Kickstarter news and progress report.
Sorry, I've been a bit behind the curve with updating the news section of the websites. I have SO much to do and this unfortunately slipped my attention.
If you haven't been following I did a successful raise for Infinity Trax on kickstarter!! Yay :) This was for packs with the powered Archimedes screw and some other updates as well.
I thought it would be a good idea to include the fortnightly updates for my kickstarter Infinity Trax campaign here, so here's the latest offering, and you can expect more every other Friday:
Hey,
Hope you’re all doing well! Here’s an update of progress…
I have now fully got two 3D printers running 24/7 producing the various plastic parts for the tracks. I had some issues to do with bed levelling between prints which were getting in the way of continuous automated prints a little before, but now these have been resolved so it’s full steam ahead! I have produced all of the internal plastic parts (for the spinner/arm/switch etc.) for all of the various packs. I have done 80 of the required 214 Archimedes crew lift extension pieces, and about 30 of the required 56 powered Archimedes screw lift bits. I had an issue with the plastic internal components of the Archimedes screw lift which unfortunately only became apparent after printing quite a few of them out - I basically needed to add an extra 1mm of room around the geared section of the motor to avoid any contact. I also reduced the size of the holes containing the threaded brass screws so I could use heat to embed them as opposed to glue. I’m back on track with this component and will have the all printed in a few days.
I have soldered up and completed 20 of the Archimedes powered sections, and will have 10 or so more done today, with the remainder to be completed by the end of this weekend with any luck.
I have cut the internal foam for the starter, intermediate, standard and pro packs. I have yet to design/make the box and internal foam for the expert/ludicrous packs but will aim to get that done in the next week.
I have cut the wood for the starter and intermediate packs, and am about half way through the standard packs right now. My laser cutter starts at about 8am (if my neighbours are lucky), and goes until about 9pm (if my neighbours are lucky). It should take me about 56 days to cut everything, and there’s a 50/50 chance I buy another laser cutter which would obviously speed things up a lot but my budget is not so big so we’ll see if this happens. It would be very cool and a big help to have another machine though. I have got some shrink wrap for the plywood sheets coming which should be nice too.
I am still having some issues with the occasional knot internally in the plywood. I inspect every piece which is cut throughly and if there is a knot which has messed up the cut I am usually able to remedy the situation satisfactory by swapping out the bad piece with a good one. Whilst the ultimate outcome is OK, it adds a fair amount of time to the whole process and can be a bit demoralising. I have received some samples from a new supplier which don’t have this issue, and in the future I will use this new source, but it’s not really feasible to start with this supplier currently as it would set the project back to an unacceptable degree so we press ahead as things are. Just to reassure you, the current wood (and subsequent parts) are really nice, but it’s just these occasional invisible internal knots!! Arghhh!! :)
The elephant in the room is the instructions. I am still successfully ignoring this is a step I will have to take, but only have so long in this reality unfortunately. To what degree these turn out to be a mix of mostly video guides or visual instructions, or (most likely) a combination is still in the air, and I won’t know until I begin.
To keep me sane during the factory period of the project on most days I head out on my paddle board and blast up the river by my house before meandering back down in a glorious daze. It’s become a real treat TBH. I have the weekend free of parental responsibilities so have a bigger excursion planned which is rather exiting.
The TLDR of this update is that progress is good, I’m still on track, mostly sane, and am happy with the quality too.
Catch you next update!
Luke
