in our hands by next week, or the beginning of the following week.
We have already received all of our packaging and mailers and began sorting all of our orders using our shipping software. We are still confident we will have all orders out the door within 3 days of receiving the final units.
We hope you enjoy the photos and we are very excited to get your FlickDecks to you in the next few weeks! Please stay tuned for more information and updates as we learn more from our manufacturer.
Exclusive Kickstarter Green and Surveys!
about 9 years ago
– Wed, Jan 18, 2017 at 07:05:46 PM
The surveys are out! Please keep an eye out for a separate email from BackerKit for your survey!
After several requests from backers, we spoke with our manufacturer and they agreed to add a 4th anodizing color without increasing our production cost! Although we barely missed our goal to unlock this color, we are happy they are allowing us to offer an exclusive green version.
To get a better idea of the green anodizing color, our manufacturer shared the image below of a previous project with green anodizing.
