39 replies to this topic

[b1ueskycomp1ex]

i think a few people have sent several units back (probably wouldnt have happened if they waited for the fixes to be sorted out)

Except, how were some of us to even know, for example, that the nub company had made errors in the manufacture of the nubs, exactly? Do you think I, for example, expected to have to send two units back? There's *no way* that one could have been avoided.

It's all well and good saying the above with the benefit of hindsight, but at the time the existence of the tolerance issue from this example wasn't even known.

EDIT: And even in that case, a month of waiting went by with the second return for the fully-tested nubs, as well.

Production should speed up once all the smaller details are out of the way, and once all the tested and new nubs can get out. I'm pretty glad that all these shipments and returns are happening. With each one, the Pandora gets more and more polished as a device.

[Yoyobuae]

Is this question based on the knowledge that the nub producer has found what went wrong?

Craig said they've increased (or is that decreased?) the tolerance in their tests, so they're probably junking more at the factory and passing along consistently better ones. They may not have been looking for a problem, just a solution; if extra testing is the solution and they don't care about why they need to do the extra testing, that's good enough for me.

I'm pretty sure that ED mentioned that they were stress-testing them very ferociously now.

EDIT: Bah, ninja'd. That was meant to add to Stan's point.

Maybe the stress-testing itself helps rule out the defective nubs. I found this article:
http://findarticles....4/ai_n28649499/

It gets very technical half-way thru the first page, but theres some interesting details before that:

The results of these studies have shown that:

1) Strain level affects significantly the electrical resistivity.

2) Virgin (previously unloaded) conductive elastomers undergo an irreversible process when loaded, therefore their electrical response in subsequent loading cycles may not be predicted.

3) Electrical response of conductive elastomers can be stabilized by mechanical preconditioning applying cycling loading procedures. Conductivity properties of mechanically stabilized specimens are nearly reversible when subjected to strains below 50% of the previous preconditioning strain.

4) In relaxation experiments of stabilized specimens the resistivity ratio changes with time in a fashion very similar to changes in stress.

I think that the bolded part may be the cause of the problems. If the nub conductive rubber is not stress tested, even if it is perfectly made, then when it is first used it will change it's conductive properties, irreversibly. This may end up causing some defective nubs.

But after stress testing it's possible to rule out the nub rubbers that don't work. Also after proper testing, the nub rubber should stabilize and continue working properly (the ones that pass testing that is).

[benji_stein]

Also we're told to expect 500(!) boards in the next batch, so, wow, that will be a lot of work. Not sure we can manage 500 in a week but we shall see.

That's wonderful news. But how long before they (claim that they) will ship that set?

[Grench]

Also we're told to expect 500(!) boards in the next batch, so, wow, that will be a lot of work. Not sure we can manage 500 in a week but we shall see.

Are you expecting 500 the week after next as well? I think if you manage to produce them faster than the parts are arriving, that is probably fast enough. Keep the quality high please.

[emcp]

i think a few people have sent several units back (probably wouldnt have happened if they waited for the fixes to be sorted out)

It's all well and good saying the above with the benefit of hindsight, but at the time the existence of the tolerance issue from this example wasn't even known.

EDIT: And even in that case, a month of waiting went by with the second return for the fully-tested nubs, as well.

With each one, the Pandora gets more and more polished as a device.

Exactly no way of knowing what was going to be wrong, but if you had waited it wouldnt have matter to you, you wouldnt have had that problem

returns dont really help, reporting problem and sending a couple of the troubled units back but not fixing them all then fixing them all next week

also i probably would have done the same, still doesnt make it any better

[Prometheus]

Yeah. I did wait. Twice. Then I had the same problem twice.

[Justin]

Still wondering about these 200 - well 80 shipped 2 weeks later but still no word on the 120.

Craig, You can't just twit that your shipping 200 next week then ship 80 only 2 weeks after then no word on the rest.

It feels like your just baiting us.

I know you have issues but be open and honest.

[Iorgy77]

Just another lolcraig moment.

[gibberish]

you just have to take everything craig says with a pinch of salt. he is overly optimistic to a fault. he has to be, because if he had told the cold hard truth from the outset then the project would have failed when everyone demanded refunds.

[WizardStan]

I wouldn't have. I'd have stopped coming to the forums waiting for information, but I wouldn't have asked for a refund.