- but in the interest of serving the hundreds of people waiting for a Flux Deluxe within our respective lifetimes, I'm exploring making an end-run around this whole process and having a run of my cases customized by the factory. This hasn't been possible until now due to the minimum order quantities (MOQ) required for customization, which is 200+ units, which is an investment, lol. Fortunately, I am now in a position to make this happen. 
I have been going back-and-forth with the manufacturer for the last 4-5 days regarding the details of the CNC process, but that's par for the course. I am hopeful we will have the requirements spec done this week, which will be followed by prototypes, then eventually the delivery of several hundred pre-drilled (but unfortunately not pre-glued!!) cases. More news to come on this once I have it, but this will be a major development when this happens!! My current plans are for these first units to look the same as the current hand made cases, so no redesign for now, but future changes are very possible.
Hi all,
Thanks for the kind words, @flammy and @lookhigh !
Here are several quick updates for the Fluxer-curious. They're quick because I am still finalizing their details, but I haven't posted anything substantial in a few weeks and want to let you folks know what I am working on, Fluxer-wise.
In addition to building heaters and working through the waiting list, I have also been putting a lot of thought into how I can increase my output while still maintaining my quality - the classic "industrialist's problem", lol. This has lead me to re-examine each aspect of the current build with an eye towards reducing the number of separate processes I need complete to make a heater. And yes, this sounds like obvious, first-semester-of-business-school stuff, but I am learning that obvious things only get done if you actually do them.
I won't run through everything I've identified just yet, but one important process that currently takes me a huge amount of time is precisely drilling the 7 or 8 holes required in each case. Even with a custom-built jig to speed this along, this is a multi-step process that requires setup and drilling at two workstations, and at the second of those of those workstations I also need to perform several drill-bit changes and reposition the case for each hole. I conclude the case-drilling process by manually de-burring each drilled hole. The results are great, but each of these steps take time, and some also carry the risk of screwing up and ruining that case.
Now, I enjoy drilling holes and making metal shavings as much as anyone with a workshop does -
I also have some other things in the works to increase my output, and will share more details of those soon.
Finally, I have also been working on some new videos to show better comparisons of the various coil sizes and how they perform with both ti and SS tips. I have completed recording the preliminary video for the coil size /titanium tip comparison. I am editing those clips now (currently 12 minutes w/a lot of internally empty time, so more editing needed). I'll start recording the coil size/SS tip videos tonight or tomorrow, and hope to get the video wrapped up within the week, as I want to get it posted before making any other announcements, etc. The material in it is long overdue and I want to get it out there.
In order to get these things done in a timely manner, I am waiting a few days before I send out the next set of "confirmation invitations". I hope to send out the next group of invitations either Friday or Saturday. Thanks for understanding!
That's all for now, but more to come pretty soon.
Cheers,
Thanks for the progress update and the continued innovations to streamline the building process and delivery time. Very much appreciated. Respecting that the case design for this run has been finalized, it would be interesting in the future to see the Fluxer logo or some semblance of it “FX” machined (drilled) into the case replacing the current four vent hole configuration. Of course economics is always a consideration, but it would be sweet. Hope this suggestion doesn’t open up a ‘hole’ discussion regarding personal preferences.
Thanks again for all your efforts.
Yeah, I hope to do a case with design touches like that in the future, but this first batch of pre-machined cases will be very similar to the current cases.Hopefully that will include those that joined the waiting list on the 28th March!
![:\](/i/s/hmm.gif "Hmm :\")
I added a lot of people to the list in mId-March and need to split March's remaining confirmation emails into two groups. March 28 will be in the second group.
- so I'm hopeful this next group will go more quickly than previous ones. I'll be in touch as soon as I can get to you. 
I'm thinking about international flights, not inside US or other countries.
Journeys, journeys, journeys...
Did you ever took your FLux Deluxe (or other Induction Heater) to plane in hand luggage?
What are you experience people?
I always take my DynaVap and lighters, I'm afraid to get confiscated my stuff.
Hi all,
Thanks for the kind words, @flammy and @lookhigh !
Here are several quick updates for the Fluxer-curious. They're quick because I am still finalizing their details, but I haven't posted anything substantial in a few weeks and want to let you folks know what I am working on, Fluxer-wise.
In addition to building heaters and working through the waiting list, I have also been putting a lot of thought into how I can increase my output while still maintaining my quality - the classic "industrialist's problem", lol. This has lead me to re-examine each aspect of the current build with an eye towards reducing the number of separate processes I need complete to make a heater. And yes, this sounds like obvious, first-semester-of-business-school stuff, but I am learning that obvious things only get done if you actually do them.
I won't run through everything I've identified just yet, but one important process that currently takes me a huge amount of time is precisely drilling the 7 or 8 holes required in each case. Even with a custom-built jig to speed this along, this is a multi-step process that requires setup and drilling at two workstations, and at the second of those of those workstations I also need to perform several drill-bit changes and reposition the case for each hole. I conclude the case-drilling process by manually de-burring each drilled hole. The results are great, but each of these steps take time, and some also carry the risk of screwing up and ruining that case.
