Indiegogo Fabtotum Update 4/26/14
DEVELOPMENT UPDATE #8
Dear Backers
Here we are with another development update.
We teased you a lot but it's time now to show you for the first time ever the Pre-Production prototype and expose what's changed from the Alpha and Beta.
With the end of the indiegogo campaign we understood that, along with performances, user experience and reliability was something we could improve a lot. We think we did.
But let's the images do the talking; the FABtotum personal Fabricator.
https://ci6.googleusercontent.com/pr...jpg?1398450681
(note: quality will improve even during the production phase)
Supply Chain
As you know we have hundreds of parts that need to be stocked.
That's one thing. We also have third party contractors that are working on finalizing the components (like the molds or the laser cut parts).
We also have the packaging being tested so that the machines can be shipped without damages all over the world.
https://ci5.googleusercontent.com/pr...jpg?1398451250
Pre Production Specifications
As promised we have closed in the specs, so you can have a grasp of the complexity and magnitude of this project:
https://ci6.googleusercontent.com/pr...jpg?1398451346
Important: Updated schedule
Our first timeline, published in September 2013 has been a guidance in the development of the Personal Fabricator, but we also raised the challenge and improved the quality while increasing production efficiency.
Our originals plans where to start shipping by the end of May, At this point however we would like to inform our backers about the new schedule.
As we pointed out in the last few updates, this delay was expected and working during the holidays for the past 8 months has not been enought to make up for it. Our bad.
Admittedly, it's not completely a supply chain fault, we also invested more time in development and we want to test the improved assembly process and quality control before starting the shipping procedure.
It's not all bad news.
In fact we'll be able still to ship a number of units for the first batch and thanks to the re-engineering done between the alpha prototype and the final version.
We expect to be able to assemble the remaining units much faster than expected, and *maybe* be able to ship all units before the original schedule.
Overall, as (we think) we demonstrated during the development stage, we strive for perfection, but most of all we love to be honest about our design process and what are the reasons behind each decision.
Keep you feedback coming.
The FABteam