Now, I enjoy drilling holes and making metal shavings as much as anyone with a workshop does -
I also have some other things in the works to increase my output, and will share more details of those soon.
Finally, I have also been working on some new videos to show better comparisons of the various coil sizes and how they perform with both ti and SS tips. I have completed recording the preliminary video for the coil size /titanium tip comparison. I am editing those clips now (currently 12 minutes w/a lot of internally empty time, so more editing needed). I'll start recording the coil size/SS tip videos tonight or tomorrow, and hope to get the video wrapped up within the week, as I want to get it posted before making any other announcements, etc. The material in it is long overdue and I want to get it out there.
In order to get these things done in a timely manner, I am waiting a few days before I send out the next set of "confirmation invitations". I hope to send out the next group of invitations either Friday or Saturday. Thanks for understanding!
That's all for now, but more to come pretty soon.
Cheers,
Thanks @mr_cfromcali !Hi all,
OK, I finally finished editing the two videos I made demonstrating the various Flux Deluxe coil sizes. Here they are:
Each video demonstrates six (!) different coil sizes.
For each coil I demo, I perform (and time) an identical series of three heating cycles:
Heating cycle #1: A full heating cycle, from room temp to 2nd click
Heating cycle #2: A dip & sip cycle from the first cooldown click through the reheat click
Heating cycle #3: A full heating cycle with a warm Dynavap
Following each demo, I display that coil + tip's AVB.
In an effort to make this data more accessible, I've charted the data I gathered for Heating Cycles #1 and #3. These charts are below, and hopefully people will find them informative. I have also posted all of this data (plus screen shots of the AVB for each coil) to the Fluxer Heaters' web site: https://fluxerheaters.com/faq-and-other-resources The new material is halfway down the page. A better, top-level link will be coming soon.
For the following charts, the blue bars are the timings from heater activation to the first click for the heat cycle being times, while the orange bars cover the time between the clicks. I stopped the timing for the orange bar at the 2nd click, not when I actually removed the vapcap from the heater. This seemed more objective and repeatable.
Also, all timings were done with the same set of Sony VTC6 batteries, which were recharged between sessions. I tried to use a full charged battery pack whenever possible.
Chart #1, timings for each coil size, from room temp to 2nd click (Ti tips values on left, SS on right):
Chart #2, timing for each coil size, Dynavap already warm (again, Ti tips values on left, SS on right):
Rather than blather on about this stuff, I am going to leave these here for now for folks to look over. Happy to answer questions about either data or methodology if you have any. Hopefully this material is helpful and makes it easier to pick a coil size.
I wanted to make and publish this material before I send out the next round of order confirmation emails, as I think this data will help inform those decisions. Now that I have published it, I expect to send the next round of the confirmations invitations very soon.
I am still working w/my vendor on finalizing the design of the first custom cases. It has been slow, with some frustrating back-and-firth, but I am hopeful we'll get the spec done this week. I 'll post more news when I have more it.
That's it for now - cheers!
Thank you...excellent data and you already did my only suggestion, post this to your website.Hi all,
OK, I finally finished editing the two videos I made demonstrating the various Flux Deluxe coil sizes. Here they are:
Each video demonstrates six (!) different coil sizes.
For each coil I demo, I perform (and time) an identical series of three heating cycles:
Heating cycle #1: A full heating cycle, from room temp to 2nd click
Heating cycle #2: A dip & sip cycle from the first cooldown click through the reheat click
Heating cycle #3: A full heating cycle with a warm Dynavap
Following each demo, I display that coil + tip's AVB.
In an effort to make this data more accessible, I've charted the data I gathered for Heating Cycles #1 and #3. These charts are below, and hopefully people will find them informative. I have also posted all of this data (plus screen shots of the AVB for each coil) to the Fluxer Heaters' web site: https://fluxerheaters.com/faq-and-other-resources The new material is halfway down the page. A better, top-level link will be coming soon.
For the following charts, the blue bars are the timings from heater activation to the first click for the heat cycle being times, while the orange bars cover the time between the clicks. I stopped the timing for the orange bar at the 2nd click, not when I actually removed the vapcap from the heater. This seemed more objective and repeatable.
Also, all timings were done with the same set of Sony VTC6 batteries, which were recharged between sessions. I tried to use a full charged battery pack whenever possible.
Chart #1, timings for each coil size, from room temp to 2nd click (Ti tips values on left, SS on right):
Chart #2, timing for each coil size, Dynavap already warm (again, Ti tips values on left, SS on right):
Rather than blather on about this stuff, I am going to leave these here for now for folks to look over. Happy to answer questions about either data or methodology if you have any. Hopefully this material is helpful and makes it easier to pick a coil size.
I wanted to make and publish this material before I send out the next round of order confirmation emails, as I think this data will help inform those decisions. Now that I have published it, I expect to send the next round of the confirmations invitations very soon.
I am still working w/my vendor on finalizing the design of the first custom cases. It has been slow, with some frustrating back-and-firth, but I am hopeful we'll get the spec done this week. I 'll post more news when I have more it.
That's it for now - cheers!
Very satisfied.
